Largely unpublished hitherto, the materials contained in The Records of Convocation have been drawn from a variety of sources. They make available, for the first time, the fullest possible account of the convocations which stood at the very heart of the nation's life throughout most of the medieval and early modern period. The Records of Convocation contain the minutes of clergy synods, the legislation passed by them tax assessments imposed by the king on the clergy, and accounts of the great debates about religious reformation and reform.

The York volumes contain all the evidence for the northern convocations from the early middle ages to 1861. Much of the material in the first volume, taken from the archbishops' registers as well as other sources in Durham, London and Carlisle has never been printed before. During the years of the Reformation and its aftermath, detailed in the second volume, we witness a full account of the northerners' reaction to Henry VIII's religious policies.The third volume includes a detailed account of the 1600s and material concerning the revival of the convocation in the nineteenth century, which did not run as smoothly as in Canterbury.

This set also includes an introductory and an index volume, making five in all.