Between Magna Carta and the Parliamentary State: the Fine Rolls of King Henry III 1248-1272

A fine in the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272) was an agreement to pay the king a sum of money for a specified concession. The rolls on which the fines were recorded provide the earliest systematic evidence of what people and institutions across society wanted from the king and he was prepared to give. Surviving in almost continuous sequence from 1199, they are preserved in The National Archives at Kew, one for each regnal year. They open a large window onto the politics, government, economy and society of England in the hinge period between the establishment of Magna Carta at the start of Henry’s reign and the parliamentary state which was emerging at its end. This Project makes the rolls freely available to a wide audience. The aims of the project are: to provide translations of the Fine Rolls with modern forms of place names and toponymic surnames; to provide indexing and search facilities; to provide digital images of the rolls. We will address research questions through a number of fora including a four-volume and providing regular comment online using the 'Fine of the Month' feature. The database is searchable by person, subject, or place, and the indexes and images can also be browsed.