The Rotuli De Dominabus Et Pueris Et Puellis

David Howes

E198/1/2 from Walmsley, Widows, Heirs, and Heiresses in the Late Twelfth Century

Editions:
Grimaldi, Curante Stacy, ed. Rotuli de Dominabus et Ppueris et Puellis de Donatione Regis. London: William Pickering, 1830.

Round, John H., ed. Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis. London: St. Catherine Press for the Pipe Roll Society, 1913.

*Walmsley, John, ed., and trans. Widows, Heirs, and Heiresses in the Late Twelfth Century: The Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006.
 
Manuscripts:
(1643) British Library, Harleian MS 635, folios 148a-160a and 215b-217b
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*The National Archives, E198/1/2
 
Description:
The Roll Concerning Ladies and Boys and Girls is a manuscript dated to 1184, and is a record of the values of properties owned by 128 widows and 96 heirs and heiresses. The Public Record Office preserved the Roll until 2003, when it was transferred to the National Archives in Kew, England. It is composed of twelve rolls stitched together along their edges forming more of a folding book. Each of the folios records the property of an individual within a county as stated in a hundred court, with the list subdivided by either hundred or, in the case of Lincolnshire, wapentake. In the roll, the counties are listed in the order: Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Rutland, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and Middlesex. Some counties have larger entries than others. For example, Lincolnshire has forty names with their corresponding properties, whereas, Huntingdonshire has only two. Further, the value of assets fluctuates as well. Some individuals are noted as holding only a couple shillings worth of property, while others had incomes of over forty pounds or more per annum. The handwriting is attributed to four clerks of the itinerate Justices: Hugh of Morwich, Ralph Murdac, Ralph Murdac, and Master Thomas of Hurstbourne.
 
 
Importance for the Study of Angevin History
Angevin historians can view the Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis as evidence for Henry II’s ambition of increasing royal revenue from royal and non-royal sources following the lacuna of chancery income during the period of Stephen’s reign. The Assize of Clarendon (1166) and the Assize of Northampton (1177) established the justices itinerate, and it is possible to view this Roll as the first enrolment of the justices’ visits. From Domesday to this Roll, there is no other comprehensive source available for familial revenues and landholding. Traditionally historians have used this source for understanding Angevin demographic, economic, historiography, and women’s history.
 
Bibliography
Introduction:
Round, John H. “Introduction.” In Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis, xvii-xlvii. London: St. Catherine Press for the Pipe Roll Society, 1913.

*Walmsley, John. “Introduction.” In Widows, Heirs, and Heiresses in the Late Twelfth Century: The Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis, edited and translated by John Walmsley, ix-xiv. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006.
 
Historiography:
Amt, Emilie. The Accession of Henry II in England: Royal Government Restored, 1149-1159. Woodbridge; Rochester: Boydell Press, 1993.

Lyon, Bryce. “ Part Three: Henry II and His Sons: The Angevin Sources.” In A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England, edited by Bryce Lyon, 217-243. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1960.

Mortimer, Richard. “The King’s Government.” In Angevin England, 1154-1258. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1994.

Warren, W.L. Henry II. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973.

*----.The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086-1272. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Athenaeum Press, 1994
 
Demographic & Economic History:
Moore, J.S. “The Anglo-Norman Family: Size and Structure.” Anglo-Norman Studies 14, (1992): 143-96.

Hallam, H. E. “Farming Techniques: Eastern England.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, edited by J. Thirsk. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Herlihy, David. “The Transformations of the Central and Late Middle Ages.” In Medieval Households, 79-111. Cambridge; London: Harvard University Press, 1985.

Moore, J.S. “The Anglo-Norman Family: Size and Structure.” Anglo-Norman Studies 14, (1992): 143-96.
 
Women’s History:
Amt, Emilie. Women’s Lives in Medieval Europe: A Sourcebook. London; New York: Routledge, 2010. 

Johns, Susan M. “Royal Inquests and the Power of Noblewomen: the Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus of 1185.” In Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm, 53-194. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press, 2003.
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Hallam, H. E. “Farming Techniques: Eastern England.” In The Agrarian History of England and Wales, edited by J. Thirsk. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.