In the middle ages, much law and government was done through local courts, which had different but complimentary remits. Peterborough is unusual and fortunate in that for each of these kinds of court there are surviving examples of rolls, which record what business was transacted by the court and how. Such rolls survive for the court leet, which covered much business concerned with public order; for the manor courts of Peterborough Abbey used by the peasants living around the abbey; for the portmanmoot used by the free townsmen around the market; and for the market court, which settled trade disputes among those who had come to use the market, sometimes from outside the immediate hinterland of Peterborough. The ability to read across these different kinds of records means that this volume gives a vivid picture of life in medieval Peterborough.
Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Conventions and Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Court Leet Rolls
- Boroughbury Manor Court Rolls
- Sacrist’s Manor Court Rolls
- Portmanmoot Court Rolls
- Peterborough Market Court Rolls
- Appendix 1: Unassigned Court Roll for 24 October 1491
- Appendix 2: Glossary
- Appendix 3: Saints’ Days and Fixed Festivals Used for Dating
- Appendix 4: List of Rolls
- Index of Persons and Places Named in the Rolls
- Index of Subjects in the Rolls
- Index to the Introduction