Further reading
This list of published books and articles relating to the Archdeaconry of Nottingham, other archdeaconry courts and their records was last updated in April 2024.
Print publications which are available to members of the library at The University of Nottingham have their location and classmark given in square brackets.
The Archdeaconry of Nottingham
Transcriptions of original records
HODGKINSON, R F B., ‘Extracts from the Act Books of the Archdeacons of Nottingham’ [1565-1642] in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, Vols. XXI (1917), pp. 84-93, XXIX (1925), pp. 19-67, XXX (1926), pp. 11-57 and XXXI (1927), pp. 108-153 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
MARCHANT, R A., ‘The Restoration of Nottinghamshire churches, 1635-40’ in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, Vol. LXV (1961), pp. 57-93 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
WOOD, A C (ed). ‘The Nottinghamshire Presentment Bills of 1587’ in A Miscellany of Nottinghamshire Records (Thoroton Society Record Series, 11, 1945) pp. 1-42. Includes transcription of articles issued by Archdeacon John Lowth, 1585 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
Guides to records
WOOD, A C. ‘Nottinghamshire Penances (1590-1794)’ in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 48 (1944) pp. 52-63 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
Secondary literature
BECKETT, John. 'The Victorian Church of England in the Midlands: The Founding of the Diocese of Southwell, 1876-1884' in Midland History 37.1 (Spring 2012): 63-83. [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA]
BONSALL, M. ‘John Lowth and John King, Archdeacons of Nottingham: A Study of Ambition and Mediocrity in the Elizabethan Church’, Bulletin of Local History – East Midlands Region, 21 (1986), pp. 17-27 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Em]
BRAMLEY, J. ‘The Nottingham Archdeacons’ Court in the 16th and 17th centuries’, Southwell Diocesan Magazine, new series 12 (1939), pp. 51-53, 87-88 and 179-180
CALLADINE, A., 'Performing Penance in Early Modern Nottingham: Evidence from the Archdeaconry Courts', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 122 (2018), pp. 133-143 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
DREW, H. 'Destroying Reputations: Defamation in Nottinghamshire 1580-1640', in East Midlands History and Heritage, 2 (2016), 11-13 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals]
GODFREY, J. T. Notes on the Archdeaconry of Nottingham: with a list of the Archdeacons from 1174 to 1896. Reprinted from the ‘Newark Advertiser’ (Nottingham, privately printed, 1896)
HAMILTON, J., 'Nottinghamshire Neighbours: Defamation before the Archdeacon of Nottingham's Court, 1580-1610', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 126 (2022), pp. 85-100 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
HARDING, Mary. In search of Robert Widmerpool : gentleman of Nottinghamshire and martyr (Nottingham : McGuiness Centre Publications), 1995 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 489.M44 WID]
JENNINGS, S., The Gathering of the Elect: the Development, Nature and Social Economic Structure of Protestant Religious Dissent in Seventeenth-Century Nottinghamshire. Unpublished Doctoral thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 1999
JENNINGS, S. 'The 1669 Ecclesiastical Returns for Nottinghamshire: A reassessment of the strength of nonconformity', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 99 (1995), pp. 73-79 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
MARCHANT, Ronald A. The Puritans and the Church Courts in the Diocese of York, 1560-1642 (Longmans, Green and Co., 1960) [Hallward Library BR763.Y6.M2]
MARCHANT, Ronald A. The church under the law: justice, administration and discipline in the diocese of York, 1560-1640 (Cambridge, 1969) [Hallward Library JN775.M2]
