The records of the taxation levied under the Subsidy Act of 1523 have long been recognised as providing important evidence of the social and economic condition of the country in the first half of Henry VIII’s reign. The surviving manuscripts, however, are fragmentary and defective, particularly those relating to Gloucestershire, and they are difficult to understand. The present volume brings together the available relevant material for Bristol and Gloucestershire. The records have been skilfully edited by a former Senior Inspector of Taxes who has previously published editions of comparable records for Herefordshire, Radnorshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire.
The subsidy was payable on three forms of wealth: landed income, goods and wages. Those with less than £1 (20 shillings) in annual income from land or wages or with less than £2 in goods were not liable to the tax. Each taxpayer was assessed on whichever form of taxable wealth would produce the largest amount of tax. The rate of tax varied, four pence in the pound on wages, six pence in the pound on goods valued at £2 or more but less than £20, and a shilling in the pound on goods valued at £20 or more and on income from land.
For most taxpayers the subsidy was payable in each of two years, 1524 and 1525, and the greater part of the text relates to the detailed assessment of individual taxpayers in those two years, set out in their parishes or townships grouped within their hundreds, in six geographical divisions, or within Bristol and the county of the city of Gloucester. The edition includes preliminary documents, the Anticipation of 1523, accounts of payments into the Exchequer, and assessments of wealthier taxpayers in 1526 and 1527. A full introduction and comprehensive indexes complete the edition.
lx + 548 pages. isbn 978 0 900197 73 4 £30 in U.K. (+ £6 for postage for overseas orders)
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.
Vol. 21. Gloucester Cathedral Chapter Act Book 1616-1687 Edited by Suzanne Eward, xxxii + 187 pages. ISBN 9780900197697. £30 in U.K.
Vol. 22. Calendar of Convictions at Petty Sessions, 1781-1837 Edited by Irene Wyatt, xxii + 530 pages. ISBN 978 0 900197 71 0 £30 in the UK
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 (PDF file).
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 Gloucester Terrier of Llanthony Priory, 1443, edited by John Rhodes
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, Dr. James Hodsdon, Brook House, 49 Pittville Crescent Lane, Cheltenham GL52 2RA