RECORD SERIES

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL CHAPTER ACT BOOK 1616-1687

Edited by Suzanne Eward

(Vol 21, 2007)

The book recording the acts of the dean and chapter of Gloucester cathedral in the period 1616-1687 spans a time of far-reaching changes in the life of the Church of England and in the history of the country. It is the earliest such book to survive for Gloucester, and it may well be that it had no precursor. It begins with the installation of William Laud as dean. That was his first major preferment, launching him on the career which took him to the archbishopric of Canterbury and the scaffold, and the book records his attempt to shape worship in the cathedral and the conduct of its personnel in the form which he and his royal masters wished them to take. The record of the proceedings of the dean and chapter cover a wide range, from the formal and long-winded accounts of the installation of deans and canons, through the business of administering the chapter's landed property and the managing of the cathedral precinct, to the appointment of minor officers and alms men and the correction of their shortcomings. While the cataclysmic events of the 1640s and 1650s are represented largely by a gap in the record, the Act Book reflects the later friction between the cathedral establishment with its High Church views and the city, leaning towards Whiggism and nonconformity. The personalities who figure in the book include those of national importance, like Dean Accepted Frewen and Canon Gilbert Sheldon, each to become an archbishop, and local worthies like Canon Abraham Gregory and the self-seeking members of the Wrench family.

xxxii + 187 pages. ISBN 9780900197697. £30 in U.K. (+ £6 for postage for overseas orders)

 

VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED

Historic Churches & Church Life in Bristol 1783-1842, ed. Joseph Bettey (2001), ix + 226 pages, 20 plates. ISBN 0900197536. £12

Vol.1. Transportees from Gloucestershire to Australia, 1783-1842, ed. Irene Wyatt (1988), xxiv + 181 pages, map. ISBN 0900197269. Out of Print

Vols. 2, 3, 5, 8. Bigland's Gloucestershire Collections, ed. Brian Frith Part 1 (A-C), (1989), xviii + 458 pages, 35 plates. ISBN 0 900197 28 5. Part 2 (D-M), (1990), xiv + 430 pages, 35 plates. ISBN 0900197 30 7. Part 3 (N-T), (1992), xii + 476 pages. ISBN 0 900197 34 x. Part 4 (U-Y, indexes), (1995), xxxvii + 455 pages, maps in endpapers. ISBN 0 900197404. £30 each

Vol.4. Registers of Gloucester Freemen, 1641-1838, ed. John Jurica (1991), xxx + 330 pages. ISBN 0 900197 32 3. Out of Print

Vol.6. The Military Survey of Gloucestershire, 1522, ed. R. W. Hoyle (1993), liii + 265 pages, 2 plates. ISBN 0 900197 36 3. £30

Vol.7. Tewkesbury Churchwardens' Accounts, 1563-1624, ed. C. 3. Litzenberger (1994), xxiii + 163 pages, 1 plate. ISBN 0 900197 39 0. £30

Vol.9. An Historical Gazetteer of Cheltenham, comp. James Hodsdon (1997), xiv + 208 pages, 3 maps in pocket. ISBN 0 900197 43 9. Out of Print (See online version)

Vol.10. The Cartulary of St Augustine's Abbey, Bristol, ed. David Walker (1998), xxxvi + 439 pages, 2 maps. ISBN 0 90019746 3. £30

Vol.11. Original Acta of St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, C. 1122-1263, ed. Robert B. Patterson (1998), lxi + 354 pages, 44 plates. ISBN 0 90019747 1. £30

Vol.12. Cheltenham Probate Records, 1660-1740, ed. A.J.H. Sale (1999), xxxi + 231 pages, 2 maps. ISBN 0 900197 49 8. £30

Vol.13. Bishop Benson's Survey of the Diocese of Gloucester, 1735-1750, ed. John Fendley, xx + 204 pages. ISBN 0 900197 50 1. £30

Vol. 14. A Calendar of the Registers of Apprentices of the City of Gloucester 1595-1700, ed. Jill Barlow, xxxii + 343 pages. ISBN 0 900197 54 4. £30

Vol. 15. A Calendar of the Registers of the Priory of Llanthony by Gloucester 1457 - 1466, 1501 - 1525, ed. John Rhodes, xlii + 234 pages. ISBN 0 900197 56 0. £30 in U.K.

Vol. 16. Abstract of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire, Edited by C.R. Elrington, xxxv + 263 pages. ISBN 0 900197 58 7. £30 in UK

Vols. 17 &18. A catalogue of the Medieval Muniments at Berkeley Castle, Edited by Bridget Wells-Furby, lxxxix + 1,200 pages. ISBN 0 900197 60 9, 0 900197 61 7. £60 in UK (for postage overseas add £15)

Vol. 19. Notes on the Diocese of Gloucester by Chancellor Richard Parsons Edited by John Fendley, xxiv + 564 pages. ISBN 0 900197 641 and 090019761 7. £30 in U.K.

Vol. 20. Abstracts of Feet of Fines Relating to Gloucestershire 1300-1359 Edited by C. R. Elrington, xix + 228 pages. ISBN 0900197668. £30 in U.K.

For overseas orders add £6 for postage.

25% discount to members of the Society. Order from Miss P Bath, 17 Estcourt Rd, Gloucester GL1 3LU. Click here for order form.

 

FORTHCOMING VOLUMES


Summary of Convictions at Petty Sessions 1781-1837 edited by Irene Wyatt

Bristol and Gloucestershire Lay Subsidy, 1524-1527, edited by M.A. Faraday

Cheltenham Manor Court Books, edited by James Hodsdon

Forest of Dean Eyre Roll, 1634, edited by Nicholas Herbert

Gloucester Apprentices Register, 1701-1835, edited by Jill Barlow

The volumes may appear other than in the order given above

Further texts are being discussed with potential editors, and it is hoped to find editors for the sixteenth-century inquisitions post mortem, episcopal visitations, hearth tax and land tax records, census enumerators’ books, Gloucester city leases, Prinn’s survey of Cheltenham, and accounts of the estates of Tewkesbury abbey. Prospective editors are invited to communicate with the Hon. General Editor, Professor C.R. Elrington, 34 Lloyd Baker Street, London WC1X 9AB.

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