This is a long-awaited edition of three twelfth-century surveys and thirty charters, relating to the estates of Shaftesbury Abbey, which was the richest nunnery in England. The documents provide a significant contribution to our understanding of economic, social and monastic life in twelfth-century England.

The Visitation returns of William Wake, Bishop of Lincoln 1705-16, shed light on the history of over 1200 villages and the people who lived in them in six counties of England in the early years of the eighteenth century. Covering Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, they contain detailed information about the population, religious affiliations, schooling, charities, church attendance, and much besides. Many individuals are named, particularly non-conformist preachers and those who transgressed church laws or were baptized as adults....

The records of Queen Elizabeth's New Year's gift exchanges convey a wealth of information about the late Tudor court. Records of twenty-four exchanges survive from the forty-five years of Elizabeth's reign, naming more than 1,200 participants. The vellum rolls record what was given to the Queen and what she gave in return. The gift rolls convey important information on a broad range of topics, including Elizabethan biography, language, and social and economic conditions, as well as the age's costume, jewelry, and plate, yet they remain largely unstudied by scholars in the many disciplines...

This second volume of Caen documents contains important evidence contains important evidence on the economic and social development of monastic estates on both sides of the Channel: rural social structure, inheritance customs, the role of women, peasant migration, personal and place-name studies, and comparative Anglo-Norman studies.