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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-04 > 0828524021


From: Al Magary <>
Subject: Complete Peerage etc.
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 01:33:41 -0800


I'd be surprised if the Barnes & Noble _Complete Peerage_ is the huge
dozen-volumed CP so often cited by genealogists. That, um, noble set
was originally ed. by G.E. Cokayne (often cited as G.E.C.), with later
vols. ed. by Vicary Gibbs and others. It was pub. in London 1910-59.
But if B&N does have this for a mere $400, please post details.

It's not necessarily easy to find a set. The San Francisco Public
Library doesn't have it; neither does S.F. State. But the California
State Library's genealogical branch is in S.F., and so I found it there.
You just may have to go to Boston. If you have some very specific
questions, you can probably answer them quickly. Browsing, reading the
appendices, etc. would certainly try the patience of a small child.

The Domesday Book is not directly useful as a genealogical source
unless you need an ancient gazeteer (it lists properties the king and
tenants-in-chief held in 1086). But it's easier to get hold of for a
price under $20. The 900th anniversary edition _The Domesday Book:
England's Heritage, Then and Now_, ed. Thomas Hinde (London: Hutchinson
with the English Tourist Board, 1986) has been offered in the B&N mail
catalogu; I also saw it in the bargain section on my local Super Crown
Books before Christmas.

I have found, for general/medieval research purposes, that the _Handbook
of British Chronology_ (sorry, no data; Q&A has misplaced the entry) has
a reliable, concise list of dukes, marquesses, earls 1066-1714. You can
xerox the 41 pages of English nobility (two pages per sheet) in no time,
while your young one presses the green button. HBC might help you
generate the specific questions you may have to ask _Complete Peerage_
in Boston.

Al Magary

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