Preserved in the Public Record Office.1578-1580The series of Patent Rolls of the Chancery England extends from the third year of the reign of King John and, as a register of instruments issued under sovereign's Great Seal, has been maintained down to recent times. Letters patent under the Great Seal are, as their name implies, issued open, and addressed to all men; being thus distinguished from the letters close issued in former times, which being of a less public nature and addressed to individuals went out folded and closed by the Seal.