Rotuli Hundredorum

Rotuli Hundredorum The Rotuli Hundredorum are medieval English fiscal and administrative rolls associated with the Crown and local jurisdictions, compiled in Latin and used in royal and judicial contexts. They intersect with records such as the Pipe Rolls, Hundred Rolls, Close Rolls, Patent Rolls, Charter Rolls, and Plea Rolls, reflecting interactions among institutions including the Exchequer, the Curia Regis, the Chancery, and the Royal Courts of Justice. The rolls influenced legal instruments like the Statute of Winchester, the Assize of Clarendon, and practices emerging around the Magna Carta.

Background and Purpose

The origin of the Rotuli Hundredorum situates them within the administrative evolution that includes the Domesday Book, the Pipe Rolls, and the Hundred Rolls as fiscal and inquisitorial mechanisms. Produced by officials such as the Justiciar of England, the Baron of the Exchequer, the Master of the Rolls, and clerks of the Chancery, they recorded assessments, renditions, subsidies, and obligations across hundreds linked to manorial lords, sheriffs of counties like Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Cornwall, and ecclesiastical bodies such as the Diocese of Canterbury and the Abbey of Westminster. The purpose was fiscal accountability for aids, tallages, amercements, and feudal incidents involving magnates like Simon de Montfort, Earl of Lancaster, and royal figures including Henry III of England and Edward I of England.

Compilation and Content

Compilers drew on sources including inquisitions like the inquiries ordered by Henry III of England and later by Edward I of England, paralleling procedures used in the Hundred Rolls and the inquest inaugurated by King John. Entries combine assessments of subsidies, farm rents, fines levied under statutes such as the Statute of Marlborough, and particulars of juries from hundreds presided over by sheriffs, bailiffs, reeves, and coroners. The content documents relationships among free tenants, villeins, and knights’ fees tied to magnates like William Marshal, and institutions such as the Templars and Hospitallers, while recording obligations to the Crown, the Exchequer of the Jews, and local manorial courts.

Legal and Administrative Use

Administratively, the rolls supported enforcement by bodies including the Exchequer, the Treasury of the Receipt, the Court of Common Pleas, and the King's Bench. They were used in disputes before jurists like Henry de Bracton and procedures found in works such as the Dialogus de Scaccario, informing procedures in royal commissions, eyres, and inquisitions of sheriffs. The records underpinned taxation like tallage and scutage, aided crown agents during crises involving figures such as Fulk FitzWarin and Robert fitzWalter, and were cited in petitions to parliaments convened by Simon de Montfort and later by Edward II of England and Edward III of England.

Manuscripts and Publication History

Manuscripts of the rolls survive in collections linked to The National Archives (United Kingdom), county repositories such as the Norfolk Record Office and the Bodleian Library, and ecclesiastical archives like the Lambeth Palace Library and the British Library. Editors working in the tradition of the Calendar of Patent Rolls and the Calendars of Close Rolls produced editions alongside scholars associated with the Selden Society, the Pipe Roll Society, and antiquarians such as William Dugdale and John Selden. Later printed editions and calendars were influenced by methodologies developed at institutions like the Society of Antiquaries of London and by historians such as F. W. Maitland and H. M. Colvin.

Historical Significance and Legacy

The rolls shaped subsequent record keeping exemplified by the Victoria County History, the archival practices of the Public Record Office, and the procedural histories compiled by jurists like Sir Edward Coke and historians including William Stubbs. They provide source material for studies of feudalism, taxation, and local government in works by scholars such as G. G. Coulton, J. H. Round, and Marc Bloch. The legacy extends to modern catalogues maintained by The National Archives (United Kingdom) and to comparative studies linking English practice with fiscal records of the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of Scotland, informing legal historians and archivists working on medieval administration, fiscal policy, and local jurisdiction.

Category:Medieval English documents Category:Latin manuscripts