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Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, or The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, usually referred to as the 'Rolls Series', was an ambitious project first proposed to the British Treasury in 1857 by Sir John Romilly, the Master of the Rolls, and quickly approved for public funding. Its purpose was to publish historical source material covering the period from the arrival of the Romans to the reign of Henry VIII, 'without mutilation or abridgement', starting with the 'most scarce and valuable' texts. A 'correct text' of each work would be established by collating 'the best manuscripts', and information was to be included in every case about the manuscripts used, the life and times of the author, and the work's 'historical credibility', but there would be no additional annotation. The first books were published in 1858, and by the time it was completed in 1896 the series contained 105 titles and 253 volumes. Although many of the works have since been re-edited by modern scholars, the enterprise as a whole stands as a testament to the Victorian revival of interest in the middle ages.

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253 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Rolls

Page 1 of 13

Thómas Saga Erkibyskups
  • A Life of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Icelandic
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by Eiríkr Magnússon
  • Published online:
    05 July 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1883
  • This Old Norse text and English translation, prepared by the librarian and scholar Eiríkr Magnússon (1833–1913) and published in two volumes between 1875 and 1883, remains the standard edition of the 'Saga of Archbishop Thomas'. Composed in Iceland in the early fourteenth century, it narrates the life, death and miracles of Thomas Becket, based on earlier Latin and Old French traditions. Embedded in the saga is a lost Latin life by Robert of Cricklade, written soon after Becket's murder in 1170, which contains some unique details: for example, that he had a stammer. The saga is valuable not only as evidence for Becket's life, but as an insight into the development of his saintly cult in Iceland. Volume 2 includes an extensive introduction to the text and its place in the tradition of Becket historiography, an account of St Thomas's miracles, several appendices of related texts, and an extensive glossary of words and phrases.

Symeonis monachi opera omnia
  • Volume 2, Historia regum
  • Symeon of Durham
  • Edited by Thomas Arnold
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1885
  • Little is known about the life of Symeon of Durham (fl. c.1090–c.1128), other than that he was one of the monks present at the translation of the remains of Saint Cuthbert in 1104. This second volume of his complete works, published in 1885, was edited by Thomas Arnold (1823–1900) with an introduction and English side-notes. The main Latin text here is Symeon's history of the kings of Britain, which was intended as a continuation of Bede's history from the year 731 up to the writer's own day. Much of the early narrative is taken from local Durham annals, and later sections are borrowed from the chronicle of John of Worcester, but from 1119 to 1129 Symeon is an independent and unique authority. John of Hexham's continuation of the history, up to 1153, is also included, in addition to appendices on the genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon kings, a glossary and an index to both volumes.

Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173)
  • Volume 7, Epistles, DXXXI–DCCCVIII
  • Edited by James Craigie Robertson, J. Brigstocke Sheppard
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1885
  • A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, who became canon of Canterbury in 1859, James Craigie Robertson (1813–82) edited this seven-volume work, published between 1875 and 1885, for the Rolls Series, but he died while preparing this final volume, which was completed by Joseph Brigstocke Sheppard (1827–95). Superseding the earlier work of J. A. Giles, the volumes form a collection of contemporary Latin lives and letters relating to the life of Thomas Becket (c.1120–70). Rising through the ranks to become royal chancellor and then archbishop of Canterbury, Becket fell dramatically out of favour with Henry II and, on his return from exile, was famously murdered in the cathedral church at Canterbury. Following his canonisation in 1173, his reputation grew considerably throughout western Christendom. Volume 7 comprises a valuable collection of Latin letters sent by or to the archbishop, originally gathered together by Alan of Tewkesbury.

Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173)
  • Volume 3, William Fitzstephen, Herbert of Bosham
  • Edited by James Craigie Robertson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1877
  • A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, who became canon of Canterbury in 1859, James Craigie Robertson (1813–82) edited for the Rolls Series this seven-volume work, published between 1875 and 1885. Superseding the earlier work of J. A. Giles, it is a collection of contemporary Latin lives and letters relating to the life of Thomas Becket (c.1120–70). Rising through the ranks to become royal chancellor and then archbishop of Canterbury, Becket fell dramatically out of favour with Henry II and, on his return from exile, was famously murdered in the cathedral church at Canterbury. Following his canonisation in 1173, his reputation grew considerably throughout western Christendom. Volume 3 contains the lives compiled by William Fitzstephen, a close contemporary, and Herbert of Bosham, who campaigned for Becket's canonisation and was one of his longest-serving clerks and closest friends.

