Visitation Articles and Injunctions of the Early Stuart Church: I. 1603-25

This is the first of two volumes which reproduce manuscript and printed documents for the years 1603-1642. The articles issued by archbishops, bishops, archdeacons and others exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction have been frequently used by historians as evidence of the priorities and concerns of church government, but until now there has been no systematic examination of the structure and contents of articles, nor the relationship between sets issued by different archbishops, bishops or archdeacons. These two volumes attempt to fill this gap.

Volume 1, centring on the Church of James I, contains no less than sixty-six sets of articles, printed either in full or in collated form and includes injunctions or charges issued during or after visitations. Volume 2 extends the same treatment to the Caroline Church up to the Civil War.

KENNETH FINCHAM is lecturer in history at the University of Kent at Canterbury.