As the opening sentence of Michael Hicks's introduction to the volume states, ‘Inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) were the product of sworn inquiries by local jurors into the landholdings after death of feudal tenants.’ The book is ‘both a Companion and a guide’ (p 1) to the recently published Calendars of IPMs covering 1422–47, the most detailed and complete of the twenty-nine volumes covering 1236–1447 and 1485–1509. The volume brings together a learned collection of contributors, including most of those involved in the production of the recent Calendars, together with some eminent historians and users of IPMs. As the Companion demonstrates, IPMs are either a key or supporting source in numerous fields of research, including the genealogy, descent and distribution of estates of the leading landed families, socio-economic topics – for instance, land use and valuations – and more unexpected areas such as evidence for buildings or mortality rates.

The contributions fall under three broad and partially overlapping headings. Four essays relate to the process of, and the people involved in, the taking of the inquisitions. Kate Parkin investigates the procedures of establishing idiocy amongst heirs, the abuses of the system and who stood to benefit. Claire Noble focuses on a relatively neglected field, the writs by which the Crown managed the system of IPMs, their different types and their development. An impressive contribution from Matthew Holford studies the local men who served as jurors, concluding that many were drawn from the ‘more prosperous middling ranks of rural and urban society’ (p 214) and showing how IPMs allow some rare insight into the interaction of these types with the royal administration. A second chapter by Holford returns to the vexed question of the reliability of the extents and valuations of land within IPMs, concluding that while undervaluation was common, its scale varied considerably and not all inquisitions can be dismissed as simply ‘unreliable’ (p 125).

Several contributions focus less on the process and more on the use that can be made of the resulting inquisitions. Michael Hicks, on dower and jointure, and Christine Carpenter, on IPMs as a source for studying the gentry, particularly estate settlements and the wealth and distribution of estates, make suggestive contributions to the state of existing research. Margaret Yates uses quantitative data derived from Berkshire IPMs, especially on land use and the development of agriculture, to argue that, when used in conjunction with other sources, IPMs can be exploited with some confidence. L R Poos, J Oeppen and R M Smith revisit Josiah Russell's seminal work from 1948 on mortality rates, and a revised methodology generates a more accurate figure of mortality amongst tenants-in-chief. Christopher Dyer provides the broadest sweep, looking at the value of IPMs for fifteenth-century social and economic history, in particular focusing on manorial structures and aristocratic incomes, buildings, towns, rural settlement and deserted villages. By concentrating on some broad areas, these contributions, particularly those of Carpenter and Dyer, can only be suggestive rather than definitive, and focus on how IPM evidence can support or, less frequently, undermine existing arguments.

Two contributions are about the history and the production of the calendars. Sean Cunningham provides a welcome survey of the process of calendaring IPMs from the early, deficient, attempts of the Record Commission in the 1820s, through the main sequence of calendars covering 1236–1399, produced by editors at the Public Record Office, who, while producing volumes acknowledged as the ‘indispensable starting point’ for research (p 177), were largely immune to constructive criticism from academic reviewers, to the modern, comprehensive and well-received calendars. The final essay, by Oliver Padel, comprises a general plea to all those involved in calendaring documents to include the original place-name spelling within the text, instead of relegating it to the index, to avoid mistakes and to facilitate the work of onomasts.

A point emphasised throughout is the need for IPMs to be used in conjunction with other sources; this, alongside the fact that many of the areas covered by contributors are comparatively under-researched, means the volume is often a starting point, rather than the final word on any given topic. This should not discourage readers; the detailed research within its chapters means it will long be a primary reference point for anyone using IPMs, and its broad subject coverage gives it a wide application. The volume is nicely produced by The Boydell Press, with a helpful glossary and index.