NEVILLE, J. ‘The Archdeaconry of Nottingham Research Project: the Records of the Archdeaconry Court of Nottingham, 1592-1594’, Bulletin of Local History – East Midlands Region, 18 (1983), pp. 58-67 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Em]
NIXON-ROWARTH, T., 'The Ejections of Nottinghamshire's Parish Clergy, 1640-70', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 125 (2021), pp. 89-102 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
PEMBERTON, W A. Studies in the Ecclesiastical Court and Archdeaconry of Nottingham, 1660-1689 (University of Nottingham thesis, 1952) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Special Collection Not 1.M17 PEM]
PRIESTLAND, Pamela and COBBING, Beryl (eds). Village life in Tudor and Stuart times : a study of Radcliffe-on-Trent (Ashbracken, Radcliffe-on-Trent, 1996). Includes essays on the Archdeacon’s Court, drawing on Presentment Bills and entries in the Act Books. [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Oversize Not 360.D25 RAD]
RILEY, R G. The Ecclesiastical control of parochial life in the Nottingham Archdeaconry 1590-1610, as illustrated by the causes of office (University of Nottingham thesis, 1954) [Central Store thesis]
RUDDOCK, R.P., "The eye of the Bishop" : Nottingham causes in the Archdeacon’s court, 1760-1795 : a study in decline (University of Nottingham M.A. dissertation, 1997) [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Oversize Not 5.N4 RUD]
Other Archdeaconries and general publications
Transcriptions of original records
BRINKWORTH, E R C (ed). The archdeacon’s court: liber actorum, 1584 (Oxfordshire Record Society, Vols. 23-24, 1942-1946) [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA/Oxf Rec Soc/]
BRINKWORTH, E R C and GILES, R K (eds). The ‘Bawdy Court’ of Banbury: The Act Book of the Peculiar Court of Banbury, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, 1625-38 (Banbury Historical Society Record Series, Vol. 26, 1997)
BULLARD, J V. Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical, 1604, Latin and English (The Faith Press Ltd., London, 1934) [Hallward Library BX5151.A3.C6]
CARDWELL, Edward (ed). Documentary annals of the reformed Church of England : being a collection of injunctions, declarations, orders, articles of inquiry, &c. from the year 1546 to the year 1716, 2 vols (1839) [King’s Meadow Campus Special Collection BX5033.C2]
CARDWELL, Edward (ed). Synodalia: a collection of articles of religion, canons and proceedings of convocations, 2 vols (Oxford, 1842) – includes copies of the canons of 1597 and 1604
CHADWICK, Michael. 'Early churchwardens presentments in the Archdeaconry of Richmond' in Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 40 (1962), pp. 657-61
HAIR, Paul (ed). Before the bawdy court : selections from church court and other records relating to the correction of moral offences in England, Scotland and New England, 1300-1800 (London, Elek, 1972) [Hallward Library BV761.A9]
HALL, Hubert H. (ed), ‘Some Elizabethan Penances in the Diocese of Ely’ in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 3rd series, Vol. 1, 1907, pp. 263-277 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
HOWARD-DRAKE, J. Oxford Church Courts Depositions, 1542-1550 (1991), 1570-1574 (1993), 1581-1586 (1994)
JENKINS, C (ed). The act book of the archdeacon of Taunton (Somerset Record Society, 43, 1928)
JOHNSTONE, Hilda (ed.) Churchwardens' presentments (17th century) (Sussex Record Society, Vols. 49-50, 1948-1949)
KENNEDY, W P M. Elizabethan Episcopal Administration, Vol. III (1924) – includes copies of articles issued by the Archdeacon of Nottingham in 1599, pp. 317-325 [Hallward Library BX5013.A5.C27]
LYNCH, Margaret (ed.) Life, love and death in north-east Lancashire 1510 to 1537 : a translation of the act book of the ecclesiastical court of Whalley, edited by members of the Ranulf Higden Society led by Margaret Lynch (Manchester, 2006) [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA/LAN/Chetham/3/46]
