Book Description

The importance of parish records for the reconstruction of many aspects of past societies is becoming clear from research in other countries. Irish parochial records, however, have not survived well. This volume provides an edition of what is probably the most important set of vestry records in Ireland. The records of the parish of St John in Dublin form the oldest continuous set of vestry minutes, churchwardens' accounts and local taxation records in existence. Situated as the parish was in the core of the medieval city these documents provide a unique insight into the world of an urban parish in the throes of transition as Dublin moved from a medieval into a modern world. The text casts light not only on the problems of the established church but also on the everyday life of the parishioners as they struggled to maintain the church and the world associated with it in the face of dramatic urban change. This volume will be of interest not only to those concerned with Dublin and religious history but to everyone interested in urban change in the early modern world. This is the first volume in a new Text and Calendars series that aims to publish important records from the collections of the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, which is the principal repository for the archives and manuscripts of the Church of Ireland.