Close Roll
TheClose Rolls(Latin:Rotuli clausi)[1]are an administrative record created in medievalEngland,Wales,Irelandand theChannel Islandsby the royalchancery,in order to preserve a central record of allletters closeissued by the chancery in the name of theCrown.[2][3]
History
[edit]The first surviving Close Roll was started in 1204 (in the reign of KingJohn), under theChancellorshipofHubert Walter,though the actual practice may reach back to 1200, or even before.[4]Copies of the texts of the letters were written on sheets ofparchment,which were stitched together into long rolls to form a roll for each year.[5]
Nature of contents
[edit]Copies of royal grants of land or money (further transcribed to theExchequer) made up the earliest contents of the Close Rolls; but the latter soon came to contain much wider matter, exchequer-related material being hived off after 1226 in separateLiberate Rolls.[4]Indeed, in the early 13th century perhaps the bulk of executive action ran via instructions from Chancery to local sheriffs, and was recorded in the Rolls.[6]Over time, however, as new document series emerged, the scope of the Close Rolls narrowed; and after 1533 their contents consisted solely of copies of private deeds and awards of enclosure, and the like.[7]
Until that point, however, the Close Rolls contained a mine of information about late medieval England. Setting aside political and military matters,[8]or the regulation of commerce[9]or of the Angevin Jewry,[10]the origins of representation and parliament can, for example, be followed in the "twelve of the better and more discreet men" of Bristol summoned by King John in 1211,[11]as well as in Close Rolls copies of letters of summons of barons toParliament.[12]Culturally, a royal gift of a scarlet cloak to a man about to become a knight sheds possible light on the origins of theKnights of the Bath;while the detailed concern ofHenry IIIfor the decoration of his treasures, as purchased through the Close Rolls, reveals the extent of hisconnoisseurship.[13]
Publication
[edit]The Close Rolls for the years 1204 to 1227 were published as abbreviated Latin texts (in a near-facsimileof the manuscripts, employing a special "record type"font) by theRecord Commission,edited byT. D. Hardy,in 1833 and 1844, in two largefoliovolumes entitledRotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi asservati.Those for the years 1227 to 1272 were published by thePublic Record Officebetween 1902 and 1938, with extended Latin texts, in fourteen volumes entitledClose Rolls,of which eleven were edited byW. H. Stevenson.[14]A "supplementary" volume of additional material for the years 1244–66 appeared in 1975. The post-1272 rolls have not been published as full texts but incalendarform (i.e. as comprehensive English summaries, with all significant details included), under the titleCalendar of Close Rolls:47 volumes appeared between 1900 and 1963, covering the years 1272 to 1509. Those for the reign ofHenry VIII(1509–47) have not been independently published, but are incorporated into the seriesLetters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII(published 1862–1932).
The published texts and calendars from 1227 to 1509 have been made available online in a fully searchable form on a "premium" (subscription) section of the digital libraryBritish History Online(co-managed by theInstitute of Historical Research).
See also
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Burrill, Alexander M. (1859)."A Law Dictionary and Glossary: Containing Full Definitions of the Principal Terms of the Common and Civil Law".New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co. – via Google Books.
- ^Morrin, James (24 January 1861).Calendar of the patent and close rolls of chancery in Ireland, of the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth... / Edited by James Morrin.Printed by Alex Thom for H.M.S.O.
- ^"Close Rolls, - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts".archifau.llyfrgell.cymru.
- ^abSayles, G. O.The Medieval Foundations of England(London 1967) p. 291
- ^Saul, Nigel(2000).A Companion to Medieval England 1066–1485.Stroud: Tempus. p. 116.ISBN0-7524-2969-8.
- ^Morris, W. A.The Medieval English Sheriff(Manchester 1968) p. 143
- ^Steinberg, S. H.A New Dictionary of British History(London 1963) p. 75
- ^Morris, W. A.The Medieval English Sheriff(Manchester 1968) p. 152
- ^Morris, W. A.The Medieval English Sheriff(Manchester 1968) p. 154
- ^Richardson, H. G.The English Jewry under the Angevin Kings(London 1960) pp. 176–7
- ^Tanner, J. R. ed.,The Cambridge Medieval History Vol VI(Cambridge 1929) p. 229
- ^Coredon, Christopher (2007).A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases(Reprint ed.). Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer. p. 76.ISBN978-1-84384-138-8.
- ^Tanner, J. R. ed.,The Cambridge Medieval History Vol VI(Cambridge 1929) p. 801 and p. 264
- ^Poole, A. L. "William Henry Stevenson", inDictionary of National Biography,1922–1930 (Oxford, 1937), pp. 811–812
Further reading
[edit]- Winfield, P. H.The Chief Sources of English Legal History(Cambridge, Mass. 1925), pp. 103–144
External links
[edit]- Calendars of Close Rolls at Internet Archive
- "Calendar of Close Rolls".British History Online.Retrieved15 January2013.(subscription required)