Manuscripts - The Broket Archive

Manuscripts consulted

Wherever possible original documents have been consulted. You will see many snippets from images of manuscripts in this Archive, where permission has been kindly granted.

By far the most research has been conducted at the UK National Archives at Kew (TNA), formerly called the Public Record Office (PRO). References in the text like E159/186 or C1/5 are to manuscripts there. They are usually referenced with prefix TNA, e.g. TNA E159/186 m 6, where ‘m’ stands for membrane. They generously allow free reproduction of their manuscripts, on condition of correct acknowledgement. If you copy any snips on this site from them make sure likewise that you acknowledge TNA correctly.

Other manuscripts have been consulted at:

AALT = Documents from Medieval and Early Modern England from the National Archives in London digitized and displayed through The O’Quinn Law Library of the University of Houston Law Center by license of the National Archives. In August 2015 AALT contained 9,250,000 frames of historical material: http://aalt.law.uh.edu/.
BARS = Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service, formerly BLARS – Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
BL = British Library, London
Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York
Brockett Collection in Gateshead Library, including 10 vols of the Brockett Papers
Cambridgeshire Record Office in—Cambridge and Huntingdon branches
College of Arms, London
Connecticut State Library, USA
Durham Record Office
Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections
Ebor = Pre-1837 York Wills relating to Durham and Northumberland, proved either in the Prerogative Court at York or at the Dean and Chapter Court there. The surviving Probate documents for these Courts are held by University of York, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research.
Essex Record Office
Gonville and Caius College Library, Cambridge
Guildhall Library, London
HALS = Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
HRO = Hampshire Record Office
Hudleston Papers re Bruckett (sic) in Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections
Northamptonshire Record Office—Dunton manorial rolls
National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh
Lincolnshire Record Office
Surrey Record Office
TH = Historical Manuscripts Commission, Tabley House Collection, Cheshire CRO.
Westminster Abbey Archives (WAM)—Wheathampstead manorial rolls
York City Archives
York Minster Library.

Method of transliteration

We transliterate documents following the method used by the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York, UK:

  • Retaining the original spelling, capitalisation and punctuation.
  • Extending all abbreviation signs whose meaning appears beyond doubt and underlining the extensions.
  • Representung signs whose meaning is obscure by an apostrophe.
  • Placing words interlineated in the text between apostrophes.

More recently with respect to extensions we have begun following the practice of keeping the abbreviations in Latin. This is to avoid inaccuracies arising from assumptions, for instance about whether nouns are singular or plural, which can distort the meaning.

New lines in the transliteration indicate new lines in the original and numbers are sometimes added for ready reference. Punctuation marks are reproduced as far as possible as they are in the texts.

Initial ff has usually been transliterated as F. Capital I in English has been transliterated as J where appropriate, e.g. John rather than Iohn. l or li, short for libra, has often been represented by the modern £ sign, e.g. £8 for 8l or 8li. Square brackets provide necessary insertions or abbreviations of large sections.

Surnames are mostly in capital letters—John SMITH—although Broket and variants are normally not.

All transcriptions have been double checked. Please email us if you notice any errors.

Page Last Updated: November 8, 2023