Document of the Month

July 2008

The White Book of Southwell, 14^th century

Reference: SC/1/1

The White Book or Liber Albus is a register which was created in the early 1300s. The pages or folios in the register are made from vellum, or calf skin. The canons (collectively called the ‘Chapter’) of Southwell Minster recorded in the register a range of documents which they had received from the Pope, archbishop, the King and others. Such a register is called a cartulary.

Although the register was started in the 1300s, the actual documents recorded in the register date back as far as 1106. The documents include Papal bulls (decrees or edicts issued by the Pope in Rome, which usually had a leaden seal, also called a bull, attached); archiepiscopal letters (letters issued by an archbishop); royal charters issued by the King; grants of land; licences relating to various pieces of property owned by the Chapter; and documents such as pleas (law suits or actions) presented to the Chapter’s court. The register includes an Order made by Archbishop Thomas II of York in about 1109 concerning the building of the Norman church at Southwell.

The page featured here contains a series of bulls issued by a number of popes including Urban III (in 1185), Innocent III (in 1202) and Alexander IV (in 1254). The very first bull recorded in the register, issued by Pope Alexander III in 1171, confirms the ‘rights and privileges’ granted to the Church at Southwell by the Archbishops and Chapter of York and the Kings of England. The later bulls shown above re-confirm these ‘rights and liberties’. They also make reference to land and property.

The text is written in Latin and features decorated capitals to introduce each new recorded document.

See a larger version of the picture here [PDF 1198]

Find out more about the Southwell Chapter and its records here.

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