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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 3 of 13

Giraldi Cambrensis opera
  • Volume 8, De principis instructione liber
  • Giraldus Cambrensis
  • Edited by J. S. Brewer, James F. Dimock, George F. Warner
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1891
  • Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146–1220/23) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material. Volume 8, edited by archivist George F. Warner (1845–1936) and published in 1891, contains his 'Liber de principis instructione', a moral treatise including much invective against the Angevin court. Written while Louis of France - in whose support Giraldus composed a poem - was scheming to replace King John, the Latin text, in Giraldus' vigorous and anecdotal style, gives a vivid picture of contemporary politics, while the English introduction illuminates nineteenth-century interest in the period.

Roberti Grosseteste Episcopi quondam Lincolniensis epistolae
  • Robert Grosseteste
  • Edited by H. R. Luard
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1861
  • Published as part of the Rolls Series in 1861, these collected letters date mainly from 1235–53, when, as bishop of Lincoln, their author presided over the largest diocese in England. Both a scientist and a theologian, Robert Grosseteste (c.1170–1253) boasts what the medieval historian R. W. Southern describes as 'a rarely paralleled breadth of intellectual interests'. His letters are invaluably illustrative of the social conditions of the time. He writes heatedly and earnestly on such topics as the laws concerning illegitimacy, the condition of the Jews and the liberties of the Church, with a violence of opinion that was 'balanced, indeed prompted, by a deep concern for the souls of ordinary people'. Henry Richards Luard (1825–91) puts Grosseteste's writing into context in his preface, while useful summaries of each letter in the contents list, and commentary provided in the side-notes, make the Latin text accessible to modern readers.

De gestis regum anglorum libri quinque: Historiae novellae libri tres
  • Volume 2
  • William of Malmesbury
  • Edited by William Stubbs
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • Consciously modelling himself on the Venerable Bede, William of Malmesbury (c.1090–c.1142) was one of the most learned of all the medieval chroniclers. In this second volume of a two-volume set, published between 1887 and 1889, editor William Stubbs (1825–1901) presents the last three books of William's Gesta regum anglorum ('Deeds of the English Kings'), which are concerned with post-Conquest events up to the reign of Henry I. Although William's reliance on contemporary chroniclers makes these books less independently valuable, they nonetheless contain much interesting material drawn from the author's own experience. The Gesta is followed by the Historia novella ('Modern History'), a later work in annalistic form - covering events from 1128 to 1142, including the 'anarchy' of King Stephen's reign - which seems to have been unrevised and unfinished before William's death. Stubbs' substantial preface provides a detailed critique of the literary and historical value of William's Latin writings.

Giraldi Cambrensis opera
  • Volume 4, Speculum ecclesiae. De vita Galfridi Archiepiscopi Eboracensis
  • Giraldus Cambrensis
  • Edited by J. S. Brewer, James F. Dimock, George F. Warner
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1873
  • Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146–1220/23) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material. Volume 4, edited by historian J. S. Brewer (1809–79) and published in 1873, contains two texts, one a moral, quasi-pastoral critique of the monastic orders, the other a life of Geoffrey Plantagenet (1151–1212), Archbishop of York, focusing on power struggles at the Angevin court. Noted for his vigorous Latin and anecdotal style, Giraldus gives a vivid portrait of medieval Britain, while the English editorial preface illuminates nineteenth-century interest in the period.

Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Wars of the English in France
  • During the Reign of Henry the Sixth, King of England
  • Volume 2, Part 2
  • Edited by Joseph Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1864
  • This two-volume compilation contains the texts of documents in Latin, Middle French and Middle English (with translations and abstracts) concerning the later phases of the Hundred Years' War, focusing on the period 1423–50. Published between 1861 and 1864, it was edited by Joseph Stevenson (1807–95), a Northumbrian archivist and clergyman who had been instrumental in persuading the British government to sponsor the Rolls Series project. Volume 2, Part 2 focuses on material from English libraries including Lambeth Palace and the College of Heralds. It covers court and dynastic matters, and contains lists of combatants and casualties, articles of surrender, a papal bull with its delivery receipt, an invoice for copying two books, details about the procurement of bows and arrows, ships and horses, and an account for the expense of keeping a prisoner in custody. This volume also includes a chronological summary of the documents in each book.

