Methodology and analysis of the Assize of Nuisance records

Assessment of the range of source information

I have experimented with a variety of methods for analysing the documentary source material. I wrote an Access database to record the information presented in secondary sources, either summarised or scanned, and keyworded, and used queries and reports to extract records relevant to specific chapters and subchapters. Data entry was time- consuming, and it proved to be more efficient to take very brief notes, assign keywords and scan the most critical pages of secondary sources for later reference.

For the primary source material I downloaded information into Excel, keyworded it and converted it to a datasheet that could be uploaded into my Access database for analysis using a multiple keyword query. For example, I used this method to assess the number of clerical and aristocratic attendees at the Assize of Nuisance court. For most other purposes manipulation of the data directly in Excel was adequate. In Excel I relied on keywording and organising into groupings that allowed multiple filtering, for example to find Assize complaints relating to both light and stormwater.

I trialled text mining software but as mentioned above, medieval court records contain a large number of names, and extremely common names and general legal procedural jargon that doesn’t provide information on the complaint or the outcome had to be painstakingly removed. This has potential if there were a quicker way of removing names and common jargon. Voyeur software will remove commonly used preposition and conjunctions from the search but not medieval jargon. The advantage of text mining is that the occurrence of all words can be assessed (as it can using Access or Excel for specific keywords), this frequency of occurrence presented visually as a word cloud, and the frequently occurring words shown in their context. This method bears further investigation in the future using software that can interact with the web-based Zotero, as has been done with the Early Modern session records of the Old Bailey.3 These tools are developing very rapidly and the next iteration may have better ways to eliminate irrelevant words quickly by simply ignoring irrelevant words in the word cloud.

Methodology

Of the three primary sources used in this thesis:

x The Assize of Nuisance records are available in translated and published form as The Assize of Nuisance and also available electronically on the www.british-history.ac.uk site. I downloaded these records in their entirety into an Excel spreadsheet and primarily analysed them using Excel. I also uploaded a copy into an Access database and used multiple search criteria to select records.

x The Calendars of Letter Books are available in translated and published form, in PDF format and electronically on the British History website www.british-history.ac.uk I downloaded PDFs of the letter books and used the advanced features of PDF-XChange Viewer to select records and transfer them to an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis. x The Calendars of Plea and Memoranda rolls are available in translated and published

form. Rolls 1 to 3 are available on www.british-history.ac.uk , for the period from 1323 to

3

1412, but volumes 4 and 5 are only available in hard copy. Relevant entries were transferred to and Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.

Analysis of the Assize of Nuisance

Identifying cases before the court, essoins, and administrative entries

The records of the Assize of Nuisance court contain entries setting out when the Assize sat and considered cases, and also when an Assize was proposed but adjourned, often through lack of aldermen. For the purpose of this analysis, the total number of proposed sittings includes all dates listed where there is an entry, even if it is simply to record “essoins only” or an adjournment”, on the basis that the court must have been present expecting to hear a case. Total actual sittings includes only sitting days when a case was heard.

Analysing the actual Assize cases required removing from the record entries that don’t relate to actual cases, including essoins, entries noting that no assize was held because of the absence of the mayor and aldermen, adjournments and continuations and the reading of Crown writs. Although there are 661 numbered records, 172 can be eliminated from the analysis.

The first group of records I eliminated from the analysis of cases is the un-numbered records of when the Assize sat (or intended to sit). Next, entries relating to administrative matters only were removed, for example deferrals, discontinuations, postponements etc., and duplicate entries relating to the same case. The exception is enforcement of a case, which have been counted as new actions. Note that there are several ways of selecting the “cases” - for example is a request for an assize made in the Husting that does not appear as a case counted as a case? One or two matters brought to the Assize that seemed unrelated to nuisance, such as apportionment of rent, were also eliminated. In addition, two cases which were each adjourned several times were assigned new numbers when the Assize was heard.

Essoins are the largest group to be eliminated. Where names are listed, they do not reappear as cases, but if no names are listed then either no names were recorded or the case reappears in the records. Many of the un-numbered entries indicate that an Assize was held, and heard essoins only, but no names are given and they are not listed as cases. Records that a court heard “essoins only” but do not list the names are counted as one essoin, although there could have been more than one. Where the record of an essoin gives the names of the plaintiff and defendant, the names listed are included in the analysis of the gender and status of participants in the court. There were 485 cases brought to the Assize, however eliminating duplicates and entries that were purely administrative brings this number down to 468 cases representing 617 complaints, and 21 actions of enforcement. Of these, 357 concern a single complaint, 79 two complaints, 31 three complaints, one case includes four complaints and one five. There were 36 adjournments, and although most don’t give a reason, eight were because the mayor and aldermen could not attend, usually specifying that they were preoccupied with city or the king’s affairs. These are not included in the totals. Some cases appear in the records more than once, usually because the case spanned more than one session of the Assize. Each case is counted only once, and any enforcement of a decision is counted as a separate case.

Dates

Some cases list the date the case is first brought to the Assize, and then a date where it was concluded following an adjournment, usually for the defendant to obtain and present further evidence. The date used is the date the case is initially brought to the Assize.

Types of complaints

After reading and keywording all the complaints, I grouped them into the following categories: x Apertures & Light

x Stormwater x Walls & Buildings x Waste Animals x Fumes & Noise x Access & Streets x Sewage & wastewater x Watercourse/Water supply x Unknown or not relevant

Excel was sufficiently flexible to be undertake most of the analysis directly, particularly graphing time series of different types of complaint.