YORKSHIRE HISTORY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 8

YORKSHIRE HISTORY

Lecturer Wins Ph.D.

Mr G. V. Orange, a lecturer in history at the University of Canterbury, has been awarded a doctorate in philosophy by the University of Hull for a 700-page edition of the monastic cartulary of Meaux in Yorkshire, which traces the history of the area from 1150 to 1400. When the abbey at Meaux was established in 1150, it received land grants from the king, noblemen, and persons of lower estate, all made by charter. These were then copied by the monks into a big book—the cartulary. Dr. Orange’s monumental work involved transcribing these “shorthand Latin” entries into full Latin, summarising all the charters in English, recording law suits brought later against the monks by heirs who disputed their fathers’ land grants, and providing explanatory footnotes.

Dr. Orange’s work also shows the social and agrarian structure in this part of Yorkshire because careful records were kept of produce and livestock.

Much of the area given to the abbey by land grants was inundated by erosion from the sea. Indeed some of the land recorded is now 20 miles out to sea.

Another Interesting sidelight of the work is the effect of the Black Death in 1350. The abbey records show how it crippled the population and productivity round Meaux. Dr. Orange graduated from the University of Hull in 1960 and then had two years’ full-time research as a Fh.D. candidate. When he came to Canterbury in 1962 he brought his material with him and has worked on ft ever since. >