Sylvia Marchant continues her description of the many rolls series, replicated in the National Library’s Collection, that record administrative aspects of British history The Calendars of Rolls series offers extraordinary insights into the administration of Britain down the centuries. The series is the product of a remarkable effort by the British Public Records Office to transcribe ancient records of state from their original parchment rolls to printed books, thus making them more readily accessible to scholars and historians. Calendars, as well as being the familiar list of months and dates, are in this instance chronological lists of historical documents or manuscripts, usually with annotations or excerpts, and sometimes entire texts, of the material being calendared. The term ‘rolls’ in this sense comes from the method, adopted in medieval times, of keeping the records of state on rolls of parchment. Copies of important documents were transcribed onto parchment and then ‘enrolled’—or sewn together and rolled up to facilitate handling. There is a great variety of such records preserved in the original format in the British Public Records Office, including close rolls, patent rolls, fine rolls, liberate rolls, pipe rolls, scutage rolls and others. Each category serves a different purpose, though there is some leakage and duplication from one series to another, as the researcher will find. It was in 1855 that Sir John Romilly, then Master of the Rolls, obtained permission to publish the calendars of state papers. Publication of transcriptions of the Chancery rolls began in 1891 with the Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Records Office. Edward II AD 1307–1313 (1892). The work still continues with the Calendars of the Curia Regis Rolls, which are court records of Great Britain from the medieval period. Volume 18 (1243–1245) of this series was published in 1999 and two further volumes are in progress.
Under the direction of Maxwell Lyte, Deputy Keeper of the Records from 1886 to 1926, the abstracts in the calendars were made so comprehensive that only rarely can further information be obtained from the rolls themselves. Students therefore have no need to refer directly to the original manuscripts, thus protecting the rolls from further deterioration and the students from the difficulties of handling fragile material. Lyte offers a very erudite discussion of the early attempts to transcribe the close rolls in his preface to the first volume (Edward II; AD 1307–13). He also explains the approach to the work of transcription to achieve consistency. As a result of his foresight, most historians refer to the published calendars, rather than the actual rolls themselves, even though many original rolls still exist. Some 5,590 patent rolls dating from 1201 are in the care of the Public Records Office, which was established in 1838. The National Library holds a comprehensive collection of the transcripts, including 61 volumes of calendars of close rolls (1227–72), 68 volumes of calendars of patent rolls (1216–78), 22 volumes of calendars of fine rolls (1272–1509), six volumes of calendars of charter rolls (1226–1516), six volumes of calendars of liberate rolls (1226–72) and 18 volumes of the curia regis rolls dating from 1199 to 1272. This is an incredible historical resource and even though some of the volumes are in Latin, the introductions and notes in English are useful aids. Transcriptions have also been carried out by other organisations, notably the Pipe Roll Society, and the Library’s catalogue reveals 11 volumes of the pipe rolls (1154–99) produced by the society. Most medieval public records including the pipe rolls, came from the Exchequer, the financial department of government, but it was Chancery in its original role as the Royal Secretariat that produced the bulk of administrative records. Probably the most important and accessible are the patent, close, charter, and fine rolls. Nearly all of these four series have been published, at least as far as the year 1509, many as English abstracts from the original Latin. Altogether about 180 volumes have been printed, up to the reign of Elizabeth I. A huge range of matters is dealt with in the various series of rolls, not necessarily all of great and earth- shattering import. Mostly they record the day-to-day dealings of subjects and organisations with government—appointments to local offices, permission to hold markets or grant land, involvement in law suits, debts, misdemeanours and so on. Others are concerned with more personal matters, such as the inheritance of land, provision of dower for widows and the wardship of minors. The people mentioned in them range from royal officials to the ordinary citizen, while matters dealt with cover diverse areas such as land grants, inheritance and official appointments. In themselves these things may be minor but together they present an authentic picture of the conduct of affairs in the past and cast light on the framework of the contemporary society. This extract from a close roll in the Calendar of Various Chancery Rolls (p. 68. Membrane 3. 1303. May 10 Newminster) is an example of the sort of entry to be found:
It is this sort of detail that makes the calendars a rich and unique primary source of historical and genealogical information and, as they have excellent indexes, they are extremely accessible as well as of great importance to scholars, genealogists and historians. A brief description of the sort of material that can be found in various series of rolls follows.
