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Tax

The vast majority of the documents within the E 179 series were produced in connection with one or more specific taxes, and searches can be made for documents relating to these individual levies. The database allows tax searches to be carried out in one of two ways.

If the user already knows the details of the tax for which they require information, they should select the first option and click the 'Specify' button. The database will then provide a chronological drop-down list of all the taxes known to have been granted during the period covered by the E 179 documents, and the user should select the required tax from the list. Once this has been selected, the user can, if required, also specify the collection of the tax concerned (for instance, the 1523 subsidy had four separate payments, while the Hearth Tax of 1662 had fifty-four collections). However, selecting a collection will only find those documents which have been securely associated with a particular collection, while a general search on all collections will also find those which cannot be associated with any particular collection, and those which relate to all collections of a grant.

Having selected a particular grant, clicking on the 'i' button next to the name of the tax will provide the user with a description of the origins and administrative history of that particular grant, and other details surrounding its collection. These descriptions have been published, together with further information, in M. Jurkowski, C. L. Smith and D. Crook, Lay Taxes in England and Wales 1188-1688 (Kew, 1998), a copy of which can be found in the Map and Large Document Reading Room. However, the database entries contain numerous additions and amendments discovered during editorial work undertaken since the publication of that volume, and readers are advised to consult the database details for the most up-to-date information.

The second search option allows wider searches to be made, on specific types of taxation and/or on taxes granted within a particular period. By clicking on the second option and pressing 'Specify', users are presented with the opportunity to enter a particular date range for years in which taxes were granted (i.e. the date of the act of Parliament or other such relevant event, not the date on which particular documents were produced), and/or to specify a particular tax type (e.g. feudal aids, fractional taxes or alien subsidies). The date range (if required) should simply be entered into the relevant boxes, while the tax type (if required) can be selected from the drop-down list.

With both these options, running a search on these alone will almost certainly provide a large number of results. Therefore, wherever possible, users should further refine their searches by using one or more of the other search criteria available.