ABSTRACT
This chapter explores evidence from the Court of York, which Bronach Kane also discusses in her own collection. In brief, witnesses in the Court of York, as in similar instance litigation in other ecclesiastical courts throughout Latin Christendom, appeared because they had in principle agreed to, not because they were made to. The Court of York records bear some relation to Inquisitorial records. Both are the product of the Church acting in a judicial capacity. During the course of the later Middle Ages, and indeed for several centuries thereafter, the Church provides a network of courts at both archidiaconal and diocesan level. Much lower-level jurisdiction saw the courts act in a policing capacity enforcing canon law ex officio, mostly in respect of presentments for fornication or adultery. Customary courts and borough courts were more permissive, at least to women without husbands, notably widows, but married women usually might bring actions only with their husbands.
