This two day Early Modern Legal Records workshop will provide you with the essential skills to identify and access original source material within the vast legal records collections at The National Archives.
Day 1, 10:00 to 16:00 online on June 11th, will introduce you to the legal systems in play during the early modern period in England and Wales, as well as the records created by these systems.
Day 2, 09:30 to 17:00 in person at The National Archives on June 17th, will introduce you to the main central common law courts that heard cases in England and Wales during the long early modern period (c.1485-c.1875), the Courts of King’s Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer of Pleas. This workshop also examines the itinerant justice system, including Assize Courts.
This Early Modern Legal Records workshop will provide you with the essential skills to identify and access original source material within the vast legal records collections at The National Archives. During each session you will receive tuition and guidance on a range of archival research skills from our records specialists, and you will also undertake practical exercises involving hands-on document work.
Sessions focus on the records created as part of the common law process, including what these records look like and how they are structured, how they are described in online catalogues, and how to find related records across multiple series.
At the end of the workshop you will have increased confidence in your ability to find and access previously challenging early modern legal documents, and to read and understand their contents.
This event is aimed at current taught postgraduate and PhD students, although other researchers are welcome to attend.
This is an in-depth workshop within the PAST programme, and will be investigating complex and demanding archival collections, but you will be supported by expert staff throughout. There are no pre-requisites for attendance.
Please note:
Both the online and the onsite components are included in the cost of this ticket, you don’t need to book them separately.
If you only wish to attend the online component of the workshop please book here instead:
Online Intro to Early Modern Legal Records
You may also be interested in our Equity and Conciliar Court workshop on June 16th.
For more information about the PAST programme please see The National Archives' website or email past@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
