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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 6 of 13

Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, monachi Cestrensis
  • Together with the English Translations of John Trevisa and of an Unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century
  • Volume 4
  • Ranulf Higden
  • Edited by Joseph Rawson Lumby
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1872
  • 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 4 contains the rest of Book 3, on the Hellenistic period up to the birth of Christ, and the start of Book 4, up to the end of the first century CE.

Johannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde chronica et annales
  • AD 1259–1296, 1307–1324, 1392–1406
  • Edited by Henry Thomas Riley
  • John de Trokelowe, Henry de Blaneforde
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1866
  • Between 1863 and 1876, the Rolls Series published several works from or about the abbey of St Albans, edited by Henry Thomas Riley (1816–78) under the rubric 'Chronica Monasterii S. Albani'. This volume of source material for the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, some of it unique, appeared in 1866. It contains texts from several important manuscripts, recording state and church affairs, warfare and diplomacy, and benefactions to the abbey. Recent research suggests that the author of the 1307–23 annals, attributed to John de Trokelowe, was William Rishanger (who appears elsewhere in the Rolls Series); Trokelowe was probably a scribe, while Henry de Blaneforde is named as the continuator. Evidence also exists that the anonymous account of the period 1392–1406 in this volume is in fact part of Thomas Walsingham's Chronica majora, other sections of which were edited separately by Riley. The Latin texts are accompanied by English side-notes.

Historical Papers and Letters from the Northern Registers
  • Edited by James Raine
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1873
  • James Raine (1830–96) was chancellor and canon of York Minster and secretary of the Surtees Society, established by his father between 1854 and 1895. He edited this work for the Rolls Series in 1873. Covering the period 1265 to 1415, it illustrates the ecclesiastical history of the north of England through a vast collection of Latin documents taken from the episcopal registers of Carlisle, Durham and York. Material from Durham and Carlisle deals largely with England's tumultuous relationship with Scotland. Significant space is devoted to the mostly complete registers of York, a centre for parochial reform and the dissemination of royal instruction throughout the period covered. The registers of Peckham and Thoresby in particular demonstrate their dedication to the Church and diocese. Overall, the documents provide valuable insight into the northern sees, the personal history of bishops and sovereigns, and the general history of medieval England.

The Annals of Loch Cé
  • A Chronicle of Irish Affairs from AD 1014 to AD 1590
  • Volume 2
  • Edited and translated by W. M. Hennessy
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1871
  • This Irish-language chronicle covers events in Ireland from the beginning of the eleventh to the end of the sixteenth centuries. Edited and translated by the native Irish speaker and acclaimed scholar William Hennessy (c.1829–89), the work was published for the Rolls Series in 1871 and remains an important source for Irish history. Hennessy also supplied an edited and translated excerpt from a closely related chronicle, The Annals of Connacht, to supplement years missing from the edited text (1316–1412). Volume 2, including a substantial index to both volumes, begins with an account of warfare among Gaelic-Irish and Anglo-Irish nobility in the fourteenth century and concludes shortly before the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in the 1590s.

Liber Monasterii de Hyda
  • Comprising a Chronicle of the Affairs of England, from the Settlement of the Saxons to the Reign of King Cnut; and a Chartulary of the Abbey of Hyde, in Hampshire AD 455–1023
  • Edited by Edward Edwards
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1866
  • Edward Edwards (1812–86), librarian, writer and utilitarian, has been described as a founder of modern librarianship. Employed to catalogue the Earl of Macclesfield's library in 1861, he came across the large illuminated manuscript of the chronicle and cartulary that comprise this work, first published in 1866. The Latin text moves chronologically from 455 and the 'Legend of Albina' through six centuries of medieval English history, finishing at 1023 and the reign of King Cnut. Edwards, as editor, displays a librarian's zeal for detail: his extensive introduction provides a thorough history of Hyde Abbey, from foundation to dissolution. In the appendix, English translations of Anglo-Saxon charters and testaments (including those of Alfred the Great and King Eadred - the only known wills of Anglo-Saxon kings) provide further insight into England in the Early Middle Ages.

Registrum Malmesburiense
  • The Register of Malmesbury Abbey Preserved in the Public Record Office
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by J. S. Brewer, Charles Trice Martin
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1880
  • Malmesbury abbey was a seventh-century foundation, re-established in the late tenth century and supported by royal patronage for several centuries. It was famous for its enormous library, and especially the work of the twelfth-century historian William of Malmesbury. This register of charters was compiled in the late thirteenth century and, although some are later forgeries, it is an important collection of Anglo-Saxon documents. It provides vital information about Wessex from the seventh century on, as well as material about the later difficulties between the monks and the bishop of Salisbury. This two-volume edition of the Latin texts with English side-notes was prepared by John Sherren Brewer (1809–79) and completed by Charles Trice Martin (1842–1914). Volume 2 (1880) contains charters relating to the abbey's extensive property holdings. The appendices include royal and papal decrees, as well as evidences of disputes between the abbey and the town of Malmesbury over trade.

Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I
  • Volume 3, The Gesta Stephani regis Anglorum and Other Chronicles
  • Edited by Richard Howlett
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1886
  • The third volume of this four-volume set of Latin chronicles, edited by Richard Howlett (1841–1917) and published between 1884 and 1889, contains five separate works. The Gesta Stephani regis Anglorum ('Deeds of King Stephen') is a primary source for Stephen's reign and especially his wars with his cousin Maude. This is supplemented by the shorter De gestis regis Stephani by Richard, prior of Hexham, covering the years 1135–9. The treatise Relatio de standardo by St Aelred, abbot of Rievaulx, is a partisan account of the Battle of the Standard in 1138. Jordan Fantosme's long poem (in French, with an English translation) describes the rebellion against Henry II of 1173–4. Finally, Richard of Devizes chronicles the deeds of Richard I in De rebus gestis Ricardi Primi, which is 'one of the most amusing products of the middle ages' according to Howlett, whose introduction provides historical background and manuscript details. English side-notes to the Latin texts are provided throughout.

The Red Book of the Exchequer
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by Hubert Hall
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    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. Volume 1 contains scutages and barons' charters, as well as a detailed table of contents for the entire work.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third
  • Volume 7, Year XVI (First Part)
  • Edited and translated by Luke Owen Pike
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • 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 Hilary Term, 16 Edward III, to Easter Term, 16 Edward III.

Recueil des chroniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à present nommé Engleterre
  • Volume 5, From AD 1447 to AD 1471
  • Jean de Wavrin
  • Edited by William Hardy, Edward L. C. P. Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1891
  • Part of the Rolls Series of historical documents, this five-volume collection, originally compiled in the fifteenth century, is the first history of England of this magnitude, spanning almost two millennia. It is the work of French knight Jean de Wavrin (c.1400–c.1473), a chronicler under Philip the Good and Charles the Bold, Dukes of Burgundy. Wavrin participated in several military expeditions, including some under the English banner, and was keen to keep the kingdom as an ally. The chief editor, archivist and antiquarian Sir William Hardy (1807–87), points out that Wavrin selected the best-known oral and written materials and added his own first-hand observations to tell a fascinating story with a profusion of details. Volume 5, published in 1891, begins with the arrest of the Duke of Gloucester in 1447 and ends with the restoration of Edward IV.

The Red Book of the Exchequer
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by Hubert Hall
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    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 various texts in Volume 2 are serjeanties, knights' fees, abstracts of pipe rolls, genealogies, and precedents.

Chartularies of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin
  • With the Register of its House at Dunbrody, and Annals of Ireland
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by John T. Gilbert
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1884
  • John Thomas Gilbert (1829–98), historian and antiquary, was for thirty-four years librarian of the Royal Irish Academy. It was during this time, in 1884, that his two-volume edition of these chartularies, registers and annals was originally published as part of the Rolls Series. Volume 2 contains two collections of excerpts from the abbey's lost sixteenth-century register. Also included is the register of St Mary's Abbey, Dunbrody, and two portions of the annals of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin (which begin with the birth of Christ and end at the start of the thirteenth century, with the period between the third and tenth centuries unaccounted for). A further fragment of the 'Annals of Ireland', declared as 'of high historical importance', furnishes details of the activities of Robert Bruce. Gilbert, throughout, provides English side-notes to the Latin text. These, together with the helpful summary of contents and index to both volumes, make the work easier to navigate.

De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae
  • Libri Quinque in Varios Tractatus Distincti
  • Volume 2
  • Henry de Bracton
  • Edited by Travers Twiss
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1879
  • 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 2 contains the end of Book 2 and the whole of Book 3. These cover the classification of actions, the general eyre, criminal law and the action of replevin.

