Rutland Local History & Record Society
Copyright © Rutland Local History and Record Society
Registered Charity No 700273
Explanatory Notes
For more information on each of the areas outlined below see Ryder, I E,
The Governance of Rutland 1614-1664, Rutland Local History & Record Society,
Occasional Publication 13 (2021).
Abbreviations:
TNA
The National Archives, Kew, London.
ROLLR
Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, Leicester.
BLEg
Egerton Manuscripts, British Library, London.
Hast
Hasting Manuscripts, Huntington Library, San Marino, California, USA.
Data Arrangement
Numbering is based on four groups of data:
Miscellaneous, broken into several sub lists)
Subsidy Taxes, (2000 – 4869)
Militia Roll, (5000 – 6670)
Tax to raise £400,000, (7000 – 8192). See below for more information.
Locations are generally based on the order
they appear in the particular documentary
source, rather than alphabetical order.
Spelling in most cases follows modern usage.
Personal forenames have mostly been
rendered in a conventional or consistent
format but there are many instances of
alternative spellings, for instance Brian and
Bryan, which have been retained.
There are also many individual forenames
which are not current today and these have
usually been retained as written in the original
manuscripts. Surnames are often spelt in many
different ways. For instance, there are some
half a dozen different spellings in the various
manuscripts of the surname Falkener (as
distinct from Falconer), and these have all been
retained as originally rendered even when they
clearly refer to the same individual.
Missing names, usually forenames, which can
be supplied from other sources are indicated
by italics.
For the file download menu
and more detailed
information please select a
link from the list below
The Governance of Rutland
Tax to raise £400,000
With the outbreak of war in Ireland in late 1641 Parliament voted for a
new form of taxation. The new tax used the quota approach adopted
for Ship Money. Rutland’s allocation was £1050, with local county
commissioners appointed to administer its raising, similar to
Subsidies. The tax was to be raised in two tranches in May and
November 1642.
Abandoning the nominal valuations used for subsidies the Rutland
commissioners elected to use actual rental valuations as the basis for
the township subdivision. The township allocation was then further
subdivided into tax charges on all persons, including nobles and
members of the clergy, who generated wealth from the township.
Township members’ tax charges for the May 1641 tranche survive for
three of the county’s hundreds and provide a relative measure of the
wealth of each township’s inhabitants.
Subsidy Taxes (see also Governance, p53)
Subsidy taxes were based on the assessment of two forms of wealth: land rentals and
goods. In Rutland the latter was generally crops and livestock. By the time of the Stuarts,
subsidy assessments had become nominal and only reflected in the crudest sense a
person’s relative wealth. All the subsidy taxes listed in the database had the same
threshold assessment levels of £1 for land and £3 for goods and, except in the 1611
assessment, the same tax rates per assessed pound of four shillings for land and 2s 8d for
goods. Thus, a threshold land assessment generated a four-shilling tax liability and a
threshold goods assessment an eight-shilling liability (i.e. 3x 2s 8d). The tax rates per
assessed pound for the 1611 assessment were for land 1s 4d and for goods one shilling.
Sometimes multiple subsidies were granted which required double tax payments.
To achieve this requirement the county commissioners who administered the
assessments had an option to double either the assessment or the tax rate. The table
below shows how each assessment was rated. From 1625 subsidies were used to
penalise recusants, generally Catholics: those assessed for land or goods had their tax
rate doubled while others were charged a poll rate of eight pence each.
Subsidy
Single or Double Assessment
Single or Double Tax Rate
March 1611
Single
Single
July 1624
Single
Single
March 1625
Single
Double
August 1625
Single
Double
August 1628
Single
Double
December 1628
Single
Single
May 1641
Double
Single
Sept 1641
Double
Single
September 1663
Single
Double
Miscellaneous Lists
Individual
payments
to
Oakham’s
poor
at
a
time
of
plague
in
June
1642
Protestation
–
in
May
1641
Parliament
demanded
the
swearing
of
an
oath
by
all
males
aged
eighteen
or
over
to
defend
the
Protestant
religion,
the
King
and
the
powers
and
privileges
of
Parliament.
Although
a
county-wide
list
of
those
taking
the
oath
would
have
been
sent
to
Parliament
it
has
not
survived.
Those
details
that
have
survived are from a few preparatory lists for various townships
Dole
of
Corn
and
Beef
–
List
of
Cottesmore
and
Barrow’s
poor
receiving provisions 1639-42.
Christmas
List
–
Local
people
invited
to
attend
the
manor
house
of
Cottesmore & Barrow at Christmas 1639.
Members
of
Rutland’s
Militia
(
Trained
Band
)
in
1614
and
1640.
Some
gaps
for
location
and
hundred
in
the
1640
list
are
associated
with
arms required from the clergy and for the cavalry
A
list
of
Rutland
individuals
impressed
for
service
with
the
Army
fighting in the Low Counties in 1627
A
list
of
Rutland
individuals
impressed
for
service
with
the
Royal Army against the Scots in 1640
A
list
of
electors
voting
in
the
1646
election
for
Rutland’s
two
vacant
MP
seats.
Electors
were
required
to
be
resident
at
the
time
of
the
vote
and
hold
at
least
forty
shillings
of
freehold
land
in
the
County.
They
could cast a vote for each of two separate candidates
Hundreds and Townships
Historically Rutland was divided administratively into five
Hundreds: Alstoe, East, Martinsley, Oakham Soke, and
Wrangdike. Within the Hundreds the population was
concentrated in townships that were or had been the
centre of an open field system. An exception was the
manor of Leighfield which consisted of the old royal forest,
which when included in valuations was part of Oakham
Soke Hundred.
While most townships were coterminous with a parish,
some parishes had two or more townships, for example
Ryhall and Belmesthorpe. There are two places where
caution is needed: first, Oakham, this was divided
manorially into two, i.e. Oakham Lordshold (including the
Castle and most of the town) and Oakham Deanshold (the
church and the rest of the town and Barleythorpe,
belonging to the Abbey of Westminster) – the latter is
generally referred to in these sources as Westminster Fee;
Secondly, the places we know today as Great and
Little Casterton. Great Casterton was known in these and
many other historical sources as Casterton Magna or
Bridge Casterton and Little Casterton as Casterton Parva.
Comments / Corrections
The author’s digital copies of relevant British Library
Egerton and Huntington Library Hastings papers have been
deposited for personal consultation at the Rutland County
Museum, Oakham.
Rutland Local History and Record Society is keen to
maintain the relevance and accuracy of the Database and
should you have any query, comment, or spot any mistake,
please contact us at http://www.rutlandhistory.org/contacts
1639 Militia Roll (see also Governance, pp22, 108)
Since medieval times all able-bodied men between the ages of
sixteen and sixty were liable for service in the militia. To ensure that
this requirement was maintained the Privy Council required Lord
Lieutenants who had command of each county’s militia to
periodically maintain a register of persons liable for service.
Such a register was separate from the much small numbers either
selected for the Trained Band or who were required to provide the
Trained Band with arms. Although the Militia roll lists over 1600
individuals it was not exhaustive and represents only about fifty
percent of eligible males.