The documents which are now classed as Inquisitiones post mortem are records of enquiries held before an Escheator or some similar official, at the death of any one believed to be a tenant in chief of the King or of some escheated Honour, in order that the Crown might claim such wardships, reliefs, homages, etc., as were due from the estate of the deceased. A writ was issued from the Exchequer (‘ diem clausit extremum,’ ‘ cape in manum,’ ‘ uirtute officii,’ etc.) to the Escheator or his representative, who thereon summoned a Jury of twelve or more ‘ lawful ’ men of the neighbourhood to enquire on the spot into the extent of the deceased’s lands, their value, the services by which they were held, and their next heir. These records therefore give in many cases invaluable detail of prices, values, tenures and persons, which can be obtained from no other source and have considerable bearing on the application of historical experience to the social and economic problems of to-day. The excellent summary calendars of these Inquisitions issued by the Public Record Office necessarily omit just those details of personal names and manorial extents which are essential to local history and can only be printed by such a Society as ours.

This first paper includes all Inquisitions post mortem which have been preserved from the reign of Henry III., and advantage has been taken of the opportunity to expand or to correct by supplementary notes several of the manorial accounts in V.C.H. down to the date of the Inquisition, especially in that dim and difficult century after D.B. for which records are lamentably scanty.