Introduction. ix 



conditions; but documents of later date have not been referred 

 to. Hence no mention is made of the Parliamentary Surveys (1649 

 et seq.') of property which had formerly belonged to the Crown. 

 The Parliamentary Surveys for the county of Sussex have been 

 printed in the " Sussex Archaeological Collections," beginning 

 with volume twenty-three. 



Among the classes of documents that are omitted are grants, 

 charters, and leases, and inventories and household books such as 

 that of Finchale Priory (Surtees Society, 1837), which, amid a 

 mass of other matter, often give information regarding farm- 

 stock, produce, and prices. Account rolls and rentals are not 

 included when the returns from estates are lumped together, or 

 given in no detail. Records of proceedings before manorial 

 courts only are inserted. Final concords, therefore (for which see 

 Salt Archaeological Society publications, volume three et seq?), 

 and in general, pleas relating to freeholds are not noticed here ; 

 and collections of judicial decisions of the king's court giving the 

 law of villeinage, such as the Placitorum Abbreviatio (Record Com- 

 mission, 181 1), Northumberland Assize Rolls (Surtees Society, 1891), 

 Bracton's Note Book, and the Year Books (Rolls Series), are also 

 excluded. 



Inquisitions post-mortem (see especially York Archaeological Asso- 

 ciation, " Record Series," volume twelve, Lancashire and Cheshire 

 "Record Society," 1880, 1887, and 1888, and the publications of 

 the British Record Society) were inquests concerning the prop- 

 erty of a lately deceased tenant-in-chief, or other tenant holding 

 lands that were in the king's hands. Their purpose was to ascer- 

 tain the feudal rights accruing to the king ; and one of the articles 

 of inquiry pertained to the land of which the deceased died pos- 

 sessed. Sometimes the amount of land is given in round numbers 

 which can be only approximate, and often the inquisitions arc 

 devoid of interest to the student of economic conditions ; on the 

 other hand, these inquests frequently include manorial extents, 

 and describe not only the land, but the tenants, their services and 

 holdings. Inquisitions of this latter class arc alone inserted in 

 this list. Inquisitions postinortcni, as well as inquisitions ad qiiod 

 dampwnn, end in 1645. Inquisitions ad quod dampnum, which 



