Manuscripts
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Battle Abbey Archives
Manuscripts
This collection consists of two parts: the records of the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin at Battle, Sussex, dating before 1538, and the papers from 1538 onward, chiefly of the Browne family (1538-1721), Viscounts Montague, who purchased the Battle Abbey properties following the monastery's dissolution, and then the Webster family (1721-1857). The collection is particularly rich in monastic and estate accounts, court records, and deeds for lands possessed by Battle Abbey in Sussex, Berkshire, Essex, Surrey, and Kent. The records prior to 1538 consist of a complete monastic archive, the product of one integrated religious institution. Document types include obedientiary and estate and manorial accounts; court rolls and other court records; deeds and charters; rentals and surveys, with related papers; and miscellaneous papers. The papers created after the dissolution of the monastery consist of two major sub-collections, corresponding to Browne and Webster family papers, as well as of Cheke, Jorden, and Whistler. The bulk of this post-Dissolution material pertain to the Webster family, and deals with legal, financial, and estate matters. There is little correspondence. The latest document is dated 1778. There are also two volumes (volumes 1-2) of paper slips containing handwritten descriptions of the items in the collection. These volumes, dating from approximately 1830, comprise a draft of bookseller Thomas Thorpe's 1835 published Descriptive Catalogue. Note: many of the pre-1733 documents in this collection are written in Latin and/or with handwriting, symbols, and abbreviations that present paleographic challenges to most modern readers. The calendar of the Battle Abbey Archives (available as a PDF) provides full extracts, in English, of the substance of each document and in the case of charters includes all personal and place names found in the originals.
mssBA
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Records removed from Volume 58
Manuscripts
Phillipps number: 9900 volume 2 Deeds relating to the Battle Abbey and Bodiam estates, 17-22 Jas 1 (1619-1624); only one document of 1646 remains.
mssBA
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Records removed from Volume 60
Manuscripts
Phillipps number: 9902 Deeds of the Battle Abbey estate in Sussex and at Lenham, Kent, and the London estate of the Webster family; many documents removed; temp Chas 1 - Geo 2.
mssBA
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Cartulary Casley Volume II [transcript of BA volume 30 and Cottonian manuscripts]
Manuscripts
Phillipps number: 9930 vol. 2 Transcript of BA Vol 30 and Cottonian manuscripts relating to Battle Abbey above by David Casley, keeper of the king's and Cottonian library, from manuscripts in the hands of Thomas Webster, bt.
mssBA
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Battle Abbey archives addenda
Manuscripts
Six deeds, 1372-1528. One deed is a grant for life to John de Mapples in Beauchief, Derbyshire (HM 82452); mistakenly attributed to Battle in Sussex by an earlier cataloger. The other five deeds include grants, leases and contracts for the Abbey of St. Martin at Battle, Sussex (HM 82453-82457). Because of the separate source and date of acquisition the decision was made to catalog this group of deeds as an addenda to the Battle Abbey archives rather than integrate the deeds with the existing archives here at the Huntington Library (Battle Abbey archives, 1077-1780, approximately 3,000 pieces).
mssHM 82452-82457
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Records removed from Volume 56
Manuscripts
Phillipps number: 9899 Contains deeds relating to the Battle Abbey estate, temp Elizabeth 1, including licence to receive in mortmain by Elizabeth [Woodville], relating to Godfrey's chantry land in the liberty of Pevensey, 24 February 1478; several documents removed.
mssBA