Parish register entry 1655

[Davedrave]

I can’t make out all of this parish record entry of 1655 or 1656 and would be grateful for a transcription. I think it is maybe the vicar assenting to the choice (“chouse”?) of the church warden?

Dave

[arthurk]

I doe hereby asent to the chouse made of
John Lee of Shenston the elder by the inhabitants
of the towne of Shenston afores[ai]d to be .... reg
ester

Register (here 'regester') was the term used for the official who assumed the duties of parish clerk during the Commonwealth period. Sometimes it was the same person who had been parish clerk, sometimes it wasn't. If all the registers have survived and were maintained during the Commonwealth, you might find a similar entry for the re-appointment of a parish clerk at the Restoration.

I wasn't sure what the word before 'regester' was - you might expect 'the' or 'their' (I think there's a superscript 'r' at the end) but the first letter doesn't look like 't'. It might be 'yor' or 'yer' (for 'their'?), but the writer doesn't seem to use 'y' in 'the'.

[goldie61]

I think the word at the end of the next to last line is 'your'.
............yo^r reg
ester
 

I've seen it before in court documents
 - yo^r Lordships..........

[arthurk]

Well it does look rather like 'yo(u)r' - and if so, does that one word illustrate the shift in power during the Commonwealth?

In other periods, the register (book) is the property of the church or minister, but the word 'your' implies that it was then thought to belong to the people. Interesting.

[Davedrave]

Many thanks arthurk and goldie61. I will check the rest of the register. I know that John Lea had been churchwarden in 1622 and 1629, so had assumed that he was serving again, so this is interesting about him being parish clerk. Fortunately the registers seem to have been kept here throughout the Civil War and Commonwealth. It is intersting that the vicar calls the place “Shenston” when it is actually Shenton, and is so called on the “title” page.

Dave