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Six Clerks’ Office

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It is possible to locate the Six Clerks’ Office on Ogilby and Morgan’s 1667 Map [o]n the west side of Chancery Lane, south of Carey Street, outside the City Boundary, opposite the Rolls (Harben 534). The location of the original Six Clerks’ Office is now where the Law Institute stands. The office was formerly the Inn of the Prior of Nocton, but around the time that it was reconstructed in 1539, it was known as Harflete Inn or Harflu Inn. Stow records the history and shifting function of the space, observing that that it was a Brewhouse, but now faire builded for the sixe Clearkes of the Chauncerie, and standeth ouer against the saide house, called the Rolles (Stow 2:430). In Henry Wheatley’s annotation on a diary entry by Samuel Pepys, he recalls that the business of the office was to enrol commissions, pardons, patents, warrants, and that had passed the Great Seal; also other business in Chancery (Wheatley 1058). Eventually, as Wheatley notes, the Six Clerks were abolished by act of Parliament (Wheatley 1058). Elijah Williams further explicates that the need for such an office can be traced back to 1415, when [t]he number of Clerks writing the Rolls of Chancery was increased from three to six (Williams 1441).

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MLA citation

Six Clerks’ Office. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 6.6, edited by Janelle Jenstad, U of Victoria, 30 Jun. 2021, mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/SIXC1.htm. INP.

Chicago citation

Six Clerks’ Office. The Map of Early Modern London, Edition 6.6. Ed. Janelle Jenstad. Victoria: University of Victoria. Accessed June 30, 2021. mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/SIXC1.htm. INP.

APA citation

2021. Six Clerks’ Office. In J. Jenstad (Ed), The Map of Early Modern London (Edition 6.6). Victoria: University of Victoria. Retrieved from https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/editions/6.6/SIXC1.htm. INP.

RIS file (for RefMan, RefWorks, EndNote etc.)

Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
Content: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

TY  - ELEC
ED  - Jenstad, Janelle
T1  - Six Clerks’ Office
T2  - The Map of Early Modern London
ET  - 6.6
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/06/30
CY  - Victoria
PB  - University of Victoria
LA  - English
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/SIXC1.htm
UR  - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/xml/standalone/SIXC1.xml
TY  - UNP
ER  -

TEI citation

<bibl type="mla"> <title level="a">Six Clerks’ Office</title>. <title level="m">The Map of Early Modern London</title>, Edition <edition>6.6</edition>, edited by <editor><name ref="#JENS1"><forename>Janelle</forename> <surname>Jenstad</surname></name></editor>, <publisher>U of Victoria</publisher>, <date when="2021-06-30">30 Jun. 2021</date>, <ref target="https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/SIXC1.htm">mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/6.6/SIXC1.htm</ref>. INP.</bibl>

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