Categories of Documents


Categories of Documents
The classification of documents is perhaps not a very scientific process, but we can set out some categories which will help us to understand how the medieval literate legal and administrative process worked. These categories will be refined as the section progresses. While various classes of documents are identified by scholars, their classification into some sort of hierarchical tree seems somewhat at variance. The various categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive and the relationships between them reveal something of the literate workings of medieval society. Our main priority here is to work out what terms mean, how particular legal or administrative processes were carried out and how records were kept.
General information on these topics can be obtained from van Caenegem 1978 also Elton 1969 also Clanchy 1993 also Bagley 1972 also Bischoff 1990 also Johnson and Jenkinson 1915 also Jenkinson 1927also Galbraith 1949 and Galbraith 1952.
Letters of authority Anglo-Saxon charters and writs English royal charters Forged charters Diplomas Papal bulls Writs and mandates Letters patent Letters close Warrants Private charters Borough charters Legal documents Petitions Notarial documents Chirographs, Indentures and Final Concords Wills and Inventories Deeds Governmental records Domesday Book English chancery records European royal records Papal records Local records Financial records English Exchequer records Surveys and rentals Town records Manorial accounts Monastic accounts Business accounts Household accounts Ecclesiastical records Monastic cartularies Bishop's registers Visitation records Court records Parish records Institutional or private records Cartularies and registers Guild records Heraldic records Legal records Lists and rules Formularies Court rolls Year books Statute books Records of the Inns of Court Manorial court records Historical records Annals and Chronicles Personal items Letters Certificates


Types of Documents
The Written Word
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