Gascon Rolls

The Gascon Rolls are records from the English government of Aquitaine-Gascony and the surrounding area, running from to 1273 to 1468. Containing grants of land, oaths of treaties and other important documents, the rolls were originally stored in the Tower of London and Bodleian Library before the start of their publication from the late 19th century.

Contents

The rolls are records of the Court of Chancery concerning Aquitaine, and are mainly dated from Bordeaux. This is due to the language used "Aquitaine" and "Gascony" were used to refer to the English possessions in France, even when it included more territory than this and even after Gascony had fallen to the French.[1] Dated from 1242 to 1468, the rolls contain records of grants of land, rent charges, the granting of liberties,[2] oaths of treaties and contracts of marriage.[3] The records were initially stored in the Tower of London and Bodleian Library, with abstracts available in the College of Arms.[4] In the 1840s they were moved to the Public Record Office[5] (now The National Archives).

The rolls are considered highly important by historians. Montagu Burrows commented that they "possess an unrivalled variety and importance. They are a rich and inexhaustible store of materials for the general history of the two countries and the biography of the persons they notice. Not even the humblest class of the society of the times fails to find a place... they constitute a well-spring of the first order for the history of English administration".[6]

Publication

The rolls covering the years 1242–1254 were published, edited by Francisque Xavier Michel, in 1885. A supplement to this first volume, covering 1254–55, and two new volumes (vols 2 and 3) covering the years 1273–1290 and 1290–1307, were published in 1896, 1900 and 1906 respectively, all edited by Charles Bémont. A fourth volume, covering the years 1307–1317, edited by Yves Renouard under the supervision of Robert Fawtier, appeared in 1962. The remaining rolls, covering the years 1317–1468, were published online in calendar form under the auspices of the Gascon Rolls Project between 2009 and 2015.

References
  1. Burrows (1892) p.109
  2. Grimaldi (1828) p.163
  3. Grimaldi (1828) p.164
  4. Grimaldi (1828) p.165
  5. Burrows (1892) p.118
  6. Burrows (1892) p.111

Bibliography
  • Burrows, Montagu (1892). "The Publication of the Gascon Rolls by the British and French Governments, Considered as a New Element in English History". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. new ser. Royal Historical Society. 6: 109–124. doi:10.2307/3678192. ISSN 0080-4401. JSTOR 3678192.
  • Grimaldi, Stacey (1828). Origines genealogicae. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. OCLC 11106746.
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