Description

The convocation records of the Churches of England and Ireland are the principal source of our information about the administration of those churches from middle ages until modern times. They contain the minutes of clergy synods, the legislation passed by them, tax assessments imposed by the king on the clergy, and accounts of the great debates about religious reformation; they also include records of heresy trials in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many of them connected with the spread of Lollardy. However, they have never before been edited or published in full, and their publication as a complete set of documents provides a valuable resource for scholarship.
This volume contains the details of the many convocations summoned during a time when they were not allowed to transact business. Included are the names of those who were summoned to attend, the loyal addresses which they invariably offered to the reigning monarch and some fascinating details of disputed elections, particularly that in Exeter in 1818-20. The petitions presented to the government for the revival of convocation after 1837 are also printed, and the volume includes a complete list of convocation sermons and prolocutors from the middle ages to the present da