Catalogue description Court of Augmentations: Deeds of Purchase and Exchange

This series consists of deeds of purchase and exchange by Henry VIII and Edward VI.

Lands brought to the Crown by purchase and exchange were the responsibility of the Court of Augmentations from 1536 to1554, and were administered by a special Receiver-General, Auditor and Surveyor. The court also, therefore, kept the monarch's copy of the instruments of purchase and exchange, which form the basis of this series. These were signed and sealed by the subject.

The instruments of exchange are mainly indentures of bargain and sale in English, while those of purchase are mainly by deed of gift in Latin. There are also some letters patent under the great seal and other deeds, which must have belonged to the Duke of Somerset. The documents in this series exhibit many fine examples of personal and ecclesiastical seals.

Court of Augmentations, 1536-1547

There are two manuscript calendars for this series IND 1/16981 and IND 1/16982, one for each reign, which include person and place-name indexes.