Inquests from 1400's/1500's

[rebeccaclaire86]

Hi, hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction!

I'm currently tracing a branch of my family that appears in the Visitations and various books - I'm taking the pedigree with a pinch of salt but it's interesting regardless.  One book (Devon Visitations with additions from Vivian) references a lot of historic inquests of family members, any idea where these records have come from?  It's piqued my curiosity but google is just throwing up more recent references to inquests.

Example attached so you can see what I mean.  I understand the dating in the year of the reign of the King/Queen, just can't find where these records referenced are from (if they still exist).

Any help gratefully received!

[Guy Etchells]

The Inq p.m. refers to Inquisitions Post Mortem these are not inquests about the death as we think of an inquest today but rather an investigation (formerly called an escheat) to see what money was owed to the King and if there was no heir return the land to the King.
They are a good medieval source for family history and the latest project can be found at
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mrt/

Cheers
Guy

[Bookbox]

To supplement the link given above, the standard Research Guide is here ...
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/inquisitions-post-mortem/

[rebeccaclaire86]

Thank you, that makes perfect sense as I thought it was odd that inquests were being held a couple of years after deaths. Many thanks for the explanation and links! I can see this is going to keep me busy for a while.

[rebeccaclaire86]

Hi - I have another question now that I've spent some time looking at the Inquisitions Post Mortem, hope it's okay to bump it on this thread.

I've been looking at one in particular this afternoon (William Bury on https://www.british-history.ac.uk/inquis-post-mortem/series2-vol2/pp343-380 this page) and some of the terms are confusing me.  If he has a yearly rent from an area, does that mean he owned land there?  I'm just a little confused as other properties and land are detailed quite clearly, but I can't think what else it could mean.

Are there any particularly good books for understanding the language used in these records / researching this era in general?  I'm still trying to get my head round it all and feel like I'm really out of my depth with knowing about the different records that are useful pre-1550!