Literae Cantuarienses
  • The Letter Books of the Monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by J. Brigstocke Sheppard
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1887
  • Christ Church, Canterbury, was the seat of the archbishop and an important pilgrimage site. The letters and other documents in its register reveal not only its history, but how complex was the management of the priory and its estates. This three-volume edition is based on a transcript of the register compiled in 1411. Volume 1, edited by Joseph Brigstocke Sheppard (1827–95) and published in 1887, contains items 1–494, ranging in date from 1210 to 1333. The editor has selected documents addressed to individuals or groups, and the subjects vary widely. The earlier sections include many personal letters from the prior to his friends and colleagues, while others are formal letters of appointment or relate to business matters. Also covered are matters of state (as the prior sat in parliament), such as the deposition of Edward II. The texts are in Latin, Norman French and English, with translations provided for the French documents.

Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill
  • Or, The Invasions of Ireland by the Danes and Other Norsemen
  • Edited and translated by James Henthorn Todd
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1867
  • Literally 'the war of the Irish with the foreigners', the Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh is a poetic account of the Viking invasions of Ireland between 967 and 1016, and of the heroism of King Brian Bóruma. Thought to have been lost until the mid-nineteenth century, the text survives in only three manuscripts. First published in 1867 as part of the Rolls Series, this work provides a facing-page translation of the collated manuscripts. Also included are thorough notes on variations in the texts and points of linguistic interest. In his extensive introduction, the Irish scholar James Henthorn Todd (1805–69) outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three manuscript copies. He sketches the history of Norwegian and Danish raids in Ireland, contextualising the chronicle and providing a summary of its contents. The work still represents an important resource in Celtic studies, and among philologists studying Middle Irish.

Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII
  • From Original Documents Preserved in the Public Record Office
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by William Campbell
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1873
  • William Campbell (1824–86) compiled this two-volume work for the Rolls Series between 1873 and 1877. It covers the first five years of the reign of Henry VII, following his accession to the throne after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The contemporary material is rich in information regarding Henry's governance and character, including his meticulous approach to financial matters and his penchant for splendour. Volume 1 brings together a variety of illustrative and carefully transcribed documents, presented in English, Latin and French. Covering the year 1485–6, it introduces the people who would come to shape Henry's reign. Revealing Henry's concern to reward his allies, the documents reflect the turbulence of the previous decades and the uneasy character of this period. This is a valuable resource for researchers of the early Tudors, providing insight into Henry's reign in its early, and most anxious, stages of development.

Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense
  • The Register of Richard de Kellawe, Lord Palatine and Bishop of Durham, 1311–1316
  • Volume 4
  • Edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1878
  • This Latin Register of Richard Kellaw, Bishop of Durham (d.1316), is the earliest to survive for this important diocese, where the bishop held quasi-royal authority within his palatinate. He was an active bishop, and the Register, covering the years 1311–16, includes information about ordinations, indulgences, loans, grants and licences to study, as well as about Kellaw's secular administration of his diocese. During his five-year episcopate, he also had to deal with constant trouble from the Scots under Robert Bruce. This four-volume work, published as part of the Rolls Series between 1873 and 1878, was edited by the historian Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78). It is an important source on the civil and ecclesiastical history of the North of England in the early fourteenth century. Volume 4 contains documents relating to Durham from sources other than the Register, excerpts from the letter book of Bishop Richard de Bury, appendices and indexes.

Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173)
  • Volume 5, Epistles, I–CCXXVI
  • Edited by James Craigie Robertson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1881
  • A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, who became canon of Canterbury in 1859, James Craigie Robertson (1813–82) edited for the Rolls Series this seven-volume work, published between 1875 and 1885. Superseding the earlier work of J. A. Giles, it is a collection of contemporary Latin lives and letters relating to the life of Thomas Becket (c.1120–70). Rising through the ranks to become royal chancellor and then archbishop of Canterbury, Becket fell dramatically out of favour with Henry II and, on his return from exile, was famously murdered in the cathedral church at Canterbury. Following his canonisation in 1173, his reputation grew considerably throughout western Christendom. Volume 5 comprises a valuable collection of Latin letters sent by or to the archbishop, originally gathered together by Alan of Tewkesbury.

Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canonized by Pope Alexander III, AD 1173)
  • Volume 6, Epistles, CCXXVII–DXXX
  • Edited by James Craigie Robertson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1882
  • A scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, who became canon of Canterbury in 1859, James Craigie Robertson (1813–82) edited for the Rolls Series this seven-volume work, published between 1875 and 1885. Superseding the earlier work of J. A. Giles, it is a collection of contemporary Latin lives and letters relating to the life of Thomas Becket (c.1120–70). Rising through the ranks to become royal chancellor and then archbishop of Canterbury, Becket fell dramatically out of favour with Henry II and, on his return from exile, was famously murdered in the cathedral church at Canterbury. Following his canonisation in 1173, his reputation grew considerably throughout western Christendom. Volume 6 comprises a valuable collection of Latin letters sent by or to the archbishop, originally gathered together by Alan of Tewkesbury.

