Facsimiles of English Episcopal Acta, 1085-1305

This volume reproduces at full size 190 original charters produced for English bishops between 1085 and 1300. Full transcriptions face each plate, with a brief English summary and bibliographical note.

The documents are drawn from every diocese, and are taken from fifty-five archives in England, France and Belgium. The selection includes representative examples of all the commoner types of document - solemn charters, judgments, mandates, indulgences, administrative or personal correspondence and formal notifications to the crown. A few cases of drafts, and several of forgery, are also included.

The volume indicates the ways in which these documents, as the scribe prepared them, contain information--in punctuation, lay-out and physical appearance - which cannot be shown in even the most scrupulous printed edition. The introduction gives a broad outline of the evolution of the forms and script, and of methods of sealing.

Martin Brett is Emeritus Fellow at Robinson College, Cambridge University.

David Smith is formerly of the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York.

Philippa Hoskin is Archivist at the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York.