Journal of Sir William Brereton, 1635. Autobiography of Sir John Gibson, 1655. Jacob Bee's Chronicle. Mark Browell's Diary. The Family of Mark Akenside, the Poet. Two letters of Bishop Warburton. Northern Journeys of Bishop Richard Pococke. Diary of John Dawson of Brunton. Each entry is preceded by an introduction. See volume 118.

Documents dating 1543-1602. Expands the selection in previous parts by covering gentry, clergy, yeomen and merchants. Indexes of wills and inventories, names and places. See volumes 2, 38, 142.

Two MSS printed here for the first time yield information not only on Lowther family, but on the north as a whole in the seventeenth century. Contain estate memoranda books, or 'diaries', of land and financial transactions, building work and family affairs. Not only record, but also explain why, decisions were taken which brought about growth of family estates and wealth. Four appendices including autobiography of Sir John Lowther I (d. 1637) which chronicles rise of young man lacking wealth or influence. Market: Economic history, inc. innovative agriculture.

This record of the meditations and prayers of the independent and high-spirited daughter of Sir James Livingston, Viscount Newburgh, was written between the ages of fourteen and twenty-three, to assist self-examination and repentance of sins. They detail her relationships with her family, close friends and certain servants and her reflections on her courtships and marriage. Lady Elizabeth had royal connections and was later closely involved with various Jacobite plots and schemes. Bodleian Library MS. Rawlinson D. 78. Biography, 17c

Introduction covers Royal Visitations of 1535, 1547 and 1559, with details of visitation procedure for both clergy and laity. Queen Elizabeth required the Visitation of 1559 to check on the damage caused to Protestant reforms under Queen Mary. The Act Book, State Papers 12/10, covers the dioceses of York, Durham, Carlisle and Chester and was originally two volumes. The first is here transcribed in full, the second calendared. Mostly Latin, though the churchwardens' presentments, the text of the recognisances and verbatim reports are in English. Provides detailed information about every aspect...

Originally known as B/Y, now classified as E20A. Contains ordinances of the city's craft guilds, descriptions of the city boundaries, amounts collected from parishes towards the Fifteenth and Tenth, deeds, leases of city property and many other items relating to civic administration and the trade and life of York from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Deeds are calendared and all other Latin entries are translated. Entries in English are transcribed literally. See also volumes 120, 125. Civic admin, life and trade of York.

See Volume 183. Covers the manors of Chester-le-Street, Wickham, Gateshead, Houghton-le-Spring, Easington and Bishop Middleham and the collieries of Gateshead and Whickham in the Chester, Easington and Stockton Wards.

See volume 181. Three appendicies and indexes. I. Members of the Shipwrights Company (those who were apprenticed to members of the Shipwrights's company and those who were made free by servitude, patrimony or presentation, compiled from lists of indentures and dates of freedom given either in the registers or account books, II. Officers of the Company, III. Fines.

In 1646 Parliament negotiated a substantial loan from the city of London, secured by the sale of ecclesiastical temporalities. An ordinance was passed abolishing archbishops and bishops and transferring their lands and possessions for the use of the Commonwealth. These surveys represent the examinations conducted in this connection in the Darlington Ward of the bishopric, which at the time was beleaguered by the Scots. Covers the manors of Auckland, Darlington, Evenwood and Wolsingham. Significant in assessing the effects of the Civil War on grass-roots society in the North-East.