PURVIS, J.S. Tudor Parish Documents of the Diocese of York (Cambridge University Press, 1948) [Hallward Library DA670.Y59.P8]
SHEILS, W.J. Ecclesiastical Cause papers at York : files transmitted on appeal 1500-1883, Borthwick texts and calendars, 9 (York, 1983) [Hallward Library 4/Bib ZBX5154.Y6]
WILKINSON, Peter M., Chichester archdeaconry depositions 1603-1608 (Lewes, Sussex Record Society, 2017) [Hallward Library General Stock Periodicals:DA/SUS REC SOC/097]
Guides to records
BRINKWORTH, E R C. 'The study and use of archdeacons' court records, illustrated from the Oxford records, 1566-1759' in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th series No. 25, 1943, pp 93-119 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
BURN, Richard. Ecclesiastical Law (London, 1763) [King’s Meadow Campus Special Collection Oversize BX5151.B8. Subsequent editions available to University Nottingham library members as electronic resources]
CHAPMAN, Colin R. Sin, Sex and Probate: Ecclesiastical Courts, Officials and Records (Chapmans Records Cameos, Lochin Publishing, 2nd ed. 1997) [King’s Meadow Campus Ref CS434.C4]
GIESE, Loreen L. London Consistory Court depositions, 1586-1611 : list and indexes (London Record Society, 32, 1995) [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA/Lon Rec Soc/32]
KIRBY, I. Diocese of Bristol: a Catalogue of the Records (1970) [Hallward Library DA690.B8]
KIRBY, I M. Catalogues of the Records of the Bishop and Archdeacons [of Gloucester] (1968) [Hallward Library 4/ ZBX5107.G5]
LEWIN, Sarah. Records of the Diocese of Winchester in Hampshire Record Office (1991)
MAJOR, K. Handlist of the Records of the Bishop of Lincoln and of the Archdeacons of Lincoln and Stow (1953) [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Lin 3.M27 MAJ]
OWEN, Dorothy M. The Records of the Established Church in England (British Records Association, 1970) [King's Meadow Campus Ref CD974.O9, and Hallward Library CD974.O9]
OWEN, Dorothy M. Ely records: A handlist of the records of the Bishop and Archdeacon of Ely (1971) [Hallward Library BX5107.E5]
GIBBONS, Alfred. Ely episcopal records: A calendar and concise view of the episcopal records preserved in the Muniment Room of the Palace at Ely (1891)
PURVIS, J S. An introduction to ecclesiastical records (1953)
STAFFORDSHIRE RECORD OFFICE Cumulative Hand List, part 1: Lichfield Joint Record Office, Diocesan, Probate and Church Commissioners Records (2/1978) [Hallward Library Oversize BX5107.L4]
SMITH, David M. The Court of York : a handlist of the cause papers and an index to the archiepiscopal court books (York, 2003) [Hallward Library 4/Bib ZBX5107.Y5]
STEER, F W and KIRBY, I M. Catalogue of the Records of the Bishop [of Chichester], Archdeacons and Former Exempt Jurisdictions (1966) [Hallward Library BX5107.C6]
STEWART, Pamela. Diocese of Salisbury: guide to the records of the bishop, the archdeacons of Salisbury and Wiltshire, and other archidiaconal and peculiar jurisdictions (Wiltshire County Council, Guide to the Record Offices, Part 4, Trowbridge, 1973) [Hallward Library 4/Bib ZBX1494.W4]
TARVER, Anne. Church court records : an introduction for family and local historians (Phillimore, Chichester, 1995) [King's Meadow Campus Ref BV761.A9, and Hallward Library BV761.A9]
VAGE, J.A. Devon Record Handlist no 1 - The Records of the Bishop of Exeter's Consistory Court to 1660 (Devon Record Office, 1981)
WEBB, C C and SMITH, D M. 'Archdeacons' records' in Short Guides to Records, 2nd Series Guides 25-48, ed. K M Thomson (1997) [King’s Meadow Campus Ref D8.H4.S31]
WOODCOCK, A M. Handlist of records of Leicester archdeaconry (Leicester, 1954) [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Lei 1.D2 MUS]
Secondary literature
ADDY, John. The archdeacon and ecclesiastical discipline in Yorkshire, 1598-1714: clergy and the churchwardens (1963) [Central Store 2 Pamphlet DA690.Y6]
