Introduction

The topographical and genealogical collections of Roger Dodsworth (1585-1654), consisting of notes and extracts from public records and private muniments, church monuments, wills, cartularies, and other sources, constitute the largest single body of research materials to survive from 17th-century England. Initially concentrated on Yorkshire, Dodsworth's activity eventually spread to most of England. In 1635 he met William Dugdale, and the two men decided to collaborate on the Monasticon Anglicanum which was eventually published after Dodsworth's death. His manuscripts passed into the hands of his patron Sir Thomas Fairfax, who left them to the Bodleian (along with his own) in 1673. The introduction to the collection in the Summary Catalogue gives details of early attempts to catalogue and index the material, as well as an explanation of its original arrangement.