Between 1666 and 1814, English law required that the dead be buried in wool rather than linen, to protect the country’s struggling woollen trade. To prove this had been done, a sworn affidavit had to be brought to the parish within eight days of the burial — and clerks at St Bartholomew’s noted this in the register using a small set of recurring terms. This what the Afidavit references are.

For an explanation of what these affidavit notations mean, see Buried in Woollen.