In medieval England, the royal government was a large and highly organized bureaucracy.   Rather than using books, the king's clerks recorded almost everything on long membranes of sheepskin or calfskin parchment, stitched end-to-end to create one long strip, sometimes up to 30 feet long.   These were classified into distinct types of ‘rolls’ depending on the department that made them and the type of information they held, and then rolled up for storage - using a technique called the ‘Chancery style’ of rolling.   The rolls are indexed, for example: 1326 (20 Edward II, pt. 2, m. 4),  indicating the year (reigning year, monarch, part, membrane), and optionally d for ’dorso’ – for when texts are also written on the reverse side.    The most important types of rolls include:

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1. The Chancery Rolls (Royal Letters)

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The Chancery was the king's writing office.   Whenever the king issued an order, a grant, or a letter, his clerks kept a copy on a roll.    They categorized these rolls by how the letters were sealed and delivered:

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• Patent Rolls (Rotuli Litterarum Patentium): ‘Patent’ means open.   These were public documents issued open to the world, carrying the Great Seal at the bottom.   They recorded, for example, grants of land, official appointments, pardons, and permissions to fortify castles.

• Close Rolls (Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum): ‘Close’ means secret or private.   These were direct, private commands sent to a single person (like a sheriff or a baron).   They were folded up and sealed shut so only the recipient could read them.   They contained everyday operational orders, such as instructing a castle governor to repair a wall or buy wine for the king's visit.

• Charter Rolls: These recorded the most solemn, permanent royal grants, such as giving a town the right to hold a market or granting lands to monasteries.   They were witnessed by the kingdom's top nobles.

 

2. The Exchequer Rolls (Financial Accounts)

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The Exchequer was the medieval treasury, responsible for collecting the king’s money and auditing expenditures.

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• The Pipe Rolls (Rotuli Pipe): These are the oldest continuous accounting records in English history, dating back to 1130.   Every year, the royal sheriffs had to come to Westminster and account for every penny collected in taxes, fines, and rents from their counties.   The name likely comes from the physical appearance of the rolled-up parchment sheets, which looked like drainage pipes or wine casks (pipae).

• Memoranda Rolls: Kept by the King’s Remembrancer and the Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer, they tracked active financial disputes, unresolved debts, temporary commands to sheriffs, and royal property seizures.

 

3. The Legal and Judicial Rolls (Court Records)

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England's early common law system generated miles of parchment detailing lawsuits, crimes, and property disputes.

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• Curia Regis Rolls: The records of the Curia Regis (the King’s Court).   They tracked civil and criminal cases heard directly before the king or his top judges.

• Assize Rolls: Records kept by traveling justices who journeyed out into the English counties (the 'assizes') to hear local cases, dealing with everything from murder trials to land disputes.

• Coroners' Rolls: Maintained by county coroners, these rolls detailed sudden or unnatural deaths, treasure trove discoveries, and cases where criminals fled to a church to claim sanctuary.

 

4. Parliament and Statute Rolls

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As Parliament evolved into a powerful institution in the 13th and 14th centuries, its actions required permanent documentation.

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• Parliament Rolls (Rotuli Parliamentorum): The official record of the proceedings of Parliament.   They noted the petitions presented by commoners, the speeches made, and the political business conducted during each session.

• Statute Rolls: Once a petition was agreed upon by the King, Lords, and Commons, it became a law.   These official, enacted laws of the realm were written down on the Statute Rolls.