Introduction to the Gatehouse resources regarding murage

Within this section of the Gatehouse website are some near 2000 pages giving historical sources regarding murage:- that is records of royal support, in various forms, towards the building and maintenance of town defences.

This section is further subdivided into four sections:

A list of grants of murage (in all forms of royal support for town defences).

A list of grants of exemption for murage (in the form of taxes and tolls).

A list of petitions for grants of murage (in the form of taxes and tolls).

A list of other evidence regarding murage such as evidence regarding collection, embezzlement and auditing.

These are hypertext lists¹ which link to individual pages in which the historical source is usually transcribed, the primary source² given (often with links to online copies of that primary source). Significant secondary sources are also often given and occassionally there are further comments.

There is an introductory essay and discussion on murage.

Historians wanting copies of these databases are welcome to contact Gatehouse.

¹Although giving this data in the form of a list, rather than a searchable database with search form etc., is fundiamental because of the limitations of the Gatehouse webmaster skill as a web designer (He is, after all, trying to be a historian - not a web designer) this format does allow the user to readily see the extent of the available resource.

²In fact the primary source given is, as is usual, the various calendars or other such transcribings of the original documents made by the Public Record Office, the Historic Manuscript Commission (both now incorporated into The National Archive) and other such scholarly or governmental bodies.