County or diocese: Rochester. Grant: Two clerical subsidies, 1593 Apr 2 or earlier....

County or diocese: Rochester.

Grant: Two clerical subsidies, 1593 Apr 2 or earlier.

Document type: Assessment (individuals), schedule of defaulters, certificates of assessment and schedule of compositions. Includes names of individuals.

Folios or pages: 3.

This bundle, made up of a large roll of two parchment rotulets, and one detached folio of paper, comprises five different documents: (1) A certificate (rot. 1) from the bishop of Rochester to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer, informing them, firstly, that he has assigned his deputy Thomas Wardegar to collect in his diocese the second payment of the first of two subsidies granted to Queen Elizabeth by the clergy of both provinces in parliament in 1593, due to have been paid on 19 February 1595, and, secondly, that he has assessed the clergy of the cathedral chapter of Rochester Cathedral (created after the dissolution of the monasteries, and therefore after the 1534 assessment of all clerical income upon which all clerical subsidies were henceforth collected) for this subsidy payment, and all stipendiary clergy of the diocese who were liable to pay tax on their annual stipends, and that this assessment follows below. The certificate is dated 20 June 1595; (2) The assessment (also on rot. 1) listing, firstly, the names and surnames of the cathedral clergy, the amount of their annual income, and the tax payable by each. The assessment then continues with the names and surnames of all stipendiary priests in the diocese liable to pay this subsidy payment, together with the churches in which they served and the source of their stipend, whether paid by the parishioners, the rector or vicar, and the tax which they were to pay; (3) A second certificate (rot. 2) from the bishop of Rochester to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer, of the same date, informing them that he has listed below: (4) A schedule of defaulters (also on rot. 2) from whom the subsidy payment could not be collected, listing first beneficed clergy who had defaulted, and then stipendiary clergy who had done the same; and (5) A schedule or list of compositions (f. 3) made by clergymen newly promoted to benefices or offices in the diocese of Rochester for the value of the first year's income from the fruits and provents of their benefice or office, for which they were exempt from payment of the subsidy in the coming year. It lists compositions for benefices made between 19 February 1594 and 19 February 1595, all of these benefices being exempt from this same subsidy payment.

All of these documents are in good condition, and are fully legible.