Acts of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 1609–1642 (review)

The Westminster Abbey Record Series was launched in 1997 with the aim of making the abbey's archival holdings available to a wider audience. This meticulously edited volume, a transcription of the second of the Westminster Chapter's manuscript Act books, serves that purpose well. Two earlier volumes in the series were required to transcribe the first Act book, which covers the period from 1543 to 1609. This third volume completes the project of bringing all the Chapter Acts from the Reformation to the Civil War into print.

The Act books record only the formal decisions of the dean and chapter, and the great majority of these concern the administration of the chapter's vast estate holdings. Westminster had long been one of the wealthiest houses in England. It managed to remain so despite multiple refoundations during the sixteenth century, the last of which in 1560 under Elizabeth left it as a collegiate church and royal peculiar: that is, under the direct control of the crown. Most of the Act book entries begin with a recording of leases and lease payments. Although largely formulaic, they will be of interest to those tracing the history of the administrative machinery of the church. Also, the frequent payments-in-kind provide an illuminating glimpse into something of the economic and dietary fabric of early modern English life: boar, capons, lamb, oxen, rabbits, and even eels all serve as payments at one point or another. (This partial listing serves as an example of the thoroughness of Knighton's sixty-eight-page index; entries for rents-in-kind alone run for a page and a half.)

In addition to entries concerning management of property, the Acts also record presentations of chapter livings, patents of office, maintenance of the abbey church and other buildings, administrative issues related to the Westminster school and the library, and a miscellany of matters associated with the abbey's liturgical and ceremonial functions. Despite the turbulent political and religious history of the period covered, historians turning to the Acts as a source for insight into the debates of the day will be disappointed, since details of the discussions leading to decisions are absent. Sufficiently contextualized, however, the terse entries can be suggestive. One can imagine a lively discussion around the unexcused absence of the school's headmaster, Richard Ireland, whose presence in France had led to rumors "touching his disposition in religion" (12). The chapter, having only recently commended his service, was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, write the matter off to "jelowsy," and give him a chance to explain himself. (He never did, as Knighton helpfully informs.)

The Acts are a curious mixture of matters great and small, but nearly all give testimony to the chapter's solemn duty to protect the abbey's (and thereby their own) interests. Accounts were audited regularly, and much care was taken to preserve leases, surveys, and other documents that provided the legal basis for its many revenue streams. These records could only be accessed by three keys that were held separately. In the same entry alongside this provision, the chapter also found it necessary to instruct the kitchen clerk to eject all "unnecessary hangbies" and to insure that "no servants or strangers to be admitted into the buttery or sellar, nor to bring his friends to the buttery hatch" (58).

Knighton's editing is masterful and shows the fruit of years of study of the abbey's history and its archives. The introduction offers an overview of the main topics of the Acts as well as helpful biographies of deans and canons appearing in the Acts for the first time. (Readers may find it useful as well to consult the introduction from Knighton's edition of the first Act book, especially concerning the chapter's history, as he does not repeat the information given there...