The Thirteenth-Century Visitation Records of the Diocese of Hereford

Abstract

Abstract When visitation of the laity became a regular feature of parish and diocesan life towards the end of the thirteenth century, it relied upon new forms of documentation. Three visitation records of the late thirteenth century from Hereford diocese are edited here, and the character of the documents, produced under the pioneering bishops Thomas Cantilupe and Richard Swinfield, is described and analysed. The authors discuss the reasons for the emergence of regular episcopal visitation around this time, and the nature and utility of the documents which it generated and on which its viability depended.