Into the Archives: The Black Books

2022 marks the 600th anniversary of the Inn’s Black Books – our official records.  These historic volumes are the oldest surviving record of any of the Inns of Court and their start date, 1422, is traditionally celebrated as the start of the Inn’s history.

In the first of our ‘Into the Archives’ series, our Archivist Megan Dunmall explains the significance of these records.

Unless otherwise stated the following images are used under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) terms and conditions https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Credit: A physician wearing a 17th century plague preventive. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark https://wellcomecollection.org/works/vexvy3g3  

Credit: Plague in London, 1665. Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://wellcomecollection.org/works/vtwsmd4a