De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae
  • Libri Quinque in Varios Tractatus Distincti
  • Volume 1
  • Henry de Bracton
  • Edited by Travers Twiss
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1878
  • The thirteenth-century Latin legal treatise best known as Bracton is now thought to be the work of several hands, and Henry de Bracton (d.1268) to have been only the last of these. Work began on it in the 1230s and largely ceased in the early 1250s, but the treatise - an ambitious survey of English law - was never finished. Between 1878 and 1883, the scholar and jurist Sir Travers Twiss (1809–97) edited and published this work in six volumes for the Rolls Series. His text was mainly based on the first printed edition of 1569. Although he provided the first English translation of Bracton, Twiss's work has been criticised and since superseded. Volume 1 contains Book 1 and most of Book 2. These include the general introduction, the law of persons and most of the law of things.

Memorials of Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Edited by William Stubbs
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1874
  • Dunstan was a prominent ecclesiastical figure in tenth-century England and - following his death and canonisation in 988 - the country's most popular saint for over a century; his fame was eventually eclipsed only by that of Thomas Becket. In life a close friend of King Edgar, he was influential as the king's advisor and became archbishop of Canterbury in 959. Published in 1874 as part of the Rolls Series, this work gathers together the lives, letters and other fragments of historical interest that were written to or about Dunstan. As editor, William Stubbs (1825–1901) provides English side-notes to the Latin text as well as a characteristically extensive introduction, which includes a detailed account of English monastic reform. On the subject of Dunstan, he highlights points of particular interest, ranging from questions of chronology to matters of misrepresentation and the mystery identity of biographer 'B'.

Radulfi de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis opera historica
  • The Historical Works of Master Ralph de Diceto, Dean of London
  • Volume 2
  • Ralph de Diceto
  • Edited by William Stubbs
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1876
  • Ralph de Diceto (d.1199/1200), dean of St Paul's, was both a painstaking compiler of information and an intellectual historian of remarkably wide vision. This two-volume collection of his writings, originally published in 1876, covers the history of the world from the Creation to 1202 (it was continued posthumously). Volume 2 contains the second half of Diceto's most important work, the Ymagines historiarum, his Opuscula (a collection of far shorter texts) as well as various appendices. In his preface to this volume, William Stubbs (1825–1901) assesses the historical value of the work via an exploration of its date of composition and its sources, whether primary or secondary. His edition also benefits from the reintroduction of Ralph's elsewhere-omitted marginal signa - a pictorial code of crosses, swords, and crowns being torn at by jealous hands - which act as signposts for the reader.

A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England
  • Volume 2, From AD 1399 to AD 1422
  • Jean de Wavrin
  • Edited and translated by William Hardy, Edward L. C. P. Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1887
  • In the mid-1440s, French knight Jean de Wavrin (c.1400–c.1473) took on the monumental task of compiling the first full-length history of England, spanning almost two millennia. Wavrin, who belonged to a noble family of Artois, was a chronicler under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, Dukes of Burgundy. During his military career, he often fought on the side of the English, and was keen to keep the kingdom as an ally. He gathered a unique collection of records and used his own first-hand observations to write a work that provides a fascinating insight into the interests and methods of a medieval historian. Part of the Rolls Series of publications of historical documents, this volume, first published in 1887, was translated and edited by the archivist and antiquarian Sir William Hardy (1807–87) and Edward L. C. P. Hardy. It covers the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V.

Le Livere de reis de Brittanie, e, le Livere de reis de Engleterre
  • Peter of Ickham
  • Edited by John Glover
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1865
  • Published as part of the Rolls Series, this genealogy is attributed to Peter of Ickham (d.1295), a chronicler and Benedictine monk better known for his Latin chronicle of the Kings of England. It is mainly an Anglo-Norman version of extracts by well-known historians such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Florence of Worcester, and Ralph de Diceto. The editor, vicar and librarian John Glover (c.1823–84), published the original text in 1865 together with his own facing-page translation into contemporary English. Glover's scholarship, as well as instances of semi-Saxonised French, will interest philologists and history students alike. The genealogy begins with Britain's colonisation by the legendary Brutus and covers the history of Saxon and Norman kings. It ends with a portrait of the life and reign of Edward II.

Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense
  • The Register of Richard de Kellawe, Lord Palatine and Bishop of Durham, 1311–1316
  • Volume 3
  • Edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1875
  • This Latin Register of Richard Kellaw, Bishop of Durham (d.1316), is the earliest to survive for this important diocese, where the bishop held quasi-royal authority within his palatinate. He was an active bishop, and the Register, covering the years 1311–16, includes information about ordinations, indulgences, loans, grants and licences to study, as well as about Kellaw's secular administration of his diocese. He also had to deal with constant trouble from the Scots under Robert Bruce. This four-volume work, published between 1873 and 1878, was edited by Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78). It is an important source on the civil and ecclesiastical history of the North of England in the early fourteenth century. Volume 3 (folios 266–366) contains a collection of documents from the time of Kellaw and earlier, along with ecclesiastical tax valuations, a list of ordinations for 1334–45, and a portion of the Register of Bishop Richard de Bury.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third
  • Volume 8, Year XVI (Second Part)
  • Edited and translated by Luke Owen Pike
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1900
  • The records of the medieval English courts were compiled into manuscript 'year books', organised by regnal year of the monarch, and further subdivided into the four law terms. The year books of the reign of Edward III (1312–77), beginning at the eleventh year (1337) and continuing to the twentieth (1346), were to have been edited for the Rolls Series by Alfred Horwood (1821–81), who had previously edited the year books of Edward I, but he died while the first volume was in proof. The work was taken over by L. O. Pike (1835–1915), the set of fifteen books being published between 1883 and 1911. (Horwood chose his start date because the year books of Edward II and the first part of the reign of Edward III already existed in modern editions.) This volume contains reports from Trinity Term, 16 Edward III, to Michaelmas Term, 16 Edward III.

Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense
  • The Register of Richard de Kellawe, Lord Palatine and Bishop of Durham, 1311–1316
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1874
  • This Latin Register of Richard Kellaw, Bishop of Durham (d.1316), is the earliest to survive for this important diocese, where the bishop held quasi-royal authority within his palatinate. He was an active bishop, and the Register, covering the years 1311–16, includes information about ordinations, indulgences, loans, grants and licences to study, as well as about Kellaw's secular administration of his diocese. He also had to deal with constant trouble from the Scots under Robert Bruce. This four-volume work, published between 1873 and 1878, was edited by the historian Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78). It is an important source on the civil and ecclesiastical history of the North of England in the early fourteenth century. Volume 2 contains folios 140v to 265. These conclude the sections relating to Kellaw's civil and ecclesiastical administration, and also contain copies of royal writs and legal documents. An index to Volumes 1 and 2 is also provided.

Rogeri de Wendover liber qui dicitur Flores Historiarum ab anno domini MCLIV annoque Henrici Anglorum Regis Secundi Primo
  • The Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover from the Year of Our Lord 1154
  • Volume 3
  • Roger of Wendover
  • Edited by Henry G. Hewlett
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • A former prior of Belvoir, Roger of Wendover (d.1236) established himself as a chronicler at St Albans. This three-volume work, edited by Henry G. Hewlett (1832–97) and published between 1886 and 1889, comprises the latter part of the larger Flores opus and the part of the Latin text for which Wendover can claim direct responsibility. Volume 3 includes the introductory matter, glossary and index to all three volumes. Hewlett's introduction discusses the little we know of Roger of Wendover's life as well as his shortcomings and merits as an annalist - namely that he was unreasoningly credulous yet invariably candid. His true importance, however, is as a key influence on his historiographical successor, Matthew Paris, whose political outlook and interests he helped to shape. A comparison is drawn between this work and that of Paris, the more gifted chronicler, who 'complemented the deficiencies of Wendover's narrative by substantial additions'.

Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, monachi Cestrensis
  • Together with the English Translations of John Trevisa and of an Unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century
  • Volume 5
  • Ranulf Higden
  • Edited by Joseph Rawson Lumby
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1874
  • Ranulf Higden (d.1364) was a monk at the abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. His most important literary work is this universal chronicle, which survives in over a hundred Latin manuscripts, testifying to its popularity. The earliest version of it dates from 1327, but Higden continued writing until his death, expanding and updating the text. It was also continued in other monastic houses, most importantly by John Malvern of Worcester. The English translation made by John Trevisa in the 1380s was also widely circulated and is included in this work, published in nine volumes for the Rolls Series between 1865 and 1886. The chronicle shows how fourteenth-century scholars understood world history and geography. Volume 5 concludes Book 4, covering the later Roman Empire and the Saxon invasion of Britain. The first part of Book 5 concentrates on the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England.

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