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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 5 of 13

Chronica Monasterii de Melsa, a Fundatione usque ad Annum 1396
  • Volume 1
  • Thomas de Burton
  • Edited by E. A. Bond
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1866
  • 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 1 contains Burton's list of abbots, indexes of lands belonging to the abbey, and the history of the period 1150–1235.

Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, monachi Cestrensis
  • Together with the English Translations of John Trevisa and of an Unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century
  • Volume 1
  • Ranulf Higden
  • Edited by Churchill Babington
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1865
  • 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 1 contains the first part of Book 1, which describes the historical geography of the known world.

Year Books of the Reign of King Edward the Third
  • Volume 10, Years XVII and XVIII
  • Edited and translated by Luke Owen Pike
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1903
  • 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, 17 Edward III, to Hilary Term, 18 Edward III.

Vetus registrum Sarisberiense alias dictum registrum S. Osmundi Episcopi
  • The Register of S. Osmund
  • Volume 2
  • Edited and translated by W. H. Rich Jones
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1884
  • The register of St Osmund (d.1099), compiled in the thirteenth century, contains documents collected during his earlier episcopacy at Sarum (now Salisbury). These documents include charters and rules set in place by him for use by the cathedral. This two-volume edition, published between 1883 and 1884 by William Henry Rich Jones (1817–85), provides a thematically organised transcript of the Latin manuscript with English side-notes throughout, and it complements his edition of other medieval documents relating to Salisbury (also reissued in this series). Volume 2 contains transcripts of charters and documents relating to the cathedral, and is distinguished by its extensive introduction and glossary. The introduction covers the history of Sarum from 1070 to 1229 and is summarised in a chronological abstract. An exhaustive index to both volumes, covering events, people and places, is also provided.

Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, monachi Cestrensis
  • Together with the English Translations of John Trevisa and of an Unknown Writer of the Fifteenth Century
  • Volume 2
  • Ranulf Higden
  • Edited by Churchill Babington
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1869
  • 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 2 contains the remainder of Book 1, on the description of Britain, and twenty-eight chapters of Book 2, on the early history of the world to the reign of Saul in Israel.

Ricardi de Cirencestria speculum historiale de gestis regum Angliae
  • Volume 2, AD 872–1066
  • Richard of Cirencester, John E. B. Mayor
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1869
  • Richard of Cirencester (c.1335–1400) wrote his Latin history of the deeds of the English kings while he was a Benedictine monk at St Peter's, Westminster. His work is largely unoriginal and derivative of other historians, but it does contain valuable information about Westminster Abbey, as well as a full account of the saints whose tombs were to be seen in the abbey church. The fourth (and last) book concentrates solely on the reign and deeds of Edward the Confessor. Although Richard expresses an intention to continue his story in a fifth book, beginning with William the Conqueror, there is no evidence that he ever did so. This second volume, published in 1869, includes a lengthy preface by editor John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor (1825–1910) in which he discusses the work De situ Britanniae, once attributed to Richard, and establishes that it is in fact an eighteenth-century forgery.

Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene
  • Volume 4
  • Roger of Hoveden
  • Edited by William Stubbs
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1871
  • Roger of Hoveden's Chronica was begun around 1192 and covers English history from 732 to 1201, when it is assumed he died. The work is largely an annotated compilation of various other chronicles, including the Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti Abbatis (also reissued in this series). This was formerly attributed to Benedict of Peterborough, which was the view taken by William Stubbs (1825–1901) when he edited this work for the Rolls Series in 1868–71. Since the twentieth century, however, Hoveden has been recognised as the author. As a clerk to Henry II until 1189, and later as a diplomat during the Third Crusade, he was ideally placed to gain first-hand knowledge and also documents, which he provides here in full. Volume 4 (1192–1201) comprises public documents and original work by Hoveden, particularly relating to the north of England, where he was based.

Recueil des chroniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à present nommé Engleterre
  • Volume 1, From Albina to AD 688
  • Jean de Wavrin
  • Edited by William Hardy
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1864
  • Part of the Rolls Series of publications 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 1, published in 1864, covers the period from the mythical origins of Albion to the abdication and conversion of King Cædwalla of Wessex.

Matthaei Parisiensis Chronica majora
  • Volume 6, Additamenta
  • Matthew Paris
  • Edited by Henry Richards Luard
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1882
  • A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Henry Richards Luard (1825–91) edited a number of works in the Rolls Series, for which he was noted for the quality of his indexing and the depth of his commentary. This seven-volume work, first published between 1872 and 1883, has been hailed as one of the best editions in the series. It is a rich source for English history from the Creation to 1259, written by England's greatest medieval historian. Matthew Paris (c.1200–59) became a monk at St Albans in 1217 and had access to a wide variety of documents as an acquaintance of such men as Bishop Robert Grosseteste and King Henry III, whom he knew well. Volume 6 is an appendix to the chronicle. It comprises a broad selection of illustrative Latin documents of particular relevance to Paris's monastery, including Henry's confirmation of Magna Carta.

