Catalogue description Records of the Lord Chancellor

Details of Division within C
Reference: Division within C
Title: Records of the Lord Chancellor
Description:

The lord chancellor was ultimately responsible for all the records of all the divisions of Chancery. However, a few series of records derive from the chancellor's own direct responsibilities.

  • Petitions for ecclesiastical appointments are in C 84.
  • Church measures laid before Parliament by the chancellor, under statute, are in C 50.
  • Warrants to the chancellor, authorising use of the great seal, are in C 81, C 82 and C 83.
  • Warrants in respect of diplomatic authority are in C 187.
Date: 1223-2004
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Lord Chancellor's Office, 1885-1972
Physical description: 6 series
Administrative / biographical background:

The earliest chancellor whose appointment is accepted as certain was Herfast, chancellor in 1069, although it is possible that Regenbald served as such under Edward the Confessor, and the office may have been filled from 1066 onwards. Thereafter the post of chancellor became an established part of the royal administration, although the component duties (in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, primarily the headship of the king's secretariat and the custody of his seal) were occasionally separated, since a distinct 'keeper of the great seal' might be appointed at times of political exigency (for example, during the minority of Henry III); similarly, the duties were at times exercised by other officers (such as William Marshal as regent, 1216-1218). This separation of duties was eventually prohibited by statute in 1562.

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