1 Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York, 1300–1858 Editing and Standardisation in the Cause Papers Database The Cause Papers project provided an on-line searchable catalogue of more than 13,000 cause papers relating to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York, the original records for which are held at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York. The project aimed to pioneer a new standard of excellence in data accuracy and standardization. Cataloguing such a large and varied number of records posed numerous challenges in these areas, including the problem of how to incorporate spelling and language variations of surname and place names. The following document provides information on the methods used by the project team in compiling, editing and standardizing the data. It is split into the following sections:- 1) Information provided by the database 2) List of standard reference works used by the project team 3) List of types and sub-types of cases commonly used in the database 4) Standardization of Forenames 5) Standardization of Surnames – Part A 6) Standardization of Surnames – Part B 7) Problematic Place-names – Identification and Standardization Please note that this text is not intended as a guide to on-line catalogue. Users requiring assistance with searching the catalogue should consult the on-screen help text. 2 Editing and standardisation for the Cause Paper Database 1) Information provided by the database Owing to the volume and complexity of manuscript material involved, it was not possible to provide full transcriptions of the cause papers. Instead, the following data is included: General background information: - court type - brief details of the type of case; - the start and end date of the case; - details of which types of documents are included (eg. libel, deposition, sentences) - the number of documents in each case - case outcome Information about participants - names of all participants in the case (not only plaintiffs and defendants, but also witnesses, proctors, etc), including all the variant spellings of each surname, together with a standardized, modern version of the surname to facilitate searching. - Role in the case - Locations associated with them, including place of residence - Age - Occupation - Status Information about locations: - all locations listed in the document, including the places of residence for all the participants (if known), with all the variant spellings, linked to a standardized, modern version of the place-name. 3 This document takes each of these data types in turn and provides details of the decisions made about how to enter this information in a standard form, to ensure that the database was easily searchable. Court type The details of the type of court the case was heard in are given in the following standard forms: - undefined - Chancery - Consistory - High Commission - Curia Ebor - Dean and Chapter - Exchequer - Prerogative - Peculiar Type of case In each instance, a ‘generic case type’ was selected from the following options: - Undefined - Annulment - Appeals - Benefice cases - Breach of faith - Defamation 4 - Immorality - Matrimonial - Pew dispute - Separation - Testamentary - Tithe - Violation of Church Rights In addition, a ‘specific type’ was given in most cases and a list kept by the research team. This list, created in Excel, is provided as section 3 of this document and identifies the most commonly used specific types. The exception is Tithe cases, in which the ‘specific type’ field was used to indicate the crops and livestock mentioned in the cause. Dates Where the start and end dates of the case were unambiguous, a ‘certain date’ field was selected and the information was entered in this format: day/month/year (e.g. 26/06/1678). In some cases, it was possible only to attribute the case to a month or year, in which case the date would appear thus: 06/1678 or simply 1678. Many cases, however, had some level of ambiguity about the dating, so an ‘uncertain date’ field was selected and recorded in the same format. Whilst it was not practical to maintain this distinction on the website, records listing a definite day or month indicate a ‘certain’ date. For the purposes of dating the documents, all members of the project team used the standard reference work: C. R. Cheney, ed., A Handbook of Dates for Students of British History, rev. M. Jones (2nd edn. Cambridge, 2000). For causes in which no date could be found, the team sometimes left the date field blank, but more commonly estimated a century and put the start and end dates as the beginning and end of that period. Note also that the project team recorded the dates as they appeared in the cause papers. This means that up until 1752 (when the current, standard, Gregorian calendar was 5 adopted) the dates reflect the historic use of the Julian calendar, in which the year starts in March - thus 01/1690 follows 12/1690, not 12/1689. Extant Documents The database states whether or not the following types of document are included in the case: deposition(s), libel(s) and sentence(s). The number of pieces (separate documents) of manuscript was also recorded. Depositions generally refer to witness statements. Technically, libels are the charges drawn up by the plaintiff; however, in some instances a record may indicate that it has a libel if the documents include a counter-allegation by the defendant. The sentence gives an indication of which party (if any) won the case and who was charged costs. It does not provide the judge’s thoughts on the cause. Case outcome In the vast majority of cases, this simply states whether the plaintiff or defendant won or lost, occasionally with information about the award of costs and whether the judge’s decision was appealed against. The cause papers do not usually provide an insight into the sanctions imposed on participants, however. Locations All locations are listed in the document, including the places of residence for all the participants, with all the variant spellings, linked to a standardized, modern version of the place-name. Where possible the researchers included a description of the place type, which was selected from the following options: - undefined - archdeaconry - borough - boundaries 6 - chapelry - city - civil parish - common/fell - country - diocese - division - ecclesiastical parish - ecclesiastical province - fieldname - forest - habitation - hamlet - hundred - grange - liberty - manor - mill - prebend - region/district - religious house - rural deanery - site - street name - tithing region - town - township - urban area - vernacular region - vernacular site - ville 7 - wapentake - waterways - woodland The modern form of the place-name was derived thus: 1. Place-names were always translated from the Latin, regardless of date. 2. In the vast majority of cases, the modern forms of place-names are found within the English Placename Society series, as the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire volumes are particularly fulsome. On occasion, it has been necessary to use other sources, notably the Victoria County History volumes and reliable internet resources. All places smaller than a parish in the database are linked to the relevant parish, city, town or county, to make searching easier. 3. In order to determine when certain areas became designated as parishes, this reference work has been used: F. A. Youngs, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England (2 vols. London, 1991). If it was not clear which parish was meant, the ancient parish designated by Youngs, Guide, was chosen and a brief note made in the ‘additional notes’ box. 4. In some cases, a place has been split across two or more parishes. In these cases, one has been chosen and a list has been kept. This list forms section 7 of this document. 5. Religious houses were identified using D. Knowles and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales (London, New York & Toronto, 1953) and the Victoria County History series. The modern version was always entered in this form: ‘Abbey of St Mary’, ‘Priory of Lewes’. 6. Fieldnames cannot always be identified, but often have recognizable forms, e.g. ‘Suthfeld’ or ‘Bushopfeld’. In such cases, a suitable modern version has been provided. 7. In cases where a place-name cannot be identified, the first variant is taken as the standard form. 8 Information about participants Where possible, given names were provided in English, in a standard form, using the following reference work: C.T. Martin, ‘A Few Latin Christian Names With Their English Equivalents’ in The Record Interpreter (2nd edn. Sussex, 1910), pp. 451-464. Some Christian names appeared in the manuscripts which were not included in this work. A short separate list was kept of the standard forms relating to such names used during the project, which is available in section 4 of this document. Sometimes a participant was a corporate body, such as ‘dean and chapter’ or ‘prior and monks’. In such cases, ‘dean and chapter of x’ was recorded in the given name box, in modern English. In some cases, as an individual dean/prior is also listed, in which case he appears as a separate entry. Surname standardization was more complex. All the variant spellings used in the manuscript were included and can be searched. In addition, a standardized modern spelling of the surname was added, using the following system: 1. Language/translation of names. Prior to 1734, the Church records were kept in Latin (although some parts of them were written in English depending on date). Therefore, before 1734, all Latin surnames were translated to give a modern English version. In this context, it is worth noting that ‘Relicta’ has been translated as ‘Widow’. From 1734, surnames were not translated, but simply modernized where appropriate. On the rare occasions where a surname appears in a language other than Latin or English, it has not been given a standard version.