UK Parliamentary Archives

• Held At: Parliamentary Archives: GB-061
• Catalogue Reference: HL/PO/JO/24
• Ref No: HL/PO/JO/24
• Date: 1543-1628
• Level: Series
• Extent: 31 documents in 6 boxes
• Creator Name: House of Lords; Journal Office; 1718-
• Administrative or Biographical History: The system of taxation in the 16th century included grants made by the proctors or representatives of the clergy in Convocation on behalf of the Church. From 1540 onwards these grants or subsidies were confirmed by Act of Parliament. This method of separate ecclesiastical taxation continued into the 17th century and was terminated, apparently without any formal act, by agreement between Lord Chancellor Clarendon and Archbishop Sheldon of Canterbury, in 1664.
  
  Many of the original grants, or 'subsidy books', from the Convocations of Canterbury and York survive from 1543 onwards, in various forms. Prior to 1610, original subsidy Acts, separate from the subsidy books, were drawn up. From 1610 onwards the instrument granting the subsidy from the Convocation of Canterbury was converted into a Parliamentary Bill by adding a preamble at the head and clauses at the foot which confirmed the Canterbury subsidy and applied the act to the province of York. Normally, the York and Canterbury subsidies were granted by instruments consisting of one or more parchment skins attested by a notary public and bearing a pendent seal, which after 1571 frequently bear the signatures of the Archbishop.
• Description: This series contains 30 subsidies of the clergy for the archdiocese of Canterbury and York laid on the table of the House, for consideration by Parliament. In HL/PO/JO/24/31 there are three fragments of a subsidy, probably from the reign of Henry VIII. It should be noted that the catalogue date relates to the laying on the table. In many cases the date of the subsidy has been endorsed in blue pencil. This date may also be found in the ScopeContent field of the catalogue.
• Terms:
  • Church and State,
  • Taxation,
• Language: English; Latin
• System of Arrangement: The subsidies have been arranged in chronological order. Five of the York subsidy bills were made up into small parchment books; the remainder each consist of several parchments sewn together. The subsidies are labelled individually with their original archival reference number.
• Related Material: Additional subsidies of the clergy made be found at The National Archives in E 135. E179 at The National Archives contains the rolls of accounts for the collection of these taxes.
• Access Status: Open
• Physical Description: Fragile and dirty.
• Finding Aids: The material is also listed in the Calendar of the Manuscripts of the House of Lords, Addenda, 1514-1714, and the texts of all the subsidy Bills which received the Royal Assent are printed in Statutes of the Realm.
• Publication Notes: M F Bond, 'Guide to the Records of Parliament' (London, 1971), p 178.
  M F Bond, (ed), The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, vol. IX, (New Series), Addenda, 1514-1714. (1962), p xxiii-iv.

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