Catalogue description Great cowcher or carte regum, I. Register of evidences of title for the Duchy of...

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Details of DL 42/1
Reference: DL 42/1
Description:

Great cowcher or carte regum, I. Register of evidences of title for the Duchy of Lancaster and its constituent parts, including the earldoms of Lancaster, Leicester, Derby and Lincoln, dated Hen I-Hen IV.

The volume contains numbered charters copied into the Cowcher, with the majority describing transactions involving land and property, often giving details of landscape, urban and rural settlement and the nature of tenure across the duchy's estates. This volume also consists of transcriptions relating to forest pleadings of Lancaster and Pickering dated 8 Edw III-12 Edw III (1334-1340) (there is an eyre in the 1330's looking back to previous eyres in the 1280's).

The duchy's medieval holdings encompassed numerous properties across the whole of England, including estates in Berkshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Leicestershire, London, Middlesex, (the manor of the Savoy), Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and South Wales.

Items in this piece are dated by the date of the original document copied into the volume. An approximate date is given if the original document is undated. Each numbered item relates to a document that exists or existed. The un-numbered items (for example, the forest pleadings) do not correspond to an original, copied, document.

Note: Catalogue entries for this piece have been enhanced as part of a project funded by The Friends of The National Archives, in partnership with the University of Lincoln, completed in March 2024.
Date: c 1402-c 1407
Arrangement:

The volume is arranged in parts which are signified by headings at the top of each page. The item references within this piece are formatted to represent the volume number, part, and number of the entry listed in the volume. Some items are un-numbered in the document and for cataloguing purposes these have been referenced with a 'U', followed by a sequential number (eg. 'U1' and 'U2' etc) as there may be more than one un-numbered entry in the same part.

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Not Public Record(s)
Language: French and Latin
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description
Publication note:

For further details of the Cowcher and the Lancastrian estates see R F Somerville, History of the Duchy of Lancaster, 2 vols (London, 1953-1970).
Unpublished finding aids:

For calendar, see DL 41/36/12 and IND 1/17591 and for 15th century transcript see DL 42/192-193.

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