West Riding Sessions Rolls, 1597/8-1602

Published for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1888, these two rolls for the sessions held in the West Riding of Yorkshire document court proceedings for the years 1597/8-1602 and represent the earliest extant material of their kind for the West Riding, where quarter sessions were held in various towns during Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas. Although the first roll is incomplete, lacking the Epiphany sessions of 1597, the second roll contains minutes of all the sessions for 1599-1602. The indictments are drawn up in Latin, with interpolations and descriptions of the verdicts in the English of the day. Editor John Lister (1847-1933) describes in his introduction the workings of the courts and the various types of indictments. Each entry also has extensive explanatory footnotes. He prefaces the rolls with a 1595 account of proceedings in the court of the Lord President and Council of the North.