This volume, published on behalf of the Stamford Survey Group, is the third to appear in a series designed to put texts relating to the history of the town into the public domain to encourage the study of the past of this town. The earlier volumes are the first part of the borough Hall Book William Browne’s Town: the Stamford Hall Book volume 1 1465-1492 (2005), and The Act Book of St Katherine’s Gild, Stamford, 1480-1534 (2011).
This book contains notes on some 1500 title deeds relating to the town from the twelfth century to 1547; they have been drawn largely from the Public Record Office of The National Archives, but they also include deeds in other collections. For the first time, in association with other material available, it is now possible to study in more detail the history of Stamford in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries when the town was at the height of its importance, as the venue for one of Europe’s greatest international fairs and as a centre for religious study and training. The collection also reveals the nature of the urban society and its land market during the whole of the long medieval period. Detailed indexes accompany the summaries, and a brief introduction indicates something of the value of this material. It is a volume which will be of interest to all who study medieval urban communities, those concerned with medieval records, and economic historians engaged in a study of the medieval land market, as well as Stamford historians. |
