Association Oath Rolls 1696

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Oath-taking in England in early modern England

Oath rolls are an underused (though often difficult to use in their original formats) source of individuals' names in the 16th to early 18th centuries. They could contain the names of a substantial proportion of the adult male population within the areas which they covered, and so offer a valuable pre-19th century "census substitute".

Oaths of allegiance were used to secure the loyalty to the sovereign and to help identify potential opponents. They were relatively common in in post-Reformation and revolutionary England. For example, the Jacobean loyalty oath of 1606 was intended to expose disloyal Catholics; during the Civil War years signatories to the Protestation Oath (1641) promised to defend 'the true reformed religion expressed in the doctrine of the Church of England' and confirmed their 'duty of allegiance' to 'maintain and defend His Majesty's royal person and estate, as also the power and privilege of Parliaments'.

Association Oath Rolls for City of London Livery Companies, 1696

The Association Oath followed the discovery in 1696 of a plot to assassinate William III. A transcription of the Association Oath Rolls for the City of London Livery Companies are now available on British Origins. This dataset contains the names of over 21,500 members of 77 livery companies.

It is likely that for most Companies the great majority of members would have signed the Oath Roll. Exceptions are: the Watermen's Company, whose list of 1,445 signatories notes that at least 4,000 members were already in the King's Service and so could not sign the roll; and the Musicians, whose roll contains 34 names while the rest of the members are in the King's Service and could not be found.

This dataset is searchable by name (last name and first name) and by Livery Company.

For more infornation on the Oath Rolls see Cliff's Webb more detailed introduction to the present dataset

See also:	Help on Searching - Association Oath Rolls
	Livery companies
	Cliff's Webb detailed introduction
	Abbreviations used
	Cliff Webb Biography
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