Close rolls Perhaps the most interesting series is the Close Rolls, or Royal Letters Close. They are so called because as private communications issued by the Lord Chancellor and addressed to individuals in the name of the sovereign, they were folded or closed and sealed with the Great Seal dependent. Close rolls include mandates, letters and writs and the series begins with the sixth year of King John (1205). According to Lyte, (Calendar of Close Rolls ... A.D. 1307–1313) the Close Roll series of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries contain entries of the most varied character, illustrating the history of every branch of public administration, plus copies of deeds, agreements, and awards to private individuals. Patent rolls Patent rolls are perhaps the most important as they grant exclusive privileges. They are in the nature of public notices addressed to all persons and delivered open with the Great Seal attached to the bottom. A modern example, the Letters Patent Constituting the Office of the Governor-General [of Australia] 1900 can be seen in the Charters of Our Nation exhibition currently at the National Archives of Australia. Letters patent include grants of land, confirmation of liberties, privileges, wardships, licences to widows to remarry, pardons, elections of bishops and abbots and many other subjects. The word ‘patent’ referring to inventions comes from the fact that letters patent were later used to register inventions. Calendars of patent rolls are a particularly rich primary source of medieval history because of the extensive calendars of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they contain. Thomas Astle (1735–1803), Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, reported (c.1775) that patent rolls contain:
Letters patent are still issued, though are now mostly ceremonial. Charter rolls These documents are rather more straight-forward, being the Royal Charters that are grants of rights by the sovereign or Parliament. The most famous is the Magna Carta. They proclaim such things as the creation of boroughs, deeds conveying land, a privilege or a right, confirmation of liberties, offices, dignities, and pensions. These matters are also often dealt with by the letters patent but the charter rolls, though not differing in content, are addressed to specific dignitaries rather than to all persons. They date from 1199 to 1517 and printed versions, dated 1215–1517, are available in the Library’s collection. Fine rolls The fine rolls take their name from the enrolment on them of fines or payments made for writs, grants, licences, pardons and exemptions of various kinds. The offerings or payments were required for the transaction of almost any kind of administrative or judicial business. The series extends from the reign of King John to the year 1641 and printed versions have been produced in 22 volumes (1272–1509) in English abstracts and are to be found in the Library’s Collection. Pipe rolls Pipe rolls are different again. They are not part of the Calendars of Chancery Rolls series, but are exchequer records. They are the written record of the audit process of the king’s accounts for each financial year and are the oldest surviving series of English royal records, the earliest covering the financial year 1129–30. Transcriptions have been printed, mostly by the Pipe Roll Society, and include the rolls up to 1221 and those for the 1129–30 and 1241–42 financial years. The National Library holds most of these publications, which are mainly in Latin, with an English introduction and notes. Pipe rolls acquired their strange name from the way they were rolled. Small parchment rolls sewn head to head ‘Exchequer style’ were rolled up to look like a section of drainpipe. This is different to the chancery rolls which were sewn head to foot ‘Chancery style’. Pipe rolls are an incredible source of detailed information on the financial affairs of medieval Britain and include such things as royal land grants, alms to religious houses and expenditure on royal castles and houses. Also included are various taxes such as scutage, a commutation of military service, and tallage, taxes on boroughs, towns and cities, each throwing light on the land holdings in individual counties. Other accounts include Church vacancies, wardrobe accounts and accounts of large-scale building projects using Treasury funds. They are an invaluable source of historical information. Liberate rolls These are records of writs authorising payments by the Exchequer. They concern warrants for the issue of money from the King and are addressed to the Treasurer, Chamberlain or the Baron of the Exchequer and record all payments made from the King’s Treasure. The series extends from the second year of King John (1200) to the fourteenth of Henry VI (1436), and there are 148 rolls. Printed calendars of charter rolls from 1226 to 1272 in six volumes and are available in the National Library’s Collection. I am indebted to the web site of the Public Record Office of Great Britain http://www.pro.gov.uk for much of the historical information contained in this article. Other useful sites are www.medievalhistory.net and www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk. SYLVIA MARCHANT is a Canberra-based writer, historian and reviewer |
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