The following is a press release issued by the Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies:

Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies have developed an online database of papal dispensations for marriage, intended for use in genealogical investigation.

Until recently, the papal dispensations granted for marriages in Britain and Ireland between those related within the prohibited degrees and covering the period 1198 to 1534 were not available in a single place online.

The ‘Papal Dispensations for Marriage Project’ funded by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, has been focusing on creating a database that will initially cover volumes 1 to 20 and volume 23 part 1, by extracting entries relating to marriage – specifically papal dispensations for marriage – from the published calendars of papal registers/letters in a consistent format, to develop a searchable online database.

The aim of the project is the ongoing development of an easily accessible online relational database that will be useful for academic and genealogical research by medieval historians and in particular by medieval genealogical researchers.

The papal dispensations database can be viewed and searched by visiting https://papaldispensations.org.uk/