ADDY, John, 'The archives of the archdeaconry of Richmond', in Archives: the journal of the British Records Association, 7 (April 1965), pp. 25-33 [King’s Meadow Campus Manuscripts Department Periodicals]
ADDY, John. Sin and Society in the Seventeenth Century (Routledge, 1989) – a study of Cheshire [Hallward Library BX5107.C5.A3]
ANGLIN, J P. The court of the archdeacon of Essex, 1571-1609 (University of California PhD thesis, 1965)
CLARK, Richard. 'How was the Church of England Restored in the 1660s? Bishop Hacket, the Act of Uniformity of 1662, and the Archdeaconry of Derby', in Midland History 38.1: 16-35.[Hallward Library Periodicals: DA]
COLLINSON, Patrick. The Elizabethan Puritan Movement (London, 1967) [Hallward Library DA356.C6]
COLLINSON, Patrick. The religion of protestants: the church in English society, 1559-1625 (Oxford, 1982) [Hallward Library BX5070.C6]
COX, Jane. Hatred pursued beyond the grave : tales of our ancestors from the London Church Courts (London, c1993) [Hallward Library Documents Division UK/P93/326/1]
ELVEY, Elizabeth M., 'Early records of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham: their importance to the social historian', in Records of Buckinghamshire: being the journal of the Architectural and Archaeological Society for the County of Buckingham, 19 (1971), pp. 55-66 [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA/BUC ]
EMMISON, F.G. Elizabethan Life: Morals and the Church Courts (Chelmsford, 1973) [Hallward Library DA670.E7.E5]
GILKES, M A. The Archbishop of York’s Peculiar of Southwell 1600-1740 (Certificate of Education thesis, University of Leeds; St John’s College, York, 1973)
HARRIS, Troy L., '"Weak" Legal Pluralism and the Eighteenth-Century English Ecclesiastical Courts', in Routledge Journal of legal history, 23 (2022), pp. 288-318
HEATH, Peter, 'The medieval archdeaconry and Tudor bishopric of Chester', in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 20 (October 1969), pp. 243-52 [Hallward Library Periodicals: BL]
HELMHOLZ, R.H., 'Harbouring Sexual Offenders: Ecclesiastical Courts and Controlling Misbehavior', in The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3 (1998), pp. 258-268 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
HEWITT, D. 'Some cases from the Defamation Jurisdiction of the Archdeaconry of Richmond', in Journal of Legal History, vol. 19, no. 3 (1998), pp. 251-269 [Hallward Library Periodicals: K, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
HINDLE, S., 'Dearth, fasting and alms: the campaign for general hospitality in late Elizabethan England', in Past and Present 172 (August 2001), pp. 44-86 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
HOLLAND, K., 'The Distribution of Catholic Communities in Nottinghamshire During the Reign of King James VI and I', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 124 (2020), pp. 113-126
HOULBROOKE, Ralph. Church Courts and the People During the English Reformation 1520-1570 (Oxford, 1979) [Hallward Library JN775.H6]
MARCOMBE, D. ‘The Wages of Sin: Sex, Shame and Retribution in Early Modern England’ in Royle, E. (ed), Regional Studies in the History of Religion in Britain since the Later Middle Ages (Hull, Humberside College of Further Education, [1987?]), pp. 52-56
MAYNARD, W.B. 'The response of the Church of England to economic and demographic change: the Archdeaconry of Durham, 1800-1851', in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 42, no. 3 (1991), pp. 437-462 [Hallward Library Periodicals: BL]
MCBRIDE, Paula, 'Witchcraft in the East Midlands 1518-1642' in Midland history, 44 (2019), pp. 222-237
MOORE, Percival A. 'Proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts in the Archdeaconry of Leicester, 1516-1535' in Reports and papers of the architectural and archaeological societies of the counties of Lincoln and Northampton, 28 (1905-6), pp. 117-220, 593-662 [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Lin]
