| Description | This collection encompasses the core archive of Canterbury Cathedral, including the records of Canterbury Christ Church Priory and the New Foundation of Canterbury Cathedral, as constituted in 1541. The records of the Archbishop of Canterbury are held at Lambeth Palace Library in London.
The classification stucture of this collection does not distinguish between records relating to the priory and records relating to the New Foundation. Some series cross the Dissolution, for instance the Register and Inventory series and the Miscellaneous Accounts (DCc/MA) series. The classification structure was developed by a series of cataloguers, beginning with C R Bunce in the early 19th century.
ARCHIVE OF CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH PRIORY
The pre-Reformation collection includes material dating from the 9th century until 1540. In 2016, it was added to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register. It includes the charters, registers and cartularies, financial and administrative records, estate records and court records kept by the medieval Cathedral. The Cathedral with its monastery (to become known as the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury) was founded in the year 597; the earliest surviving records in the archive date from the 9th century. The Cathedral Priory was dissolved under King Henry VIII in 1540, with the Cathedral refounded, without its monastery, the following year; the medieval archive covers records up to this date. The great part of the archive is written in Latin, although there are some items in Old English, English and French.
There have been some losses from the archive but on the whole the archive has survived very well, still in the care of its creating institution. For items from the former monastic manuscript book collection, see DCc/LitMs and DCc/AddMs.
Key divisions and series of the priory's records include the following:
ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIAL - Arrears (DCc/Arrears), Assisa Scaccarii (DCc/AS), Bedels' & Serjeants' Rolls (DCc/BR), Domestic Economy (DCc/DE), Miscellaneous Accounts (DCc/MA), Obedientiaries' Accounts (ie DCc/Almoner, DCc/Anniversarian, DCc/Bailiffofliberty, DCc/Bartoner, DCc/Cellarer, DCc/Chamberlain, DCc/MonkWarden, DCc/Feretrar, DCc/Granger, DCc/Infirmarian, DCc/Prior, DCc/PriorsChaplain, DCc/Sacrist, DCc/Treasurer), DCc/Taxation
CHARTERS - Chartae Antiquae (DCc/ChAnt). See also DCc/SealBag and DCc/Seal.
COURT RECORDS - Ecclesiastical Suit Rolls, Court Rolls (DCc/CR)
LETTERS - Christ Church Letters (DCc/ChChLet), Eastry correspondence (DCc/EC)
MANORIAL AND ESTATE RECORDS - court rolls (DCc/CR), rentals (DCc/Rentals), Rural Economy (DCc/RE), Sheep Warden (DCc/SheepWarden), surveys (DCc/Surveys). See also U15.
REGISTERS, CARTULARIES AND INVENTORIES - DCc/Register, DCc/Inventory
SEDE VACANTE - Scrapbooks (DCc/SVSB), Visitation Rolls (DCc/VR). See also Registers.
Included in the archive are some exceptional sets of documents, which are of very high significance. Particularly important items in the archive include:
Anglo-Saxon charters: there are some 30 charters in the archive which date from before 1066. Some of the Cathedral’s Anglo-Saxon charters were removed by collectors in the 17th century but the collection at the Cathedral remains extremely strong. These charters are older than any of the buildings standing today within the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral.
Early Norman documents: a highlight is the Accord of Winchester, dating from 1072, which bears the autograph cross of William the Conqueror (see photograph), and the ‘Domesday Monachorum’ (see photograph), which is a variation of the text of the Domesday Book, relating to the property of the Archbishop and Cathedral.
Registers: there is an exceptional run of registers and cartularies, including a cartulary with the text of the 1215 Magna Carta.
Charters: there are some 8,000 charters in the archive. These include fine examples of charters of medieval Kings and Queens of England, and also an important sequence of charters of the Kings of France granting wine to the Cathedral. Many charters help to tell the story of the development of the cult of St Thomas Becket, murdered in the Cathedral in 1170.
Seals and seal bags: the charters, above, include some fine examples of seals (see photograph) and there is a very important associated collection of textile seal bags.
‘Professions of obedience’: highly significant is the series of oaths sworn by bishops to the Archbishop of Canterbury from the late 11th century onwards.
Monastic administrative and financial records: the series of accounts for the monastic Cathedral is very extensive and begins unusually early.
Estate records: the administrative and financial records of the medieval Cathedral’s estates cover a wide geographical area in England. There are also records relating to estates in south-east Ireland.
Court records: the medieval Cathedral had administrative powers during times when the position of Archbishop of Canterbury was vacant. This means that its ‘sede vacante’ court records are of particular national importance. There are also strong sets of records for local manorial courts.
ARCHIVE OF THE NEW FOUNDATION OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
The post 1541 archive relects the full range of activity of the cathedral and its community. Many of the series into which the archive is divided were established by Cyprian Rondeau Bunce, J B Sheppard and Charles Woodruff. . Records relating to the 'parish' nature of the cathedral (marriage registers, service sheets etc) are held in U3/100.
Key divisions and series of the records include the following:
ACCOUNTS: Receiver's and Treasurer's Accounts (DCc/TA, DCC/TV, DCC, RA, DCc/RV)
CORRESPONDENCE: Auditor's Letters, (DCc/AL), Letter scrapbooks (DCc/ChChLet, DCc/CantLet, DCc.MSSB)
CONVEYANCES AND LEASES: particularly Boxes in the Basemenet (DCc/BB), DCc/Leases
COURT ROLLS: DCc/CR. Also U15 and U63.
REGISTERS,CHAPTER ACT BOOKS, SEAL BOOKS: DCC/Register, DCc/CA
MANORIAL AND OTHER ESTATE RECORDS: See U15 and U63
RECORDS RELATING TO THE CATHEDRAL FABRIC: DCc/Fabric, DCc/PLAN
PHOTOGRAPHS, PRINTS AND DRAWINGS: DCc/PLAN, PHOTO, PRINDRAW
SEDE VACANTE MATERIAL: DCc/SV1
VISITATION PAPERS: DCc/VP
For items which left the archive and are now returned, see DCc/Shadwell and also the Ecclesiastical Commissioners' series of U15 and U63.
For an account of the development and management of the archive, see Nigel Ramsay, 'The Cathedral Archives and Library' in P Collinson et al, 'A history of Canterbury Cathedral' (1995) |