Title:
Rental of manors of Thaxted, Horham Hall and Spencers Fee
Level: Category
Miscellaneous
Level: Fonds
RENTAL OF THAXTED
Scope and Content:
Title (p. 1) left incomplete at 'Rental ibm' fact', to which has been added 'die ignoto annoque transacto'. Cover inscribed in a later [?17th-century] hand 'Old rentall of Thaxted Spencers fee & Horeham'.

Arranged in three columns, showing name of manor; name of tenant - and sometimes of previous tenant - and description of their holdings (with some omissions) and yearly rents; and in the final column the rents due for half a year. The holdings of each tenant in the three manors are grouped together, but the order of entries is otherwise unexplained. With the exception of some farmers at the end of the rental (pp. 65-67) there are no indications of tenure. There are a few marginal notes in a later [?16th-century] hand.

Includes references to claypits (pp. 8, 58, 62); rents due from Abbot of Tilty for messuage and 60 acres of land called Ven[or]s, as well as wardpenny at Hocktide ('wardsyluer apud hoketyme') (p. 22); further reference to wardsilver (p. 24); pightle belonging to Guild of Holy Cross (p. 27); land called Yerdleys [Yardleys], granted to town of Thaxted by William Humphrey 'malteman' (p. 27); references to tenements of Guild of St John the Baptist (pp. 30, 31, 47, 57, 66), in the last case described in full as the Guild of St John the Baptist in the parish church of Thaxted; house 'voc le Chauntry house', held by Christopher Johnson chaplain (p. 33); two tenements opposite the [?market] cross ('exopp[os]it' Cruci') (pp. 45, 60); land of John Aleyn citizen and alderman of London (pp. 7, 47); large meadow behind the little park called the great hall garden ('magna pastura subter paruum parcum voc the grett halle garthen') (p. 49); two rents due to the manor of Richmonds (pp. 60, 61).
Dated approximately by references to Master Raynes vicar (p. 34) and to executors of Milo Hodson 'quo[n]dam vicar' huius ville de Thaxsted' (p. 35). [According to Richard Newcourt, Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense ... (London 1708-1710), volume 2, p. 582, Thomas Reynes became vicar on 12 January 1519/20 following the death of Milo Hodgeson, and his successor took up office on 25 April 1523.]

Inside front cover, note of the rental's production in 1743 in a lawsuit of Joseph Hornby and others against Sir Edward Smyth baronet. [The Smyth family acquired the manor c.1599, and some of its records remain among the family archives (references D/DSh ...). An identical note appears in a later 16th-century rental of Horham Hall catalogued as D/DU 205/43.]
On p. 68 (facing back cover), part of an alphabet, and the motto 'to doe good to all men but esp[e]cally to them that are of the housald of fayth', both in a later 16th-century hand.
Inside back cover, note that 'Sum liber Ezekielis Baynes primo die Julij anno regni dne Elizabethe regine quinto' [1563; presumably Baynes was steward at that date].
Dates of Creation:
c.(1520-1523)
Extent:
1 volume
Language
Latin.
Physical Characteristics:
Paper, in original parchment cover. Part of pp. 19-20 torn away; two leaves torn out between pp. 64 and 65.
230 x 165 x 8 mm.
Paginated in pencil by Essex Record Office, 2006.
Related Unit of Description:
For other pre-1600 rentals of Thaxted see those for 1405-1407 (D/DHu M18), 1416 (D/DHu M19), ?1417 (D/DHu M20), 1442 [Horham Hall] (D/DHu M82), 1449 [one quarter part] (D/DHu M20), 1483/84 (D/DHu M21), 1507 [Horham Hall] (D/DHu M83), c.(1554-1599) [Horham Hall] (D/DU 205/43), 1577 (D/DHu M22) and 1593 (D/DHu M23).

Key terms

TypeKey termsDescription
Subjects Chantries Rental of Thaxted includes chantry house, c.(1520-1523)
Subjects Crosses Thaxted rental includes tenements opposite the [?market] cross, c.(1520-1523)
Subjects Guilds Thaxted rental includes property of Guild of Holy Cross and Guild of St John the Baptist, c.(1520-1523)
Subjects Monasteries Tilty Abbey: property included Thaxted rental, c.(1520-1523)
Subjects Religion Religious motto in Thaxted rental, ?late 16th century
Personal Names Christopher
Johnson 		chantry chaplain, Thaxted, c.(1520-1523)
Personal Names Ezekiel
Baynes 		Thaxted, 1563
Personal Names John
Aleyn 		citizen and alderman of London, c.(1520-1523)
Personal Names Joseph
Hornby 		Thaxted, 1743
Personal Names Milo
Hodgeson 		vicar of Thaxted, pre-1520
Personal Names Thomas
Reynes 		vicar of Thaxted, 1520-1523
Personal Names William
Humphrey 		'malteman', Thaxted, pre-1520
Personal Names Sir
Edward
Smyth 		baronet; Thaxted, 1743
Place Names Thaxted Rental of manors of Thaxted, Horham Hall and Spencers Fee, c.(1520-1523)
Place Names Chantry House
Thaxted 		Rental, c.(1520-1523)
Place Names Venors
Thaxted 		Held by Tilty Abbey, c.(1520-1523)
Place Names Yardleys
Thaxted 		Rental, c.(1520-1523)
Document Types Manorial records Manors of Thaxted, Horham Hall and Spencers Fee: rental, c.(1520-1523)
Document Types Rental Manors of Thaxted, Horham Hall and Spencers Fee, c.(1520-1523)
Document Types Rental Manors of Thaxted, Horham Hall and Spencers Fee, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Guild of Holy Cross Thaxted, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Guild of St John the Baptist Thaxted, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Manor of Horham Hall Thaxted; rental, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Manor of Richmonds Thaxted, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Manor of Spencers Fee Thaxted; rental, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions manor of Thaxted Rental, c.(1520-1523)
Institutions Tilty Abbey Thaxted rental includes rents and wardpenny due from abbey, c.(1520-1523)