Medieval deeds in the Guild of St Anne Collection
The RIA Library and the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland announce a new project to provide enhanced online access to a collection of deeds that offer a wealth of information about Dublin’s social structure and civic culture from the 13th to the 18th century.
The Royal Irish Academy Library and the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland are set to deepen their collaboration with an exciting new project focused on the original medieval deeds of the Guild of St. Anne. These vellum and parchment deeds, held by the Royal Irish Academy, offer a wealth of information about Dublin’s social structure, civic culture, and historical development, contained in documents dating from the 13th to the 18th century. With so many original records lost in the 1922 Public Record Office fire, the GSA deeds take on added significance as some of the most valuable surviving documentary artefacts from Dublin’s early history.
With valuable information about the families and properties of city officials, the deeds shed light on the dynamics of urban governance and provide unique insights into the distribution of power and wealth in medieval Dublin. Importantly, these documents reveal hidden histories, particularly concerning women and individuals often underrepresented in historical narratives. The collection includes conveyances involving women, some initiated by widows, as well as wills that offer clues about material possessions and the rituals of death and inheritance. Additionally, the records hold valuable data on buildings and infrastructure, such as construction materials, renovations, and intended uses. Economic details, including housing and rental trends, can also be derived from the deeds, alongside rich information about family connections and relationships, making the St. Anne’s Guild deeds a crucial resource for deepening our understanding of medieval Dublin’s social fabric.
This project builds on the existing partnership between the RIA, the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and VRTI, and will create a unified, freely accessible research and teaching resource that presents high-resolution digitised images of over 800 original deeds held by the RIA Library on www.virtualtreasury.ie, alongside fully searchable metadata and hidden stories revealing the rich histories contained in this collection. Additionally, the collaboration will, for the first time, provide online access to a typewritten calendar of the GSA deeds commissioned by the Irish Manuscripts Commission and created by Ludwig Bieler (d. 1981), allowing users to access detailed English-language summaries of the Guild’s original Latin deeds. By interlinking the new digitised edition of Bieler’s calendar with images of the original documents, this project will enhance online access to this historically significant collection, offering new opportunities for historians, genealogists, and archaeologists to study the physical, social, and economic fabric of Dublin in the Middle Ages.
