Pipe Roll
(1241-1242) The Great Rolls of the Pipe are the central record of the crown compiling returns of income and expenditure from the sheriffs and farmers of the various English counties or shires. This is the oldest series of public records, and the earliest surviving instances of many surnames are found in the Pipe Rolls. This is the roll for the 26th year of the reign of king Henry III, that is, accounting for the year from Michaelmas 1241 to Michaelmas 1242. Most (but not all) of the entries in which names appear relate to payments for grants of land and fines or pardons arising from the proceedings of the justices. The text was edited by Henry Lewin Cannon for Yale Historical Publications and printed in 1918. The name of the county is given at the head of each page, and variant spellings, omissions and additions found in the duplicate Chancellor's Roll [C. R.] are given in the footnotes.ROKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Fine Rolls
(1246-1272) The fine rolls of the 31st to 57th years of the reign of king Henry III record part of the government administration in England. These excerpts from the rolls list in transcript applications by plaintiffs for various writs (such as 'ad terminum' and 'pone') and for assizes to be held by the justices in eyre to look into their grievances. A fine of half a mark (6s 8d) or a mark (13s 4d) was usually levied; the cases are normally identified by county, and record that the appropriate sheriff had been notified. There are also more extensive records, in which more detail is given. The excerpts were made by the Record Commission and printed in 1836.ROKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Patent Rolls
(1277-1278) Calendars of the patent rolls of the reign of king Edward I are printed in the Calendars of State Papers: but these cover only a fraction of the material on the rolls. From 1881 to 1889 the reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office also include calendars of other material from the rolls - about five times as many entries as in the State Papers - predominantly mandates to the royal justices to hold sessions of oyer and terminer to resolve cases arising locally; but also other general business. The calendar for the 6th year of king Edward I [20 November 1277 to 19 November 1278], hitherto unindexed, is covered here.ROKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Grantees of offices, commissions and pardons
(1272-1281) The Patent Rolls are the Chancery enrolments of royal letters patent. Those for the 1st to the 9th years of the reign of king Edward I (29 November 1272 to 17 November 1281) were edited for the Public Record Office by J. G. Black, and published in 1901. The main contents are royal commissions and grants; ratifications of ecclesiastical estates; writs of aid to royal servants and purveyors; and pardons. ROKET. Cost: £2.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Cheshire Court Rolls
(1259-1290) Civil and criminal cases for most of Cheshire were handled by the county courts. Here we have the county court rolls for November 1259 to August 1260, December 1281 to September 1282, and December 1286 to September 1289. The city of Chester exercised its own jurisdiction, and here we have crown pleas and presentments from 1287 to 1297. The royal manor of Macclesfield in the east of the county had three independent jurisdictions - the hundred, forest and borough. Royal justices in eyre dealt with civil and criminal cases from the hundred and forest during their yearly visits, and here we have records from 1284 to 1290. Also covered by this index is an Inquest of Service in Time of War in Wales of 1288, listing knight's fees in the county. ROKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of London
(1375-1399) Letter Book H of the City of London contains enrolments of recognizances between inhabitants, particularly citizens, for sums of money lent or due; grants of pieces of land or property; and various records relating to the city administration.
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London and Middlesex Feet of Fines
(1198-1485) Pedes Finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land in London and Middlesex.ROKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Early records of Wells cathedral, in Somerset
(1001-1500) Three early registers of the dean and chapter of Wells - the Liber Albus I (White Book; R I), Liber Albus II (R III), and Liber Ruber (Red Book; R II, section i) - were edited by W. H. B. Bird for the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners and published in 1907. These three books comprise, with some repetition, a cartulary of possessions of the cathedral, with grants of land dating back as early as the 8th century, well before the development of hereditary surnames in England; acts of the dean and chapter; and surveys of their estates, mostly in Somerset.ROKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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