Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states:
Then, at the midwinter [1085], was the king in Gloucester with his council .... After this had the king a large meeting, and very deep consultation with his council, about this land; how it was occupied, and by what sort of men. Then sent he his men over all England into each shire; commissioning them to find out "How many hundreds of hides were in the shire, what land the king himself had, and what stock upon the land; or, what dues he ought to have by the year from the shire."
The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as one of Ireland's finest national treasures. The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, which was its home for centuries.
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's financial sector.
Adam Pinkhurst is most well known as a fourteenth-century English scribe whom Linne Mooney identified as the 'personal scribe' of Geoffrey Chaucer, although much recent scholarship has cast doubt on this connection.
Every Man in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of the "humours comedy," in which each major character is dominated by an over-riding humour or obsession.
John Carpenter, the younger, was a Town Clerk of London. He was elected as Town Clerk to the City of London during the reigns of Henry V and Henry VI. He was the author of the first book of English common law, called Liber Albus. He was a member of the English Parliament from London in 1425. He is also recognized as the founder of the City of London School for boys. He resided in the Parish of St. Peter, Cornhill, London, and was buried in the Abbey of St. Peter, Westminster, where his wife Katherine was later interred.
The patent rolls are a series of administrative records compiled in the English, British and United Kingdom Chancery, running from 1201 to the present day.
The Common Serjeant of London is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of London, acting as deputy to that office, and sitting as a judge in the trial of criminal offences.
The Durham Liber Vitae is a confraternity book produced in north-eastern England in the Middle Ages. It records the names of visitors to the church of the bishopric of Durham, and its predecessor sees at Lindisfarne and Chester-le-Street. In England, it is the oldest book of this type, although it is paralleled by later English confraternity books, most notably the New Minster Liber Vitae.
The Town Clerk of London is an important position that has existed since the 13th century in the City of London, England. Originally the role was to take the minutes of London council meetings, but over the years the holder's role has gathered responsibility, including staff and executive powers. Historically the incumbent received an annual fee of £10. This has risen to £244,000 in 2016/17, with 55% coming from the City Fund and 40% coming from the City's Cash.
Ralph Crepyn was a lawyer and the first documented Town Clerk of London in 1274. His birth was about 1245, and he was well-educated for his day. He died before 1331, but the exact date is unknown.
The Red Book of the Exchequer is a 13th-century manuscript compilation of precedents and office memoranda of the English Exchequer. It contains additional entries and annotations down to the 18th century. It is now held at The National Archives, Kew, London. It takes its name from its red leather binding, which distinguishes it from the related and contemporary, but smaller, Black Book of the Exchequer.
Menggu Ziyun is a 14th-century rime dictionary of Chinese as written in the 'Phags-pa script that was used during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The only surviving examplar of this dictionary is an 18th-century manuscript copy that belonged to Stephen Wootton Bushell (1844–1908), and is now held at the British Library. As the only known example of a 'Phags-pa script dictionary of Chinese, it is important both as an aid for interpreting Yuan dynasty texts and inscriptions written in Chinese using the 'Phags-pa script, and as a source for the reconstructed pronunciation of Old Mandarin.
The Black Hours, MS M.493 is an illuminated book of hours completed in Bruges between 1460 and 1475. It consists of 121 leaves, with Latin text written in Gothic minuscule script. The words are arranged in rows of fourteen lines, and follow the Roman version of the texts. The lettering is inscribed in silver and gold, and placed within borders ornamented with flowers, foliage and grotesques, on pages dyed a deep blueish black. It contains fourteen full-page miniatures and opens with the months of the liturgical calendar, followed by the Hours of the Virgin, and ends with the Office of the Dead.
Thomas Juvenal was the first known Common Serjeant of London, an ancient British legal office, first recorded with his appointment in 1291, and which is the second most senior permanent judge in London after the Recorder of London, acting as deputy to that office, and sitting as a judge in the trial of criminal offences.
Liber Niger may refer to:
The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar is a book compiled in the late fifteenth century by Robert Ricart, town clerk of Bristol, England. The work consists of six parts giving a history of England and of the city of Bristol, a list of civic officers, and details of local customs and ceremonies. Commissioned by mayor William Spencer, the Kalendar was started circa 1478–79. Scribed on vellum, separated by leaves of parchment, the book was not reproduced in print until the nineteenth century in Lucy Toulmin Smith's edition, which omitted some of the content. It is regarded as one of the earliest examples of a town chronicle outside London.
The Grete Herball is an Early Modern encyclopedia and the first illustrated herbal produced in English. It is preceded by Richard Banckes's unillustrated Herball (1525), which was the first printed English herbal ever produced. The Grete Herball is a single volume compendium which details the medicinal properties of plants and some non-botanical items according to the system of humoralism. Confirmed editions were printed between 1526 and 1561, with many still in existence today. Its full title is "The grete herball: whiche geueth parfyt knowlege and under standyng of all maner of herbes & there gracyous vertues whiche god hath ordeyned for our prosperous welfare and helth: for they hele & cure all maner of dyseases and sekenesses that fall or mysfortune to all maner of creatoures of god created: practysed by many expert and wyse maysters, as Aucienna & other &c."
John Blytone was the first known sword-bearer of the City of London, a position he resigned in 1395. In 1384 he was arrested and King Richard II wrote to the Lord Mayor of London Nicholas Brembre and the Sheriffs of the City of London on 14 June, and to Brembre again on 15 June, "bidding them deliver Robert Cumbertone and John Blytone, who had been arrested in London, to Edmund Tettesworth and Thomas Hore, the King's Serjeants-at-arms, to conduct to Corfe Castle, as their continued presence in London was likely to cause a disturbance, as it had done on a former occasion." He was granted the "Gate of Aldrichgate" for life when he resigned in 1395.
This Is the Boke of Cokery, or The Boke of Cokery, is believed to be the first cookery book printed in English. The name of the author is unknown. It was printed and published by Richard Pynson in 1500. The book remained in print for many years in the 16th century, but was superseded and forgotten by the 18th. The only known surviving copy of the book is in the possession of the Marquess of Bath at Longleat House, Wiltshire.
