INQUISITIONES POST MORTEM FOR DORSET. 3 



Records, covering the period between the reigns of Henry III. and 

 Richard III., which volumes may be consulted in most of the 

 public libraries in the Kingdom. 



These four volumes give the names of the people on whose 

 properties the inquisitiones were held and thft names of the 

 manors, &c., and the counties in which they are situated, but 

 fail to give any further information. 



As a partial remedy for these omissions there appeared in 1865 

 two volumes entitled " Calendarium Genealogicum," by Mr. Charles 

 Roberts, which, for the reigns of Henry III. and Edward 1., gives 

 short abstracts of the inquisitiones, stating the heir and his age at 

 the taking of the inquisition and many other particulars omitted in 

 the calendars published by the Commissioners. 



It was a great pity the " Calendarium Genealogicum " was not 

 carried out for the whole of the period covered by the official 

 calendar, for by combining the two one might have arrived at the 

 pith of all the inquisitiones down to Richard III., whereas now 

 recourse has to be made to the documents themselves for any 

 inquisition that occurs after Edward I. 



The calendar of Dorset inquisitiones here given is a compilation 

 of all that relate to this county from these two sets of books, with 

 such corrections and additions as appear in the copy kept at the 

 Public Record Office, thus rendering it more reliable. The figures 

 in brackets refer to the pages of the " Calendarium Genealogicum," 

 which, it will be remembered, refers to the reigns of Henry III. 

 and Edward I. only. 



What the compiler would like to see carried out by degrees, 

 is, that full abstracts in English of these valuable documents 

 should be made as far as Dorset is concerned, when many an 

 obscure point in mediaeval genealogies would be cleared up and set 

 completely at rest. With a little combination by people interested 

 in these subjects, or even by a small sum devoted to it year by 

 year by this society, this desirable object could in course of time 

 be effected, and thus place Dorset foremost among the counties 

 having materials for a history of its early times, 



