Testament of ISSUED BY t^c (gtxtxB^ (Record ^ocietg Youstoune Eimiteb. [XVII.] ihe Index Library. CALENDAR OF WILLS PROVED IN THE CONSISTORY COURT (city and deanery Ot BRISTOL DIVISION) OF THE (^ie^op of (f rie^of, 1572—1792. AND ALSO A CALENDAR OF WILLS <5rea^ Orphan (^oofte PRESERVED IN THE COUNCIL HOUSE, BRISTOL, 1379—1674. EDITED BY EDWARD ALEXANDER FRY. ISSUED TO THE SUBSCRIBERS BY THE BRITISH RFXORD SOCIETY, LIMITED. 1897. KRAU5 REPRINT Nendeln/Liechtenstein 1968 Reprinted from a copy in the collections of the University of Illinois Library Reproduced by permission of the original publishers KRAU5 REPRINT a Division of KRAUS-THOMSON ORGANIZATION LIMITED Nendeln /Liechtenstein 1968 Printed in Germany Lessingdrudcerei in Wiesbaden INTRODUCTION. The Bishopric of Bristol was one of the six Sees founded about the year 1542 (the others being Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough and Westminster) by Letters patent, authorised by Act of Parliament, 31 Henry VIII. c. 9, a.d. 1539-40. Until this date it had formed part, as did also Gloucester, of the Diocese of Worcester. From 156X for a period of twenty-eight years it was held in commendam by the Bishops of Gloucester. From 1589 to 1836 the See was again a separate one; in the latter year, however, it was united with that of Gloucester, and remained so until this present year, 1897, when it has again a Bishop of its own. The jurisdiction of the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Bristol at the formation of the See in 1542 was exercised over the City and Deanery of Bristol, and also over the whole of the County of Dorset, in which county there was also a court of the Archdeacon. The Wills and Administrations in the Consistory and Archdeacon's Courts which relate to Dorset, are, and always have been, preserved at Blandford in that county, and the Calendars of those courts are now appearing in " The Index Library ". The present volume is a Calendar of such testamentary documents of the Consistory Court, relating to the City and ancient Deanery of Bristol, as are now preserved in the Probate Registry of that city. The jurisdiction of the court was exercised over the following parishes, viz : — Three parishes in Somersetshire which anciently, i.e., before 1542, were in the Archdeaconry of Bath in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, Abbot's Leigh, St. Mary Redcliff, including the!, -->, ni. 1 r o^ T-u I These were originally Chapelries Lhapelry of St. I homas, 1 r . T^, • t-i. /- of Bedmmster. lemple, otherwise St. Cross, J Fifteen parishes in the City of Bristol, anciently in the Archdeaconry of Gloucester in the Diocese of Worcester, but now contained in the Deanery of Bristol, All Saints, 1 * St. Augustine the Less, vi Introduction to Bristol Wills. Christchurch, otherwise St. Trinity, united in 1788 with St. Ewen's, otherwise St. Owan's, St. James, St John Baptist, including St. Lawrence, united about 1580, St. Leonard, united in 1766 with St. Nicholas, St. Michael, St. Mark, otherwise Gaunt's, St. Mary-le-port, St. Peter, St. Philip and St. Jacob, St. Stephen, St. Werburgh. Seventeen outlying parishes, all in Gloucestershire, forming anciently the Deanery of Bristol, but now (except Clifton, which still remains in the Deanery of Bristol) forming the Deanery of Stapleton, Almondsbury, Alveston, a Chapelry of Olveston, Clifton, Compton Greenfield, Elberton, annexed to Olveston in 1767, Filton, Henbury, Norl'hwick, jChapelries of Henbury, Horfield, Littleton on Severn, Mangotsfield, Olveston, Stapleton, Stoke Gifford, Westbury on Trym, Winterborn St. Michael. As before stated, previous to 1542 the City of Bristol and the whole County of Gloucester were contained in the Diocese of Worcester, so that Wills and Administrations of people dying therein before

Verbatim Historical Transcription & Abstract

Archival Source & Preservation Citation

Source Series: SRS Vol 2: The Commissariot Record of Edinburgh, Part II (1601-1700) • Piece / Ref: Commissariot of Edinburgh

Geographic & Surname Cross-References

Contemporaneous Records from this Collection / Region