Essays offering a guide to a vital source for our knowledge of medieval England.The Inquisitions Post Mortem (IPMs) at the National Archives have been described as the single most important source for the study of landed society in later medieval England. Inquisitions were local enquiries into the lands heldby people of some status, in order to discover whatever income and rights were due to the crown on their death, and provide details both of the lands themselves and whoever held them. This book explores in detail for the first time the potential of IPMs as sources for economic, social and political history over the long fifteenth century, the period covered by this Companion. It looks at how they were made, how they were used, and their "accuracy",and develops our understanding of a source that is too often taken for granted; it answers questions such as what they sought to do, how they were compiled, and how reliable they are, while also exploring how they can best be usedfor economic, demographic, place-name, estate and other kinds of study. Michael Hicks is Professor of Medieval History, University of Winchester. Contributors: Michael Hicks, Christine Carpenter, Kate Parkin, Christopher Dyer, Matthew Holford, Margaret Yates, L.R. Poos, J. Oeppen, R.M. Smith, Sean Cunningham, Claire Noble, Matthew Holford, Oliver Padel.

Introduction - Michael HicksCrossing Generations: Dower, Jointure and Courtesy - Michael HicksThe Lesser Landowners and the Inquisitions Post Mortem - Christine CarpenterTales of Idiots, Signifying Something: Evidence of Process in the Inquisitions Post Mortem - Kate ParkinThe Value of Fifteenth-Century Inquisitions Post Mortem for Economic and Social History - Christopher Dyer'Notoriously Unreliable': The Valuations and Extents - Matthew HolfordThe Descriptions of Land found in the Inquisitions Post Mortem and Feet of Fines. A Case Study of Berkshire - Margaret YatesCorrecting Josiah Russell's Measurements of Late Medieval Mortality using Inquisitions Post Mortem - A Great Historical Enterprise: The Public Record Office and the Making of the Calendars of Inquisitions Post Mortem - Sean CunninghamWrits and the Inquisitions Post Mortem: How the Crown managed the System - Claire Noble'Thrifty Men of the Country'? The Jurors and their Role - Matthew HolfordPlace-names and Calendaring Practices - Oliver J. Padel