Francis Pavey: Plymouth’s 17th-Century Public Notary

Francis Pavey worked in the maritime port town of Plymouth, Devon, UK. During the early to mid-17th century, Plymouth was an expanding hub for transatlantic trade, naval operations, and local merchant guilds.

Maritime Notary

• Port and Town Center: Pavey operated out of the core borough of Plymouth, particularly serving the Barbican / Sutton Pool area where maritime traffic, customs declarations, and merchant shipping agreements were executed.
• Parish Records: Contemporary records show the Pavey family established in Plymouth around the early 1600s, with parish registers (such as St. Andrew’s Church, Plymouth’s primary parish church at the time) noting marriages and family events for Francis Pavey.
• Civic and Guild Documentation: His practice extended beyond overseas merchant orders to local trade governance. For instance, in municipal records from May 12, 1643, he authenticated a trade agreement and rate dispute for the local Shoemakers Cordwainers Guild. In the record, he signed his full Latin title:

“Francis Pavey of Plymouth, Notary and Tabellion Publique, doe certifie that the orders above written… were soe done really in the presense of me… Per me Franciscum Pavey, Notarium Publicum et Tabellionem.”

Pope St. Fabian (236–250 AD)

The formal appointment of ecclesiastical notaries by the Papacy traces back to Pope Saint Fabian.

Evolution of Notarial Authority:

• Ancient Rome (Scribae / Notarii)
• Pope St. Fabian (236–250 AD) – Divides Rome into 7 regions; appoints 7 papal notaries
• Pope Nicholas III (1279 AD) – Grants faculty to Archbishop of Canterbury for English appointments
• Henry VIII (1533 AD) – Ecclesiastical Licences Act transfers notary authority to the Crown

Key Milestones in Papal Notarial History

• Early Legendary Roots (Pope Clement I): Some early medieval traditions (Liber Pontificalis) attribute primitive clerical record-keeping to Pope Clement I (c. 88–99 AD), but historical and legal consensus credits Pope Fabian with formally instituting the office of papal notary.
• Pope St. Fabian (236–250 AD): Recognized as the first pope to systematically organize and appoint public notaries (notarii). He divided the Christian community of Rome into seven administrative regions and appointed seven notary-secretaries to officially record the Acta (legal proceedings, trials and testimonies) of Christian martyrs during Roman imperial persecutions.
• Delegation to England (1279 AD): For centuries, public notaries were appointed directly by Papal or Holy Roman Imperial authority. In 1279, Pope Nicholas III issued a papal faculty authorizing John Pecham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appoint public notaries in England.
• The Reformation Shift (1533 AD): This papal authority continued in England until the Reformation, when Henry VIII’s Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 transferred the power to appoint notaries from the Pope to the English Crown, delegated to the Master of the Faculties under the Archbishop of Canterbury.
• This Act transferred those former papal powers (known as legatine powers) directly to the Archbishop of Canterbury, creating the Court of Faculties (now the Faculty Office) to administer them. The judge appointed to lead this court became known as the Master of the Faculties, where the authority remains today.