Agricultural History Review, Volume 61 Part 2 (2013), p. 356

This useful volume has been published as part of Pen & Sword’s series for researchers in family and community history. The volume combines the history of probate jurisdictions, with a discussion of the various kinds of probate records, and then provides a guide to searching and accessing these materials in the various national, regional and local repositories into which they have been organized.

The study begins with a discussion of the origins of wills, the probate process and a description of the various ecclesiastical probate jurisdictions. The latter can be very complex, and baffling to the newcomer, as are the patterns of usage by testators, so chapter 2 provides a simplified, but very helpful, overview of these. As Raymond notes, any local study is likely to involve the necessity of delving into the minutiae of sub-county ecclesiastical peculiars and other jurisdictions, and testators’ propensity not to act in entirely predictable ways! However, this introduction highlights these potential pitfalls.

Raymond then moves on to considering other kinds of probate documents, notably the probate inventory, but also sometimes neglected documents, such as probate administrations, accounts and probate litigation. For many testators, all that survives is the administration bond, recorded in the bishop or archdeacon’s probate registers, and, as Margaret Spufford showed more than 20 years ago, to build up a realistic picture of net worth, the probate inventory (the moveable assets transferred to the executors) should really always be read alongside the probate account (the liabilities on the estate at the time of decease).

The discussion of probate repositories is very helpful, particularly the introduction to the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York, in the National Archives and the Borthwick Institute. These discussions are illustrated with screen-shots of the electronic catalogues for such institutions. While these are very helpful to the newcomer, the danger is that Web sites and electronic catalogues can change with tremendous rapidity, rendering these descriptions obsolete. No doubt, Pen & Sword have factored this into their plans for a series of updated editions!

As noted, these volumes are aimed at new researchers and a non-professional market. For more experienced family and community historians, as well as academics, their strength lies in offering a handy and comprehensive gathering of information, which can be recommended as a guide to the novice. As such, they remain good value and deserve a place on many a shelf.