The Red Book of the Exchequer
  • Volume 3
  • Edited by Hubert Hall
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • A rich resource for medieval historians, the Liber rubeus de Scaccario is a register, or book of remembrance, first compiled in the clerical offices of the Exchequer during the reign of Henry III. It contains documents from the post-Conquest period up to the year 1230. Including deeds and grants, as well as records of serjeanties and material from pipe rolls and various other sources, it has been deemed second only to the Domesday Book in importance for its wealth of genealogical and geographical information. The various records were brought together in order to provide a convenient single source for establishing legal precedents, and it remained in use throughout the middle ages. This three-volume edition was prepared by the archivist Hubert Hall (1857–1944) and published in 1896. Among the documents in Volume 3 are the Constitutio domus regis (c.1135) and selected writs of privilege.

Giraldi Cambrensis opera
  • Volume 5, Topographia Hibernica, et expugnatio Hibernica
  • Giraldus Cambrensis
  • Edited by J. S. Brewer, James F. Dimock, George F. Warner
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1867
  • Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146–1220/23) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material. Noted for his vigorous Latin and anecdotal style, Giraldus gives a vivid portrait of medieval Britain – he revived the ethnographic monograph, lapsed since antiquity – and of the intrigues of the Angevin court. Volume 5, edited by clergyman and historian James F. Dimock (1810–76) and published in 1867, contains Giraldus' treatises on Ireland, his earliest works. The Latin text provides an outstanding contemporary source, while the English editorial preface illuminates nineteenth-century interest in the period.

Flores historiarum
  • Volume 3, AD 1265–AD 1326
  • Edited by Henry Richards Luard
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1890
  • The nineteenth-century academic and university administrator Henry Richards Luard (1825–91) was a major contributor to the Rolls Series. His edition of the Flores historiarum, published in three volumes in 1890, remains the standard work. This Latin chronicle, compiled at St Albans and Westminster, is largely a version of Matthew Paris's Chronica majora to 1259; subsequent annals are independent and serve as a significant primary source for the last years of Henry III and the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. Volume 3, covering 1265 to 1326, contains the majority of these independent annals, including some which are the work of the Westminster monk Robert of Reading. This volume also includes an introduction discussing the historical value of the chronicle and an exceptionally thorough index, which is invaluable for navigating all three volumes. English side-notes to the text are provided throughout.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the First
  • Volume 5, Michaelmas Term, Year XXXIII and Years XXXIV and XXXV
  • Edited and translated by Alfred J. Horwood
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1879
  • The records of the medieval English courts were compiled into manuscript 'year books', organised by regnal year of the monarch. The year books for the regnal years 20–2 and 30–5 of Edward I (1239–1307) were edited for the Rolls Series by Alfred Horwood (1821–81), and published in five volumes between 1863 and 1879, with translations provided for the Anglo-Norman text. Horwood notes that the quantity of cases is surprising given the size of the population. He attributes this to confidence among the people in the king's justice, but also points out that the law's delays during this period were notorious, and that in 1289 the king had effectively purged most of his judges on the grounds of corruption. This volume, published in 1879, contains cases from the four law terms of the years 1305–7, ending at the death of Edward I.

Giraldi Cambrensis opera
  • Volume 3, De invectionibus, lib iv. De Menevensi ecclesia dialogus. Vita S. David
  • Giraldus Cambrensis
  • Edited by J. S. Brewer, James F. Dimock, George F. Warner
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1863
  • Despite a frustrated ecclesiastical career - his ongoing failure to secure the See of St David's embittered him - Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales, Gerald de Barry, c.1146–1220/3) composed many remarkable literary works, initially while employed as a royal clerk for Henry II and, subsequently, in semi-retirement in Lincoln. Eight volumes of his works were compiled as part of the Rolls Series of British medieval material. Volume 3, edited by historian J. S. Brewer (1809–79) and published in 1863, consists of Latin texts with an editorial preface in English, continuing from Volume 1, Giraldus' polemical-apologetic account of the St David's affair, and a life of the eponymous saint. Giraldus is noted for his vigorous Latin and anecdotal style, and this volume gives a vivid portrait of medieval Britain and the power struggles of the Angevin court, while also illuminating nineteenth-century interest in the period.

