The Fine rolls are a collection of financial records maintained by the English
Chancery
Chancery may refer to:
Offices and administration
* Court of Chancery, the chief court of equity in England and Wales until 1873
** Equity (law), also called chancery, the body of jurisprudence originating in the Court of Chancery
** Courts of e ...
in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. Originating in the reign of
King Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry assume ...
(1216–72), a
fine
Fine may refer to:
Characters
* Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny''
* Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny''
* Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano
Legal terms
* Fine (p ...
represented a willingness to pay the crown a sum of money in exchange for a particular
concession. In the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
style of document storage of
enrollment, the rolls which recorded these payments are called the ''Fine rolls''.
Treatment by historians
Traditionally, historians viewed the Fine rolls as presenting "fewer points of general interest" than the
Close or
Patent rolls
The patent rolls (Latin: ''Rotuli litterarum patentium'') are a series of administrative records compiled in the English, British and United Kingdom Chancery, running from 1201 to the present day.
Description
The patent rolls comprise a regis ...
, because they rarely – and only indirectly – touch upon the great political crises of the time. They have also been used as a means of assessing the crown's finances: the Fine rolls show, for example, how
King John received approximately £20,000 ''per annum'', whereas his son Henry III received less than half that amount. Recently, however, they have been used by historians to cast light on consequences of important events in the king's reign, rather than the events themselves. As
David Carpenter put it, the rolls remain "central to the politics, government, and society", particularly because of the broad social spectrum they touched. For example, in the context of the
1216 reissue of Magna Carta by Henry's
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
, the concern of the
council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
for the charter's consequences to dower payments owed the king are enrolled in the Fine rolls.
Letters close
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet
* Letterform, the g ...
which record fines are also enrolled; one such example is to the widow of
Nigel de Mowbray, in which Henry III agreed to her right to stay unmarried or to "marry whom she wished". The rolls are also used, along with other records, to demonstrate the growth of English royal bureaucracy and administration. In 1913,
T. F. Tout pointed out how a single published volume of Fine rolls covered the entire thirty-five year reign of
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...
, whereas for his son
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...
, two volumes were required, despite the latter's reign being of far shorter duration.
See also
*
Pipe rolls
The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rollsBrown ''Governance'' pp. 54–56 or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury, and its successors, as well as the Exche ...
References
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External links
The Anglo-American Legal TraditionThe National Archives
Medieval documents of England
Collection of the National Archives (United Kingdom)