Research, research, research! We were off to Hull to check out the Wickham-Boynton collection of documents. We had managed to look at some very old documents at the archive in Durham, but the Hull collection dwarfs the set of Boynton documents at Durham.

Hull University looks like a modern university -- I felt right at home. There were modern buildings. Through the windows you could see classrooms and offices. There were lawns producing a "campus." Students were walking about. It was supposed to be after the semester, but there seemed plenty of students on the campus.

The library was a bit different from the ones we are used to. You could only get in with a card. Presumably, both students and faculty have cards that let you in. We had visitor cards waiting for us so we could get in with only a few minutes delay. Past the computers for searching the on line catalogue was the archive. It was a small but standard archive: only pencils; tables and hard chairs; we can only give you three documents at a time; you cannot take pictures of the documents, we must do it for you [at substantial cost]. Well, they were very friendly, and we are hoping for an interesting collection of pictures sometime after returning to the U.S.

The evening before we went through the summaries of the Wickham-Boynton documents, and put together a list. The archive did have a nice index of the documents in the collection. It was a list with the summary of each, typed, and in a folder. In another 50 or 100 years it may be a bit hard to read the index. Now, it is very easy. But we arrived with a list of documents that we could give the person who was retrieving them for us.

The most striking document -- because the most unexpected -- was the prenuptial agreement between the Boyntons and the Griffiths. We knew it was there; we had the summary. But we were not prepared for what it was. It was a three page agreement. The striking aspect was the size of the pages -- they were huge by our ordinary standards. They were spelling out the marital arrangements in great detail.

There was also the document from the Admiralty to Margaret Boynton permitting her to retain wreckage that floated ashore at Barmston. The interesting point here was the admiralty seal which was very large.

The admiralty seal was not as large as the king's seal on the document that made Matthew a baronet. It was a form letter document. Notwithstanding Matthew's early baronetage [he was about 18] the document had many elements of a form letter. Most of the text was written in one hand, size of characters, and darkness of ink. When they entered Matthew's name into the document there was a change in all three. Since the king gave him his 1100 pounds back he may not have felt cheated by form letter honor. 1100 pounds was the going price of becoming a baronet. Matthew  put up the money, but rather shortly thereafter it was returned to him.

John Robert and I sorted through the documents and selected a subset for picture taking.

While we were doing the sorting Anne found the Bridlington cartulary -- that most elusive of publications. I have been unable to get it through interlibrary loan. It is in the Library of Congress catalogue, but when Anne has asked they say it is not on the shelf where it is supposed to be. But through the "magic" of the internet we knew that the library at Hull had a copy. They had it stashed away in the basement where they keep the books no one ever wants to check out, which makes you wonder about all those historians who cite it. Perhaps, they have not actually seen it -- because it is very difficult to come by. When Anne got it the elusiveness became clear. Only 60 or so copies were printed. This is one scarce book.

Bridlington is only five miles from Boynton, and Walter, William and Ingram were often involved in transactions with the Bridlington priory in the 12th and 13th centuries. They witnessed transactions, they traded land, and they gave land to the priory. Those transactions were recorded in the cartulary, but we already knew a lot about them. The one that was new knowledge was about Robert Boynton. Robert Boynton lived late in the 13th and early in the 14th century. He held land in Boynton and Hunmanby and other places. And he was involved in Yorkshire public life -- including serving in parliament in 1308. Both Carus Collier -- the biographer of the Boynton family -- and the persons who put together the biographies of Yorkshire knights of the shire said that Robert's father was Robert. However, when you followed the footnotes you got to a Robert Boyton [no "n" in the middle] who lived in Sussex. Sussex is almost as far from Yorkshire as one can get in England, and when you look at the map you find there is a village Boyton in Sussex. That Robert just cannot have been the father Robert Boynton of Yorkshire; at least it is very improbable. However, there is one more reference; a reference that does not point to Sussex; a reference in the Bridlington cartulary. And we found it. It definitely says Robert who was the son of Robert. As with the father of Walter about whom we know only his name, all we know about the father of Robert is his name. It is not much, but at least we are pretty sure about the name. We have seen the book; we have a photocopy of the page.

Then it was off to Beverley and the pleasant bed and breakfast there. And Caruti2 for dinner.