Archive:TAG Volume 83
Archives > Archive:Extracts > Archive:The American Genealogist > TAG Volume 83
"Book Reviews," TAG 83 (2008):157-160.
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Calendar of Probate and Administration Acts 1407-/550, in the Consistory Court of the Bishops of Hereford, with an Appendix of Abstracts of Registered Copy-Wills 1552-1581, edited by Michael A. Faraday (Watton-on Thames: the Editor, 2009), hardcover, xxviii+689 pp., indices of place names, Welsh personal names, and surnames and Christian names. For pricing and ordering information visit the website of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy at http://fmg.ac/Shop/shop3.htm or write to the editor: M.A. Faraday, 47 York Gardens, Walton-on¬Tbames, Surrey KT12 JEW, UK; <[email protected]>.
This 21st-century edition of Faraday and Cole's Calendar of Probate and Administration Acts revises and expands the original 1989 edition published by the British Record Society [BRS] on microfiche. In 1972, after learning the BRS intended to index original Hereford wills, Faraday notified the BRS that there were many more wills and important records contained in the Bishops' court books stored at the Herefordshire Record Office [HRO]. Excited by the prospects of such a thorough collection of Hereford records, the BRS convinced Faraday, who subsequently enlisted the help of E. J. L. Cole, not just to index but calendar the wills and probate acts included in the court books. The two editors collaborated until Cole died in 1978, after which time Faraday continued on his own to edit the manuscript. The 2009 Calendar represents several years of Faraday's continued study of Hereford court and act books and a laborious compilation of indices complicated by the oonglomeration of Welsh and English names arising out of the marches of Wales. This edition includes additional citations to other indices and catalogues found at the UK National Archives (e.g., Court of Common Pleas) and to Registers of the Bishops of Hereford and Faraday's other genealogical publications.
As Faraday points out in the detailed introduction and history sections of the Calendar, the contents range from the oldest surviving records of the diocese of Hereford to the probate and administration acts recorded in the court books along with abstracts of wills from the Bishops' registers and wills copied into the court books. The Editor explains that many of the records are badly damaged or faded, preventing the transcription of certain passages which were omitted from the Calendar and warns the reader that certain records cited may not necessarily be available for consultation at the Hereford Record Office due to their frailty (all the more reason that this Calendar is vital to the study of late-medieval and early-modem Hereford families).
Several years ago, I discovered the 1989 microfiche of the Calendar and experienced first-hand the difficulties this outdated technology imposes upon researchers. As a result of this past expericnec, I was relieved to read the new all-in-one print edition and to be able to comsult the indices and flip to the appropriate pages without the need of a microfiche reader and sorting through dozens of cards looking for the one containing the correct page. The Calendar contains a wealth of information about the individual testators and their families and friends that should interest genealogists and scholars of many disciplines. For American researchers interested in the late-medieval origins of
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certain gateway immigrant ancestors, there are references to many prominent families such as Baskerville, Milborne, Parry, Vaughan, and Whitney, to name just a few.
It must be understood that the Calendar serves as a roadmap for further research at the HRO and the diligent researcher should make every attempt to acquire the original document. I can attest to having found valuable documentation by using the 1989 edition and contacting the HRO staff, who responded quickly and efficiently to my request. Genealogists know that the value of such a secondary source is highly dependent on the expertise of the editor. Fortunately, Faraday is an English scholar of high distinction: he read Medieval and Modern History at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, and has edited several other books on l5th- and 16th-century Herefordshire records. He is an experienced paleographer, able to read and translate medieval shorthand Latin, a vital requirement considering that the act books were written in shorthand Latin. In addition, Faraday has an intimate knowledge of the families and villages of Herefordshire, allowing the identification of certain names and places, which someone reading the original documents not familiar with Hereford might have missed.
Faraday's Calendar is an essential resource for anyone interested in English genealogy and history.
| --Reviewed by Adrian Benjamin Burke, JD |
| New York City |
Copyright © 2020, Robert L. Ward and the Whitney Research Group.
