This volume is the first edition of the Latin pipe roll for 10 Henry III (Michaelmas 1226). It will be invaluable for historians of the reign of King Henry III and for historians interested in medieval royal finance and administration. It is a particularly detailed roll, which preserves the accounts for no fewer than twenty-nine English shrievalties, with only Rutland and Westmorland missing. In addition to these, this pipe roll includes a number of other accounts, including those of Thomas of Cirencester for the earl of Devon’s lands and the king’s manors in Devon, which will be useful to local historians. Although no new scutages were levied in this accounting year, this pipe roll shows that arrears were still coming in from those of Montgomery (1223) and Bedford (1224), with some particularly detailed entries relating to the honours of Boulogne and Wallingford. The contents of this roll also allow historians interested in taxation and royal revenues to trace the collection of the fifteenth on moveable property, which had been proposed in return for the re-issue of Magna Carta in 1225. There is, similarly, interesting information relating to the business of Hugh de Neville’s forest eyre of 1224-5 for Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire, Worcestershire and Dorset, offering insights into the implementation of the Forest Charter. The contents of this pipe roll also assist in studying the royal exchequer’s continued attempts to recover large, outstanding debts from barons, such as Warin de Munchensy, via a policy of consolidation and attermination.
Other business of potential interest to a range of scholars is covered in the pipe roll for 10 Henry III. The staffing and maintenance of royal castles are mentioned regularly, and the roll’s contents provide important information about the keepers of royal castles in different counties, payments for crossbowmen in particular locations, details relating to knight service and payments for repairs to castles, such as Bedford which figured in Fawkes de Breaute’s revolt of 1224, and for building works at the Tower of London. Included among other business outlined in this pipe roll are details of the money and equipment transported to Portsmouth and Portchester for despatch to Gascony for the use of Richard, Henry III’s brother, who had recently been created count of Poitou, and for the defence of Gascony against Louis VIII.
