Exchequer: Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer: Summons of the Green Wax

Summons of the green wax were written out by the Clerk of the Estreats from the estreats of fines, issues, amercements and recognizances delivered in to the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's Office from the King's Bench, Common Pleas, justices of assize, justices of the peace, and other courts or commissions of common law, including commissions of sewers, of gaol delivery, and the Exchequer of Pleas; and amercements on the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's side for not paying respites of homage, and fines imposed by the Clerk of the Market. These were then sent to the sheriff twice yearly requiring him to levy and answer for the debts arising from the profits of justice.

The greater part of the surviving summons are of 15th-century date, most being of the reigns of Henry VI (1422-61) or Edward IV (1461-83). The summonses for Cheshire, dating from the reigns of James I (1603-25) and Charles I (1625-49), appear to be separate from the main series. They were issued under the great seal, and returnable at the Exchequer of Chester. Summons of the green wax issued to the Welsh sheriffs from the 16th century onwards were audited before the Auditor for Wales, rather than according to the ancient course of the Exchequer. A summons by the sheriff of Staffordshire to a hundred bailiff for the levy of estreats of the green wax illustrates the way in which the summonses worked in practice in the county.

Once the Clerk of the Estreats had taken receipt of the original estreats he extracted for each county the fines still outstanding, and drew these down into numbered schedules subdivided by court and term. The numbered schedules for each county were then plied together on a parchment thong and sealed.

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