Add MS 40734

EXTENT of, and portion of a chartulary relating to, the manor of Codicote, co. Hertf., the property of St. Alban's Abbey. Latin.

1. Extent of Codicote manor, June. 6 Edw. III [1332]. Apparently one of a series of copies of similar extents for manors appropriated to the cellar of the Abbey, other examples in the British Museum being those for Caldecote (Lansdowne MS. 404, ff. 46-48) and Tyttenhanger (Add. MS. 36237, ff. 1-12) ; cf. also the extents of Cashio, 1332, and Park al. Parkbury, in St. Stephens, 1331, catalogued in Hist. MSS. Comm., various Collections, vii, 1914, p. 305. This and the Caldecote and Tyttenhanger extents all seem to be in one or more hands of about the same date as the original entries in the court-books of Codicote (Stowe MS. 849), Croxley (Add. MS. 6057), Barnet (Add. MS 40167), Park (Add. MS. 40625), Cashio (Add. MS. 40626), etc., which were made during the cellarership of John Mote, 1354-1374 (see Miss A. E. Levett, "The Courts and Court Rolls of St. Albans Abbev" in Trans. of the R. Historical Society, 4th Ser., vii, pp. 52-76). The extent begins with a valuation of the site of the manor-house, the arable land, cultivated under the three field system (viz. "prima," "secunda" and "tercia seisona"), meadow, pasture, wood, pannage, perquisites of courts and water-mills. Then follow (f. 1 b) a list of tenants with particulars of their holdings and services, the "tenentes in foro et burgagio de Codicote et iuxta forum et burgagium" being distinguished from the remainder (f. 10 b). Finally the annual value and details of various customary services, including extracts from the Liber Albus, are given on ff. 15b-16b. An earlier extent of manors belonging to St Alban's Abbey is in Cotton MS. Tiberius E vi, ff. 8 sqq., the portion for Codicote occupying ff. 30-35; revisions have been made in a later hand to indicate changes of tenancy, the new holders and services corresponding, in many cases, with those.in the present extent of 1332.

2. Copies of forty-five deeds relating to the manor of Codicote, originally part (folios [171]-183 in large figures) of Cotton MS. Otho D. iii, a chartulary of St. Alban's Abbey compiled in the second half of the fourteenth century (see British Museum Quarterly, vii, 1932, p. 15). Additions, including a deed dated 1428, have been made at the end (f. 30 b). The leaves were probably extracted from the chartulary before its acquisition by Sir Robert Cotton, possibly at the time of the grant of the manor after the dissolution. f. 18. Vellum (except ff. ii, iii) ; ff. iv + 30. 13.1/4 in. x 8.7/8 in. Gatherings of 8 leaves, with catchwords (i^l, the last leaf of a gathering, iii wants 8, v wants 6, 7, 8 ; f. 17 is a blank leaf between artt. 1 and 2). Vellum binding. At the end are two leaves containing notes, in a 17th cent. band, on the nature, jurisdiction and procedure of a court-leet.