The Tripartite Life of Patrick
  • With Other Documents Relating to that Saint
  • Volume 1
  • Edited and translated by Whitley Stokes
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1887
  • Celtic scholar and philologist Whitley Stokes (1830–1909) edited and translated many important early medieval texts from Ireland, in Latin and Irish, which remain standard reading. This two-volume edition of works about Patrick, the fifth-century apostle to Ireland, was first published in 1887. The Tripartite Life, compiled around 900 CE, is the earliest-known saint's life in Irish. It was intended to be read over the three days of the saint's festival. Hagiography rather than history, with many fictitious and legendary elements, it is partly in Irish and partly in Latin. The Irish portions are translated into English. Volume 1 includes an extensive introduction on the manuscript sources, the work's probable date on linguistic grounds, and the social context in which it originated. Stokes also attempts to disentangle fable from known biographical information about Patrick, and discusses the saint's own writings and the annalistic references given in Volume 2.

Symeonis monachi opera omnia
  • Volume 1, Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis
  • Symeon of Durham
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1882
  • Little is known about the life of Symeon of Durham (fl. c.1090–c.1128), other than that he was one of the monks present at the translation of the remains of Saint Cuthbert in 1104. His eyewitness account of the opening of Cuthbert's coffin is just one of his writings included in this first volume of his complete works, published for the Rolls Series in 1882. The main Latin text here is his history of the church of Durham up to the year 1096, which draws on Northumbrian annals and provides much valuable information not found elsewhere. Supplemental to this are chapters relating to the see of Durham and the miracles of Cuthbert. The appendices comprise a poem by Adelwulf on the abbots of his monastery, and the lives of Bartholomew the Anchorite and Saint Oswald. Thomas Arnold (1823–1900) provides an extensive introduction as well as English side-notes to the Latin texts.

Ypodigma Neustriae
  • A Thoma Walsingham, quondam monacho monasterii S. Albani, conscriptum
  • Edited by Henry Thomas Riley
  • Thomas Walsingham
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1876
  • 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', several of them by Thomas Walsingham (c.1340–c.1422), who supervised the scriptorium at St Albans until 1394 and wrote in Latin on subjects including history, classics and music. This edition of Thomas' last historical work appeared in 1876. A digest of mainly English history from the ninth century to 1419, it contains a dedication to Henry V that emphasises his dynasty's Norman origins and his recent reconquest of Normandy, the 'Neustria' of the title. It contains records of sea and land battles, conspiracies and heresies, weather events and comets, and fascinating details including the appearance of a dolphin in the Thames in 1392 and a state visit to England by the Emperor of Constantinople.

Annales Monasterii S. Albani AD 1421–1440
  • A Johanne Amundesham, monacho, ut videtur, conscripti
  • Volume 2
  • Edited by Henry Thomas Riley
  • John Amundesham
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1871
  • 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. These annals, whose attribution to the shadowy John Amundesham seemed doubtful even in Riley's day, appeared in two volumes in 1870–1. They describe events in the first half of the fifteenth century, during the first abbacy of John of Whethamstede, and record fascinating information about the early reign of Henry VI. Volume 2 includes details of building projects, more of Abbot Whethamstede's verse, lists of the abbot's huge allowances of food and wine, and a detailed inventory of the monastery church's treasures (gold and silver crosses and reliquaries, candlesticks, thuribles, chalices, croziers, and rich vestments). The Latin text is accompanied by an English introduction and side-notes, a glossary of legal and ecclesiastical terms, and an index.

Vetus registrum Sarisberiense alias dictum registrum S. Osmundi Episcopi
  • The Register of S. Osmund
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by W. H. Rich Jones
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1883
  • The register of St Osmund (d.1099), compiled in the thirteenth century, contains documents collected during his earlier episcopacy at Sarum (now Salisbury). These documents include charters and rules set in place by him for use by the cathedral. This two-volume edition, published between 1883 and 1884 by William Henry Rich Jones (1817–85), provides a thematically organised transcript of the Latin manuscript with English side-notes throughout, and it complements his 1891 edition of other medieval documents relating to Salisbury (also reissued in this series). Volume 1 includes the consuetudinary of St Osmund, which is presented in Latin with a facing-page English translation (provided by Jones to help the reader with the 'technical character' of the text) and extensive footnotes. This text, created by Osmund as a compilation of earlier sources, shows us the foundation and development of a cathedral of secular canons. This volume also contains a thorough introduction to the consuetudinary's manuscript and textual history.

