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Manors and Manorial Records
The following is a very brief summary of what is actually a very complex history, and is simply supplied to give a simple introduction as to why manorial records cna be important to the genealogist.
During the medieval period the unit of local government was the manor, which was an agricultural estate, the so-called "Lord of the Manor" being what we would now call the landlord, and was not necessarily a titled person. There was a manor court which was a periodic meeting of the tenants of the estate, presided over by the lord of the manor and his steward. The Court Rolls were the written record of the minutes of such meetings, and until the 18th century (except during the Commonwealth) they would have been written in Latin.
By the 17th century most of the "local government functions" had been transferred to the parish, with the churchwardens and the parish vestry, and the courts were mainly concerned with the property of the manor - relating to such things as the use of common land. Of particular interest was the transfer of copyhold property. This was property belonging to the manor, but which the tenant held by right of a copy of the court record which assigned the property to them. When a tenant died his heir would come to the court and tell it of the death of the tenant, and explain why he was entitled to inherit it, with reference to the earlier court record. Where manor records are complete it can be possible to trace the occupants of a cottage over many generations as it passed from father to son.
During the 19th century the holding of manorial courts gradually came to an end and copyhold tenure, which was almost extinct, was abolished in 1925. Since 1926 all manorial records have to be reported to the Master of the Rolls and the Historical Manuscripts Commission (website www.hmc.gov.uk) maintains a register of surviving manorial records.
While they are potentially a very useful tool there are a number of problems:
Unlike parish registers the records were the private property of the lords of the manor, and as the system drifted out of use the records easily became lost. (I believe that one of my ancestors, in the 19th century, was technically lord of the manor of Betlow, near Tring, but as he only had one tenant there seemed to be little point in holding courts!)
Many are in private hands or in collections of estate papers held outside Hertfordshire. (The manorial papers for Sandridge are part of Earl Spencer's Althrop Estate papers - and are held in the Northampton Records Office. It appears that the associated estate maps were sold off - and the earliest is in the British Library in London.)
A very few manorial documents have been transcribed and published - for instance the Survey of the Royal Manor of Hitchin, 1676 - but most have neither been transcribed or indexed. (And remember the older ones are in medieval Latin!)
Even where they have been microfilmed (and I have not information on Hertfordshire Manors - try asking HALS) they are often not widely available (unlike the parish registers which can be seen worldwide at LDS Family History Centres)
It they exist and have not been filmed/transcribed, there may be difficulties in getting access because of where/how they are held. (I am sure some will be in University Libraries in the USA.)
If your ancestor lived in freehold rather than copyhold property its changes in occupancy will not be recorded in the manor records.
I have transcribed the history of Pendley Manor, near Tring, from the Victoria County History for Hertfordshire as an example of the information that is available from medieval and later records on the ownership of the manor.
I will try and find time to add some examples from manor court documents at a later date, but if you have a transcript of some interesting records you would like to share please let me know.
See also Manorial Records - St Michaels, St Albans (thanks to Barbara Chapman)
See also the web page http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/guide/man.shtml
If you can add to the information given above tell me.