Historia Anglorum sive, ut vulgo dicitur, Historia Minor
  • Item ejusdem abbreviatio chronicorum Angliae
  • Volume 3, AD 1246–1253
  • Matthew Paris
  • Edited by Frederic Madden
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1869
  • Sir Frederick Madden (1801–73) was for thirty years Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Library. His edition of the Latin text of Matthew Paris' Historia Anglorum has never been superseded: as Richard Vaughan wrote in 1958, 'it is one of the finest of all those published in the Rolls Series, and it set a standard of careful accuracy and profound scholarship which has seldom been equalled since'. Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans Abbey from 1217 to 1259, wrote and illustrated the single complete surviving manuscript of this 'English History', which covers the years 1067–1253. He was an accomplished artist and a racy, indefatigably curious and opinionated narrator of events. Volume 3, prefaced by a biography of the author, contains the conclusion of the work from 1246 to 1253, and an abbreviated version composed by Paris himself.

De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae
  • Libri Quinque in Varios Tractatus Distincti
  • Volume 6
  • Henry de Bracton
  • Edited by Travers Twiss
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1883
  • 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 6 contains the remainder of Book 5. It covers warranty, exceptions and writs of prohibition to court christian.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the First
  • Volume 2, Years XXI and XXII
  • Edited and translated by Alfred J. Horwood
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1873
  • 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 1873, contains cases in the Common Bench and the jurisdiction of Middlesex between 1293 and 1294.

Register of the Abbey of St Thomas, Dublin
  • Edited by John Thomas Gilbert
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • Edited by John Thomas Gilbert (1829–98), this register was originally published in 1889 and derives from the oldest administrative manuscript that survives from Anglo-Norman Ireland. An influential historian whose work in the study of the history of Ireland had enduring impact, Gilbert notably campaigned for archival professionalism in the treatment of Irish historical documents. He was knighted in 1897. St Thomas's Abbey, Dublin, a royal foundation of Henry II, played an important role in the early Anglo-Norman settlement of Ireland. The majority of documents in its register are grants of churches and land relating to the abbey in the thirteenth century. Other notable documents highlighted by Gilbert in his preface include those relating to important figures in the abbey's history. This publication contains the Latin text of the register with English side-notes and extensive footnotes throughout, along with a helpful summary of contents.

Chronica Monasterii de Melsa, a Fundatione usque ad Annum 1396
  • Volume 3
  • Thomas de Burton
  • Edited by E. A. Bond
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1868
  • The Cistercian abbey of Meaux in Yorkshire was founded in 1150 as a daughter house of Fountains. Thomas de Burton (d.1437) was bursar in 1394 and abbot from 1396 to 1399. His chronicle survives in two versions: the earlier, finished around 1396, and a revision completed around 1402, to which later additions were made. The work is one of the most important later medieval Cistercian chronicles, providing detailed information about the history and administration of Meaux, as well as local and national historical events. The surviving library catalogue reveals the sources available to Burton, and he drew extensively on the abbey archives. The work is arranged by the rule of each abbot, with subdivisions in each section for local and more general history, arranged by subject matter. Volume 3 covers the years 1339–1406, including Burton's own abbacy, and contains the catalogue of books and other treasures of the abbey, an index and glossary.

Chronica Monasterii de Melsa, a Fundatione Usque ad Annum 1396
  • Volume 2
  • Thomas de Burton
  • Edited by E. A. Bond
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1867
  • The Cistercian abbey of Meaux in Yorkshire was founded in 1150 as a daughter house of Fountains. Thomas de Burton (d.1437) was bursar in 1394 and abbot from 1396 to 1399. His chronicle survives in two versions: the earlier, finished around 1396, and a revision completed around 1402, to which later additions were made. The work is one of the most important later medieval Cistercian chronicles, providing detailed information about the history and administration of Meaux, as well as local and national historical events. The surviving library catalogue reveals the sources available to Burton, and he drew extensively on the abbey archives. The work is arranged by the rule of each abbot, with subdivisions in each section for local and more general history, arranged by subject matter. Volume 2 covers the period 1235 to 1339, with a greater proportion of non-monastic material included than in the earlier sections.

Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi De gestis pontificum Anglorum libri quinque
  • William of Malmesbury
  • Edited by N. E. S. A. Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1870
  • William of Malmesbury (c.1090–c.1142) was a prolific historian and a trustworthy chronicler, described by Professor R. M. Thomson as 'the most learned European of his day' and 'England's greatest national and local historian since Bede'. A Benedictine monk, he spent his adult life at Malmesbury Abbey, where he assisted the Abbot in founding the library, and devoted his time to writing. The Latin text presented here, originally published in 1870 as part of the Rolls Series, is based on the manuscript at Magdalen College, Oxford. It is described with confidence by N. E. S. A. Hamilton as 'no other than Malmesbury's own autograph' - a claim which the editor backs up in his comprehensive preface. Revised and added to over a period of ten years following its completion in around 1125, this early ecclesiastical history of England is as much a historical record as a primary source in its own right.

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