EPOCH Tutorials - Reading Resistance: A Practical Guide to Working with The National Archives Ancient Petitions Collection (SC 8)
- EPOCH
- May 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 1
Josh Coulthard | Edge Hill University
Intrigued by Issue 20's article on the politics of Plantagenet petitions? Read on for a practical guide to working with petitions in your own research.
Step 1 – Find a petition
Firstly, follow the link to the National Archives search bar or follow this link to the SC 8 catalogue.

From here, you can search for any term that you believe might appear in the petition description. Some examples might include ‘wife’, ‘rebel’ or ‘York’. To see only results from SC 8, select Special Collections, Available for Download, and set the date range to around 1200 to 1600 or a smaller date range if you want something more specific.
Image 2: Caption:

Once you have found one that piques your interest, check out its calendar description, which should provide most of the details you need.
![Screenshot of the page for the People of Lancashire Petition on TNA’s webpage with an option to download a pdf of the petition and the following information ‘Reference: SC 8/8/362 Description: Petitioners: People of Lancashire. Addressees: King. Nature of request: The people of Lancashire state that King John, when he was Count of Mortain, granted to them that they and their heirs could assart, sell and give their own woods at will, and that they might be quit of regard of the forest; and likewise that they could hunt hare and fox, and all manner of game except stags, hinds, roe-bucks, and wild pigs, everywhere within the forest in the said county, except in his demesne hays. He confirmed this charter in the first year of his reign, and King Henry confirmed these charters in the thirteenth year of his reign. They request that the king confirm them, and command his ministers in those parts not to harass them on these matters. Nature of endorsement: Coram rege. They are to come to Chancery, and show their charters and confirmations, and the king will consider this further. Places mentioned: Lancashire. People mentioned: John, Count of Mortain and King of England; Henry III, King of England. Note: Date given on the evidence of Rot. Parl. JRS Phillips (PROME, Appendix of Unedited Petitions, 1307-1337) says that these petitions probably all do belong to 18 Edward II, although there is no indication that they were presented either at the non-parliamentary assembly of October 1324 or the parliament of June 1325. Date:[1324-1325] Held by: The National Archives, Kew Former reference in its original department: Parliamentary Petition 5356’](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1d2c57_8e6778300380423b8527300a6ae026c5~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_662,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/1d2c57_8e6778300380423b8527300a6ae026c5~mv2.png)
Step 2 - See if it has been transcribed already (if so, skip to step 4)
In the publication note at the bottom of the page, check whether the petition has been published before and whether it is as a summary, full edition, or translation. Sometimes a petition will have already been transcribed, but this does not appear on TNA’s catalogue – for example, SC 8/80/3952 has been transcribed and published in Early Common Petitions, but this is not mentioned on TNA’s catalogue. Some other places to check for publication include, Sayles, Documents on the Affairs of Ireland before the King’s Bench, Petitions from Lincolnshire, and the Parliament Rolls (available both online and in print).

Step 3 - Transcribe it
Firstly, check what language your petition is in; the vast majority should be in Old French. However, some of the fifteenth-century petitions may be in Middle English. Mercifully, Old French has many fewer abbreviations than Latin, and petitions contain large, formulaic chunks.
A handy guide to palaeography with a list of resources can be found here.
Step 4 – Translate it (if already translated, skip to step 5)
Once you have transcribed your petition, you will need to translate it. If you have never studied Old French, then Einhorn’s Old French Handbook is a useful guide to learning the grammar of Old French. The Anglo-Norman Dictionary provides translations for many of the unique spellings found in Anglo-Norman.

Step 5 – Check for secondary scholarship mentioning your petition (if none can be found – congratulations, you have found something new!)
With over 17,000 documents and a relatively small field of historiography, there is a good chance that your document has not previously been studied. Still, it is worth checking to see if anyone else has already referenced your petition (check out the further reading for places to start).

Step 6 – Check for references to cases which may be the same as your petitions’ in other documents
For this step you will want to check the various calendars of English legal documents such as the Calendars of Patent Rolls, Inquests Post-Mortem and Close Rolls.
Further Reading and Resources for Petitions
Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry and Rosemary Horrox eds., The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England 1275-1504 16 vols (Boydell and Brewer, 2005).
G.O. Sayles ed., Documents on the Affairs of Ireland Before the King’s Council (Stationary Office for the Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1979).
Gwilym Dodd and Alison K. McHardy eds., Petitions from Lincolnshire 1200-1500 (Lincoln Record Society/Boydell and Brewer, 2020).
Gwilym Dodd, 'Writing Wrongs: The Drafting of Supplications to the Crown in Later Fourteenth-Century England', Medium Ævum 80 (2011), 217-246.
Philomena Connolly, 'Irish Material in the Class of Ancient Petitions (SC8) in the Public Record Office, London', Analecta Hibernica 34 (1987), 3-106.
W. Mark Ormrod, Helen Killick and Phil Bradford eds. Early Common Petitions in the English Parliament, c.1290–c.1420, Camden Fifth Series, Series Vol. 52 (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
William Rees, Calendar of Ancient Petitions Relating to Wales Thirteenth to Sixteenth Century (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1975).
Josh Coulthard is a doctoral candidate at Edge Hill University. His research focuses on the political culture of the insular Plantagenet World between 1200 and 1400; he is especially interested in the intersection between political legitimacy and identity. He is also the co-convenor of the North West Medieval Studies Postgrad Reading Group.
Bluesky: @Joshcoulthard.bsky.social