This is the first study specifically concerned with thirteenth-century pipe rolls and shows how pipe rolls were compiled, what they contain, and how to read them.
These records of English government finance were produced annually. They list debts owed to the government, by the sheriffs of each county, by manors and boroughs, and by individuals for taxes, fines and judicial penalties. They also list the payments made, sometimes in cash to the treasury, sometimes for building works, fees for royal employees and relatives, the provision of castles, and much more. The rolls are an essential source for administrative history, and provide detailed information for family and local historians. All the rolls are now readily available, either in print or online, but they are at first sight difficult to understand.
This book shows how the rolls evolved in the course of the century and serves as a guide for beginners, armed with some basic Latin, who want to explore these records. As well as explaining the conventions of dates, numbers, abbreviations, monetary units and so on, it illustrates the material to be found in pipe rolls by a detailed examination of a single roll.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Pipe rolls for beginners
What is a pipe roll?
How to begin
Language
Abbreviations
Headings
Numbers
Money
Dates
Chapter 2. The rolls system and background
Historical background
The rolls system
Chancellor’s rolls
Pipe rolls on parchment
Pipe rolls in print
Pipe rolls online
Dialogue of the Exchequer
Literature about pipe rolls
Chapter 3. Pipe roll contents
Debts and payments
The sheriff’s account
Farm, increment and profit
Manors and boroughs
Amercements
Fines and offerings
Taxes
Introducing the foreign accounts
What’s in the foreign accounts?
What’s not in the pipe rolls?
Chapter 4. An example: the 1259 pipe roll
The example, and where to find it
A county account: Northamptonshire
Details of the county account
The roll and revenue
County farm and profit
Fines in 1259
Profits of justice
Pipe roll timetable
Pipe rolls and receipt rolls
Pipe roll and memoranda roll accounts
The pipe roll and current events
The pipe roll and local and family history
Chapter 5. Pipe rolls in the thirteenth century
Too much information
Reducing new entries
Reducing old entries
Pipe rolls and other rolls
Appendix 1. Transcription examples
Oxfordshire account, 1237 pipe roll
Oxfordshire account, 1293 pipe roll
Appendix 2. Glossary
References
Biography
Richard Cassidy has a PhD in medieval history from King’s College, London. He is the author of numerous articles on government finance and administration in England and Ireland in the thirteenth century. His edition of the 1259 pipe roll is to be published in 2024.
