Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III Preserved in the National Archives. Vol. III: 1234-1242, ed. Paul Dryburgh and Beth Hartland

Abstract

This is the third volume in this series of published fine rolls from the reign of Henry III (Vol. I: 1216–1224 [2007], rev. ante, cxxiv [2009], 942–3; Vol II: 1224–1234 [2008], rev. ante, cxxv [2010], 1498–9); it gathers together the fine rolls for the regnal years from 28 October 1234 to 27 October 1242. Not all the rolls have survived for this period, so, where they are missing, they have been replaced by reference to the originalia rolls. These originalia rolls are less informative than the fine rolls since they record only those fines that were to be collected by the Exchequer process, and as a result are not complete and indeed are much less full in the detail they contain. Nevertheless, the decision to print originalia rolls where fine rolls have not survived is a sensible one. The fine rolls themselves are full of fascinating detail about the ways in which Henry III used his patronage at a point in time when he had shrugged off the tutelage of men who had been prominent under his father—the last of whom, Peter des Roches, was ousted from office just before this volume commences. As such, this collection of fines provides a useful insight into one aspect of the period that has come to be characterised by historians as the ‘personal rule’ of Henry III. The business of this volume is much the same as that recorded in Volume II, but here we are dealing with Henry III's direct action.