Chronicon monasterii de Abingdon
  • Volume 1, From the Foundation of the Monastery until the Norman Conquest
  • Edited by Joseph Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1858
  • Originally published in 1858, this two-volume chronicle covers approximately 500 years, from the seventh-century foundation of Abingdon Abbey to the accession of Richard I in 1189. Editor Joseph Stevenson (1806–95) claims that its value is less as a detailed history than as an illustration of England's journey from barbarism to civilisation. Although ostensibly a record of the fortunes of the Benedictine monastery, it is a rich source of not only local but also national and international history. In his prefaces to the Latin text, Stevenson discusses the manuscript sources as well as the context of the monastery's development. He goes on to describe the influence of Christianity and the monastic system on such areas as agriculture and commerce. Volume 1, which ends at the Norman Conquest, consists largely of the monastery's title deeds, with a sketch of the circumstances under which each grant was executed.

Chronicon monasterii de Abingdon
  • Volume 2, From the Norman Conquest until the Accession of Richard the First
  • Edited by Joseph Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1858
  • Originally published in 1858, this two-volume chronicle covers approximately 500 years, from the seventh-century foundation of Abingdon Abbey to the accession of Richard I in 1189. Editor Joseph Stevenson (1806–95) claims that its value is less as a detailed history than as an illustration of England's journey from barbarism to civilisation. Although ostensibly a record of the fortunes of the Benedictine monastery, it is a rich source of not only local but also national and international history. In his prefaces to the Latin text, Stevenson discusses the manuscript sources as well as the context of the monastery's development. He goes on to describe the influence of Christianity and the monastic system on such areas as agriculture and commerce. Volume 2, which begins with the Norman Conquest, includes a life of the tenth-century abbot and saint Ethelwold, among other appendices, as well as helpful glossaries, chronological lists of documents and an index to both volumes.

Matthaei Parisiensis Chronica majora
  • Volume 2, AD 1067 to AD 1216
  • Matthew Paris
  • Edited by Henry Richards Luard
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1874
  • A Church of England clergyman and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Henry Richards Luard (1825–91) edited a number of works in the Rolls Series, for which he was noted for the quality of his indexing and the depth of his commentary. This seven-volume work, first published between 1872 and 1883, has been hailed as one of the best editions in the series. It is a rich source for English history from the Creation to 1259, written by England's greatest medieval historian. Matthew Paris (c.1200–59) became a monk at St Albans in 1217 and had access to a wide variety of documents as an acquaintance of such men as Bishop Robert Grosseteste and King Henry III, whom he knew well. Volume 2, covering 1067–1216, derives mainly from the work of Roger of Wendover, and is particularly fascinating in its discussion of the background to Magna Carta.

Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I
  • Volume 1, The First Four Books of Historia rerum Anglicarum of William of Newburgh
  • Edited by Richard Howlett
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1884
  • The first volume of this four-volume set of Latin chronicles, edited by Richard Howlett (1841–1917) and published between 1884 and 1889, contains the first four books of the Historia rerum Anglicarum by William of Newburgh (c.1136–c.1198). Newburgh's extensive history, in five books, chronicles events from 1066 up to 1198 and is a valuable source of information on twelfth-century England, especially the so-called period of 'The Anarchy' during King Stephen's reign. The first book begins with William the Conqueror's victory at Hastings, and the fourth book concludes with the return from captivity of Richard I in 1194. Along the way, Newburgh enlivens his history with tales of supernatural prodigies. In his lengthy editorial introduction, Howlett remarks that Newburgh's chronicle forms a commentary on the various works presented in the other three volumes of this set, as they all fall within the chronological scope of Newburgh's work. English side-notes to the Latin text are provided throughout.

Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham ad annum 1418
  • Edited by William Dunn Macray
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1863
  • This Latin chronicle of the abbey of Evesham was compiled around 1214 by Thomas of Marlborough, abbot from 1230 to 1236. Books 1 and 2, containing the life and miracles of St Egwin, bishop of Worcester (d.717) and founder of the abbey, were written by a twelfth-century prior, Dominic, and abridged by Thomas, who continued the history of the house to his own time. The chronicle was then extended by unknown authors, the first to 1418 and another to 1539. This edition, published in 1863 by William Dunn Macray (1826–1916), contains both continuations. It also includes several saints' lives that were bound in the same manuscript. The main text, with English side-notes, contains much valuable information on the internal life of the abbey, and on its disputes with the local bishop over visitation rights, concerning which Thomas had to travel to Rome to appeal to the pope.

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.

Page 5 of 13