The fine rolls provide a wealth of material of great value to historians of Henry III's reign... more The fine rolls provide a wealth of material of great value to historians of Henry III's reign being, in essence, the principal record of offers of money to the king for an enormous variety of concessions and favours to individuals and corporate bodies, both municipal and religious. They reveal what the king was expected and could be persuaded to grant and the benefits his subjects expected or hoped to be able to win from him. They are therefore crucial in understanding networks of patronage and debt and credit, and the increasingly rapid changes to the law, the position of women and the seigneurial landscape and economy in the thirteenth century. Each fine roll was compiled in Latin by a handful of scribes, and a total of sixty-four rolls containing around eight hundred membranes, one for almost all of the fifty-six years of Henry III's reign from 1216 to 1272, survive in The National Archives at Kew in the series C 60. The earliest example is from 1199, the first year of John's reign, making it co-terminus with the first charter roll, a running record of the king's grants by charter, and slightly antedating the close and patent rolls, records of outgoing letters from the royal Chancery, all of which helped rationalise and regularise royal bureaucratic authority in England. Running to twenty-three membranes, however, this ‘first’ extant fine roll was a well-developed instrument of government.
Calendar of the fine rolls of the reign of Henry III : preserved in the National Archives
The Fine Rolls were the earliest rolls kept by the English royal chancery. Recording offers of mo... more The Fine Rolls were the earliest rolls kept by the English royal chancery. Recording offers of money to the king for all manner of concessions and favours, they are central to the study of political, governmental, legal, social and economic history. The reign of Henry III (1216-1272) is a particularly rich period for surviving documents; there are some 56 rolls preserved in the National Archives, one for each regnal year. However, despite the light they shed on politics, government, and society, they have never previously been properly edited or published, and these fully-indexed volumes - covering the period up to 1248 - will therefore be widely welcomed. The Latin rolls are presented in English translation, with all identifiable place-names modernised, although the original forms are preserved; and each volume includes full person, place and subject indexes. This volume covers in some detail the first phase of Henry's personal rule, which began in 1234. The rolls provide key evidence both for the great reform of the realm following Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence in 1236 and for the concessions by which Henry encouraged participation in his Poitevin campaign of 1242. In two years when fine rolls are missing the volume prints originalia rolls (copies of the fine rolls sent to the Exchequer) in their place, thus enabling detailed examination of the processes by which the king raised his revenue.
Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III preserved in The National Archives. Volume III: 1234–1242
The Fine Rolls were the earliest rolls kept by the English royal chancery. Recording offers of mo... more The Fine Rolls were the earliest rolls kept by the English royal chancery. Recording offers of money to the king for all manner of concessions and favours, they are central to the study of political, governmental, legal, social and economic history. The reign of Henry III (1216-1272) is a particularly rich period for surviving documents; there are some 56 rolls preserved in the National Archives, one for each regnal year. However, despite the light they shed on politics, government, and society, they have never previously been properly edited or published, and these fully-indexed volumes - covering the period up to 1248 - will therefore be widely welcomed. The Latin rolls are presented in English translation, with all identifiable place-names modernised, although the original forms are preserved; and each volume includes full person, place and subject indexes. This volume covers in some detail the first phase of Henry's personal rule, which began in 1234. The rolls provide key evidence both for the great reform of the realm following Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence in 1236 and for the concessions by which Henry encouraged participation in his Poitevin campaign of 1242. In two years when fine rolls are missing the volume prints originalia rolls (copies of the fine rolls sent to the Exchequer) in their place, thus enabling detailed examination of the processes by which the king raised his revenue.
'Administering the Irish Fines, 1199-1254: The English Chancery, the Dublin Exchequer and the Seeking of Favours' in The Growth of English Government eds. David Crook and Louise J. Wilkinson (Boydell, 2015)
In 1297 a parliament was convened at Dublin one of the main purposes of which was to defend more ... more In 1297 a parliament was convened at Dublin one of the main purposes of which was to defend more effectively the borders of the English lordship of Ireland. The conquest of Ireland had never been complete. Several of the pre-conquest kingdoms survived beyond the effective edge of the English lordship and elsewhere the actions of conquistador and settler had pushed the native Irish up into the hills. Consequently, the settler population in many parts of Ireland lived in close proximity to areas under Gaelic control. This was not a particular problem in the eastern province of Leinster until the 1270s when the Irish of the Wicklow mountains began to raid settler manors. It has recently been suggested that the effects of this ‘Gaelic revival’ and the legislation passed at the Dublin parliament to deal with its effects led several English lords to cut their landholding ties with Ireland. This article questions how important a factor conflict actually was in the decision-making processes of such English lords by examining their withdrawal from Ireland in a wider context. It concludes by pointing out that withdrawals from a landholding community were not necessarily negative in their effect or cause.
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