-----Original Message-----

From: Origins Network [mailto:maillist@...]

Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 11:58 PM

To: Gordon Lane

Subject: Origins Network News: Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York

Probate Index on British Origins



Origins Network News: Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index

on British Origins



The Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York now available on British Origins

(www.britishorigins.com)



Prior to 1858, wills were proved in an ecclesiastical court. Which court

dealt with a particular will depended on where property was held.



Parishes of the Church of England were grouped into archdeaconries, and a

group of archdeaconries formed a diocese (i.e the area of a bishop's

jurisdiction). Each diocese belonged either to the ecclesiastical province

of York or of Canterbury. The province of York had jurisdiction in the

counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland,

Nottinghamshire, Westmorland and Yorkshire; Canterbury had jurisdiction over

the rest of England and Wales.



If a person's property lay wholly within one archdeaconry, the will was

generally proved in that archdeacon's court.  But if property worth 5 or

more were owned elsewhere the will would be proved in a higher court, that

of a bishop or archbishop.



The Prerogative & Exchequer Court of York Probate Index gives:

o testator's name

o places associated with person; usually the place of death, but

sometimes other places where the testator lived are mentioned

o date of probate  year & month

o type(s) of documents (there is often more than one document)

o court concerned

o Borthwick Institute reference to the original document(s)

o Reference to original index



The Origins Network in association with the Borthwick Institute for Archives

are completing the computerisation of the indexes to the Prerogative &

Exchequer Court of York probate material; only the Medieval part (1267-1500)

of these indexes had previously been computerised. This work is being done

in reverse chronological order, starting from 1858, and the first batch of

index records, covering over 16,000 grants of probate for the period

September 1853 to January 1858 is now available online exclusively on

British Origins. About two thirds of the wills were proved in the

Prerogative Court. This index complements the indexes to the York Medieval

and York Peculiars probate material.



The original documents provide a great deal of valuable information to the

family historian and copies of these can be ordered online

(http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/ordering#ordering) via British Origins.





To access these new records, please visit www.originsnetwork.com and login

to your account, or visit the sign up page to choose a subscription.



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Jane Hewitt



Origins Network

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