Welsh Journals

An Unknown Medieval Church Survey of Llandaff Diocese (1433 A.D.) David Crouch The clerical subsidy rolls record the levying on the clergy of England and Wales of block grants, or subsidies, based on the valuation of the worldly goods of the Church taken in 1291 with the agreement of Pope Nicholas IV[1]. The series for Llandaff diocese begins in 1371 and continues into the reign of Elizabeth I. Those making up the period to 1485 (P.R.O.E. 179/33/1-E. 179/33/16; and E. 179/279/67 -E. 179/279/69) will be something of a disappointment to the hist- orians of Glamorgan. It is an undistinguished collection of certificates of appointment, collection and exemption, that give only a few details of Church life in Glamorgan and Gwent. Even worse, the collection has suffered from damp, and the two earliest certificates, dating from the reign of Edward III, are largely indecipherable. Apart from one interesting survival, the only useable facts that can be gleaned from the early rolls are the place-dates the bishops' clerks put at the end of the certificates, which cast some light on their masters' movements. These are listed below for reference. 1384, 10 June, Chepstow, Bishop Thomas Rushook (E. 179/279/67). 1434, 9 October, Llantilio Pertholey, Bishop John Wells (E. 179/33/4). 1436, 10 March, Llantilio [Pertholey?], Bishop John Wells (E. 179/33/7). 1445, 2 May, Bermondsey Priory, Bishop Nicholas Ashby (E. 179/33/8). 1463-64, King's Langley, Bishop John Hunden (E.179/33/10). 1472, October, Mathern, Bishop John Hunden (E.179/33/12). Fortunately there is one small consolation resulting from a routine checking through of the Llandaff rolls. Attached to E. 179/33/6, and unmentioned in the handlist of the class, is an enrolled account