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Guide to Users

How to Search

The ‘Search the Court Cases’ site makes available to scholars, researchers, local historians and genealogists details of the 738 surviving cases for the Court of Chivalry 1634-1640. The search facilities allow investigation by person, place or subject.

For Academic Researchers

The cases site provides a full account of case papers relating to the surviving cases. Each case begins with an abstract summarising the main details, followed by a calendar of all the surviving documents, either summarising these or, where they are of particular interest, transcribing them in full. The aim is to provide a calendar which is sufficiently full to satisfy the needs of most researchers.

For Project and Dissertation Students

The material on the site offers scope for a series of well-defined research projects using primary source materials. There are opportunities to explore a rich variety of topics relating to the social and cultural history of the early seventeenth century, from the language of insult and defamation to the conduct of disputes and duelling, from contemporary understandings of what it meant to be a gentleman to the social life of inns or parish churches. Alternatively one can carry out local studies on a county basis, or explore cases relating to a particular profession, or class of litigant.

For genealogists and local historians

The site provides a wealth of genealogical and biographical detail on litigants and witnesses. Each witness statement includes information on the individual’s age, place of birth and how long he/she had lived at a particular location. Depositions offer local historians a wealth of circumstantial detail on social relationships and disputes within local communities.

These cases can be searched by clicking on the drop-down list of numbered cases and pressing ‘Go!’;

Or, alternatively, by entering a name, word or phrase in the ‘Free Text Search’ box, or entering words to navigate the ‘Person’, ‘Place and ‘Subject’ drop-down indexes.

Information on using the search system is available by pressing the ‘Help’ button at the top of  the ‘Search the Court Cases’ site.

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