Search the Electronic Sawyer

If you are looking for the 'Sawyer' entry for a charter of which you already know the Sawyer number (or the Kemble number, or the Birch number), simply enter the number in the 'Instant Sawyer' panel above and hit 'Search'.

Searches of a certain kind (e.g. for the charters of a particular king, or from a particular archive, or in a particular manuscript) can be conducted most easily by using the various options available on the 'Browse' menu.

If you wish to find a particular charter, or set of charters, referring to a particular place, or to places in a particular county, or in favour of a person bearing a particular name, or of a particular date, you may enter the operative details in 'Charter Search', using the box labeled 'Title word' (which searches the short summaries of each charter, as given in the Revised Sawyer). Please note that this feature is not yet fully functional, and will be developed further as various refinements are introduced into the 'Search''routines, and into the Revised Sawyer database. For further information see Development.

If you wish to look for a particular word or words in the original text of a charter, or for a particular string or combination of words, you may enter the operative details in 'Charter Search', using the box labeled 'Text word'. The 'Electronic Sawyer' supports a Boolean search (as in Google): Alfredus rex would finds occurrences of the word 'rex' and of the word 'Alfredus' in a single charter; "Ego Alfredus rex" AND subscripsi would find occurrences of the words 'Ego Alfredus rex' and of the word 'subscripsi' in a single charter; "Alfredus rex" OR subscripsi works as one would expect. Please note that this feature is not yet fully functional, and will be developed further as more texts are incorporated into the Revised Sawyer database.

In devising and conducting their searches, users should bear in mind that there is no substitute for reading the charters themselves, in the best available editions (which in the case of the volumes appearing in the British Academy series are provided with critical apparatus and detailed discussion). It should also be borne in mind that some texts are printed from surviving originals and some are edited from cartulary or later copies, so that the same word might appear in different spellings. For further information, see Development.

Details of a particular manuscript, or of the manuscripts associated with a particular archive, may be found most easily by using the options available from the 'Browse' menu. For other forms of searching, see the options available under 'Manuscript Search'. Please note that this feature is not yet fully functional, pending further development. For further information see Development.

If you wish to see a list of books and articles in the database written by a particular author, perhaps in a particular year or period of years, you may enter the operative details in 'Bibliography Search'. If you then click on the box at the beginning of each entry, you will see a list of citations of charters in the book or article in question, with direct links to the Sawyer entry for each charter. You may also search for a particular book or article, and so for a list of charters cited therein, by entering a keyword from the title of the book or article, or from the title of the journal, using the box labeled 'Reference keyword'.