The Irish fiants of the Tudor sovereigns during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip & Mary, and Elizabeth I1994

"Fiants ... were the warrants directed to the Irish Chancery, directing the issue of letters patent under the great seal, and corresponding to the 'Signed Bills' of English procedure ... Letters patent could cover a wide variety of matters: leases and grants of land, either from the Crown itself or following upon a surrender by the original proprietor, in the well-known but often misunderstood process known as 'surrender and regrant;' appointments not only to offices and church benefices but also to Irish chieftancies and to the seneschalships into which they were converted as an intermediate stage towards their eventual elimination under English law ...; [and] pardons ... "--Intro.