Course Enrollment: IR-302 Irish: Electoral and Taxation Records

Optional Print Course Material: Irish: Electoral and Taxation Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A series of source records that tend to be less consulted are electoral, poll, and tithe records. In Ireland these comprise voters registers, hearth money rolls, poll tax rolls, land tithes, and subsidy rolls as well as many other taxation methods. The collection falls under two distinct series, each of which varies by period, and both of which will be discussed in this course.  Though they tend to be less informative than some of the other record groups, electoral and taxation records establish presence, among other details, in a period where few other records exist by which to do so. In addition, we discuss records of public office, freemen, and freeholders. Understanding these records is imperative to pre-1700 research in Ireland. The course covers the value and challenges of these records, contents, dates of coverage, types of persons included, access,  and brief lists of bibliographic and indexed sources.