The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland; or, A Metrical Version of the History of Hector Boece
  • Volume 2
  • Hector Boece
  • Translated by William Stewart
  • Edited by W. B. Turnbull
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1858
  • Hector Boece (c.1465–1536) was a Scottish humanist historian, educated in Dundee and Paris, where he became a friend of Erasmus. His Latin Scotorum historia, covering the period from 330 BCE until 1437, was published in 1527, and rapidly translated into French and Scots. It was continued by several authors, indicating that it was accepted as a definitive account of the formation of Scottish national identity, though, inevitably, many of the earlier parts rely on legend and tradition rather than on historical sources. Dedicated to James V, it is biased in favour of his ancestors, and, via Holinshed, was the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth. This verse translation was completed for James V by the courtier William Stewart in 1535, but not published until the Rolls Series edition by W. B. Turnbull in 1858. Volume 2 takes the story up to the eleventh century, and includes the story of Macbeth.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third
  • Volume 5, Years XIV and XV
  • Edited and translated by Luke Owen Pike
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • 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 Michaelmas Term, 14 Edward III, to Hilary Term, 15 Edward III.

Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey
  • Volume 3
  • Edited by Thomas Arnold
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • Bury St Edmunds possessed one of the wealthiest abbeys in England. This three-volume collection of Latin documents relating to the abbey was edited by Thomas Arnold (1823–1900) and published between 1890 and 1896. Volume 3 contains a variety of records. The Cronica Buriensis covers the years 1020–1346 in a manuscript of c.1400, and the Brevis Cronica, possibly by Thomas Croftis, c.1479, covers 1020–1471. There is also a collection of fifteenth-century letters, excerpts from Cambridge manuscripts relating to Bury St Edmunds, an account of the fourteenth-century dispute between the abbey and Bishop Bateman of Norwich, and a description of the fire of 1465 that completely gutted the church. The appendices include by-laws of 1477 concerning the town weavers, a charter of privileges of 1447, and another life of St Edmund. A glossary and index to all three volumes are also provided, along with English side-notes throughout.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third
  • Volume 4, Year XIV
  • Edited and translated by Luke Owen Pike
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1888
  • 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 Easter Term, 14 Edward III, to Trinity Term, 14 Edward III.

Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the End of the Reign of Henry VII
  • Volume 1, From the Roman Period to the Norman Invasion, Part 1
  • Edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1862
  • Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78) was Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office and an experienced medieval manuscript scholar, having edited the Monumenta historica Britannica after his mentor Henry Petrie's death. Hardy was closely involved with the Rolls Series of publications of medieval manuscripts in public ownership, a government-backed project, of which this catalogue (consisting of three volumes in four parts) forms part. His stated aim was to list 'all the known sources, printed or unprinted, of English history' in a handbook for historical researchers. Each item, from early mentions of Britain in Herodotus to medieval chronicles and saints' lives, is located and described, and, where Hardy has examined the original, the first and last lines are given. Where known, the author's life is briefly outlined. The first part of Volume 1 (published in 1862) includes sources from the classical period and the Dark Ages up to 750 CE.

The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland; or, A Metrical Version of the History of Hector Boece
  • Volume 3
  • Hector Boece
  • Translated by William Stewart
  • Edited by W. B. Turnbull
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1858
  • Hector Boece (c.1465–1536) was a Scottish humanist historian, educated in Dundee and Paris, where he became a friend of Erasmus. His Scotorum historia, covering the period from 330 BCE until 1437, was published in 1527, and rapidly translated into French and Scots. It was continued by several authors, indicating that it was accepted as a definitive account of the formation of Scottish national identity, though, inevitably, many of the earlier parts rely on legend and tradition rather than on historical sources. Dedicated to James V, it is biased in favour of his ancestors, and, via Holinshed, was the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth. This verse translation was completed for James by the courtier William Stewart in 1535, but not published until the Rolls Series edition by W. B. Turnbull in 1858. Volume 3, on the period from Malcolm II to the death of James I, also contains an extensive glossary.

Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by Thomas Arnold
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1890
  • Bury St Edmunds possessed one of the wealthiest abbeys in England. This three-volume collection of Latin documents relating to the abbey was edited with English side-notes by Thomas Arnold (1823–1900) and published between 1890 and 1896. Volume 1 contains lives of the Saxon king Edmund (martyred by the Vikings), the miracles attributed to him, and Jocelyn de Brakelond's late twelfth-century chronicle of the abbey. In the preface, Arnold examines the manuscript sources that survive from Bury, analyses the legend of St Edmund, and discusses similarities between the cult of Edmund and that of St Cuthbert at Durham. Jocelyn's biography of Abbot Samson (d.1211) is one of the best-known manuscripts. Abbo of Fleury's Passio Sancti Eadmundi was commissioned by Ramsey Abbey around 985 and describes Edmund's death and sainthood. The accounts of his miracles were written by Herman the archdeacon around 1090 and by Abbot Samson a century later.

De gestis regum anglorum libri quinque: Historiae novellae libri tres
  • Volume 1
  • William of Malmesbury
  • Edited by William Stubbs
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1887
  • Consciously modelling himself on the Venerable Bede, William of Malmesbury (c.1090–c.1142) was one of the most learned of all the medieval chroniclers. His monumental Gesta regum anglorum ('Deeds of the English Kings') is a model of historical scholarship, written in engaging, fluid Latin. It was first completed around 1125, but was later revised and extended. The first two books of the Gesta are an impressive demonstration of William's extensive bibliographic and antiquarian knowledge. In this first volume of a two-volume set, originally published between 1887 and 1889, editor William Stubbs (1825–1901) presents these first two books, which narrate events from the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons to the Battle of Hastings. Stubbs' own lengthy preface is a detailed examination of William's life and work, which sets his historical writings in the context of his time and credits him as the first truly systematic historian since Bede.

Lestorie des Engles solum la translacion Maistre Geoffrei Gaimar
  • Volume 2, Translation
  • Geoffrei Gaimar
  • Edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy, Charles Trice Martin
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • Published in two volumes for the Rolls Series between 1888 and 1889, this is the oldest surviving metrical chronicle in vernacular French. It was written by the Anglo-Norman poet and historian Geoffrei Gaimar (fl.1136–7), who lived in England at a time when French was still used among the aristocracy. The text is largely based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and also draws on various French, English and Latin sources. Gaimar's unique perspective breaks with the tradition of religious chronicles by offering the first secular account of the history of England. Edited by archivist and antiquary Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (1804–78) and Charles Trice Martin (1842–1914), Volume 2 is a translation of the original text into modern English. It covers the period from the arrival of Cerdic in 495 to the death of Henry I and includes the story of Havelok the Dane.

The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland; or, A Metrical Version of the History of Hector Boece
  • Volume 1
  • Hector Boece
  • Translated by William Stewart
  • Edited by W. B. Turnbull
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1858
  • Hector Boece (c.1465–1536) was a Scottish humanist historian, educated in Dundee and Paris, where he became a friend of Erasmus. His Latin Scotorum historia, covering the period from 330 BCE until 1437, was published in 1527, and rapidly translated into French and Scots. It was continued by several authors, indicating that it was accepted as a definitive account of the formation of Scottish national identity, though, inevitably, many of the earlier parts rely on legend and tradition rather than on historical sources. Dedicated to James V, it is biased in favour of his ancestors, and, via Holinshed, was the source for Shakespeare's Macbeth. This verse translation was completed for James V by the courtier William Stewart in 1535, but not published until the Rolls Series edition by W. B. Turnbull in 1858. Volume 1 contains Books I–VI and covers wars with the Romans and Irish migration to Scotland.

Page 3 of 13