O’DAY, Rosemary and HEAL, Felicity (eds). Continuity and change: personnel and administration of the church in England, 1500-1642 (Leicester, 1976)
OUTHWAITE, R.B. The rise and fall of the English ecclesiastical courts, 1500-1860 (Cambridge, 2006) [Hallward Library KD8682.O8]
PEMBERTON, W.A., 'Some notes on the court of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries', in Records of Buckinghamshire : being the journal of the Architectural and Archaeological Society for the County of Buckingham, 22 (1980), pp. 19-32 [Hallward Library Periodicals: DA/BUC]
PETERS, Robert. 'The administration of the archdeaconry of St Albans, 1580-1625', in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 13 (April 1962), pp. 61-75 [Hallward Library Periodicals: BL]
PETERS, Robert. Oculus episcopi: administration in the archdeaconry of St Albans, 1580-1625 (Manchester, 1963)
POOS, L.R. 'Sex, Lies, and the Church Courts of Pre-Reformation England' in Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol 25, No. 4 (Spring 1995), pp. 585-607 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource], Although this article is concerned with medieval church courts, the details about how causes proceeded are relevant to a study of post-Reformation causes.
POSTLES, David. 'Penance and the market place : a Reformation dialogue with the medieval church (c.1250-c.1600)', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 54:3 (2003), 441-68 [Hallward Library Periodicals: BL, and available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
POTTER, J M. The ecclesiastical courts in the diocese of Canterbury, 1603-1665 (London University M Phil thesis, 1973)
QUAIFE, G R. Wanton Wenches and Wayward Wives: peasants and illicit sex in early 17th century England (Croom Helm, 1979) – a study of Somerset [Hallward Library HQ18.G7]
RITCHIE, Carson I A. The ecclesiastical courts of York (Arbroath, 1956)
SHARPE, J.A., Defamation and sexual slander in early modern England: the church courts at York (Borthwick Institute for Historical Research, York, 1980) [Hallward Library Pamphlet DA690.Y6]
TARVER, Anne. Tithe disputes in the Archdeaconry Court of Leicester, 1560-1640 (University of Nottingham M.A. Dissertation, 1989) [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Oversize Not 5.N4 TAR]
TARVER, Anne. The Consistory Court of the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry and its work, 1680-1830 (University of Warwick Ph.D. thesis, 1998) [King’s Meadow Campus Manuscripts Department BX5107.L4]
TILL, Barry. The church courts 1660-1720 : the revival of procedure (York, 2006) [Hallward Library Pamphlet DA690.Y6/109]
THOMSON, Andrew. 'Church Discipline: the Operation of the Winchester Consistory Court in the Seventeenth Century', in History, 91 Issue 303 (July 2006), pp. 337-359 [Hallward Library Periodicals: D]
THOMSON, Andrew, 'Church Discipline in Seventeenth-Century England: Flourishing or Floundering? The Worcestershire Experience', in Midland history, 45 (2020), pp. 292-308
VAGE, J A. ‘Ecclesiastical discipline in the early seventeenth century: some findings and some problems from the archdeaconry of Cornwall’, in the Journal of the Society of Archivists, Vol. 7 (1982), pp 85-105 [King’s Meadow Campus Manuscripts Department Periodicals]
VARLEY, Joan, 'Episcopal records: with particular relation to the diocese of Lincoln and archdeaconry of Leicester', in Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society, 46 (1970/1), pp. 45-64 [King’s Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Lei]
WOODCOCK, Brian L. Medieval ecclesiastical courts in the diocese of Canterbury (London, 1952) [Hallward Library JN775.W6]
WYKES, David L., Protestant Dissent and the Law: Enforcement and Persecution, 1662-72', in Studies in church history, 56 (2020), pp. 306-319 [available to University of Nottingham library members as an electronic resource]
Next page: Pre-nineteenth century English Diocesan Records held in other archival repositories