178-714: The Pipe rolls , sometimes called the Great rolls or the Great Rolls of the Pipe , are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer , or Treasury , and its successors, as well as the Exchequer of Ireland . The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records concerning English governance kept by
356-407: A book rather than the entertainments of tournaments or troubadours. He also had concern for ordinary people, ordaining early in his reign that those shipwrecked should be well-treated and prescribing heavy penalties for anyone who plundered their goods. The chronicler Ralph of Diceto records that when famine struck Anjou and Maine in 1176, Henry emptied his private stores to relieve distress among
534-458: A break in the last years of King John's reign (reigned 1199–1216). The surviving Pipe roll from 1130 records an income of £24,500. This figure is dwarfed by the amount recorded on the Pipe roll that was actually owed to the king, which totals £68,850. The income that they record in the early years of Henry II is much smaller than that of the one surviving year for Henry I. Those early Pipe rolls of Henry I record an income about £10,000 to £15,000. By
712-485: A chaotic and troubled period, with all these problems resulting from Stephen's usurpation of the throne. Henry was also careful to show that, unlike his mother, he would listen to the advice and counsel of others. Various measures were immediately carried out although, since Henry spent six and a half years out of the first eight years of his reign in France, much work had to be done at a distance. The process of demolishing
890-540: A close approximation of revenue, and can be used to gain a general understanding of how much financial resources the English kings had available in the Middle Ages. The lone surviving Pipe roll from Henry I's reign, that of 1130, has been a popular subject of study. Recent investigations include Judith Green 's search for evidence of Henry's financial system. Another historian, Stephanie Mooers Christelow, has studied
1068-518: A continuous series like the English. They were the records of the yearly audits performed by the Exchequer of the accounts and payments presented to the Treasury by the sheriffs and other royal officials; and owed their name to the shape they took, as the various sheets were affixed to each other and then rolled into a tight roll, resembling a pipe, for storage. They record not only payments made to
1246-514: A final rebellion. Decisively defeated by Philip and Richard and suffering from a bleeding ulcer , Henry retreated to Chinon Castle in Anjou. He died soon afterwards and was succeeded by his son Richard I. Henry's empire quickly collapsed during the reign of his son John (who succeeded Richard in 1199), but many of the changes Henry introduced during his lengthy rule had long-term consequences. Henry's legal changes are generally considered to have laid
1424-486: A form of land tax dating from Anglo-Saxon times , although after 1161 the Pipe rolls no longer record any payments of geld. By 1166, the fines and other monetary income of the Assizes , or royal courts, began to be recorded in the Pipe rolls. Scutage payments, made by knights in lieu of military service, were also recorded in the Pipe rolls from the reign of Henry II on. Although they recorded all income that came through
1602-515: A group of royal justices to visit all the counties in England over a given period of time, with authority to cover both civil and criminal cases. A local jury had been used occasionally in previous reigns, but Henry made much wider use of them. Juries were introduced in petty assizes from around 1176, where they were used to establish the answers to particular pre-established questions, and in grand assizes from 1179, where they were used to determine
1780-421: A heraldic design: a signet ring with either a leopard or a lion engraved on it. The design would be altered in later generations to form the royal arms of England . By the late 1140s, the active phase of the civil war was over, barring the occasional outbreak of fighting. Many of the barons were making individual peace agreements with one another to secure their war gains and it increasingly appeared as though
1958-700: A key fortress loyal to Henry along the Thames Valley , under siege, possibly in an attempt to force a successful end to the English conflict while Henry was still fighting for his territories in France. Henry moved quickly in response, avoiding open battle with Louis in Aquitaine and stabilising the Norman border, pillaging the Vexin and then striking south into Anjou against Geoffrey, capturing one of his main castles, Montsoreau . Louis fell ill and withdrew from
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#17327651057312136-466: A number of consecutive years be investigated in one sitting and thus several years of payments would be recorded in one Pipe roll. Although the earliest Pipe roll dates from 1130, the 31st year of King Henry I 's reign, it is clear that they were being produced by the Exchequer before then, as the 1130 roll is not an experiment. It shows no hesitancy in its use of accounts, or lack of continuity from previous years. An extract from an earlier Pipe roll, from
2314-642: A policy, it was to generally resist papal influence, increasing his own local authority. The 12th century saw the continuation of the ongoing reform movement within the Catholic Church, advocating greater clerical autonomy from royal authority and more influence for the papacy. This trend had already caused tensions in England, for example when King Stephen forced Theobald of Bec , the Archbishop of Canterbury, into exile in 1152. There were also long-running concerns over royal jurisdiction over members of
2492-407: A possible future rival to Henry. Rumours of a plot to kill Henry were circulating and, possibly as a consequence, Henry returned to Normandy for a period. Stephen fell ill with a stomach disorder and died on 25 October 1154, allowing Henry to inherit the throne sooner than had been expected. On landing in England on 8 December 1154, Henry quickly took oaths of loyalty from some of the barons and
2670-520: A private charter or other material. The example of the royal Exchequer's records eventually influenced others to keep similar records. The earliest surviving non-royal Pipe rolls are those of the Bishop of Winchester , which are extant from 1208, and form a continuous series from that date. They started under Peter des Roches , who was also a royal clerk and administrator. They record monies coming in as well as expenses and payments made, in detail, but like
2848-700: A rather half-hearted fashion, while the English Church attempted to broker a permanent peace between the two sides. In November the two leaders ratified the terms of a permanent peace. Stephen announced the Treaty of Winchester in Winchester Cathedral : he recognised Henry as his adopted son and successor, in return for Henry paying homage to him; Stephen promised to listen to Henry's advice, but retained all his royal powers; Stephen's son William would pay homage to Henry and renounce his claim to
3026-500: A set of receipt rolls and only aggregates were entered in the Pipe rolls. A further reform in 1236 resulted in debts being recorded in separate Estreat rolls , and only the totals entered into the Pipe rolls. In 1284 the Statutes of Rhuddlan were issued, which further reformed the accounting systems, and further reduced the detail contained on the Pipe rolls. At this time, a large number of unrecoverable debts were also removed from
3204-536: A short time around 1650. During the reign of Henry II, a duplicate copy of the year's Pipe roll was made for the Chancellor , and was called the Chancellor's roll. This was created at the same time as the regular Pipe roll, and was written by a clerk of the Chancellor. The Chancellor rolls survive from 1163 to 1832, but are basically duplicates of the corresponding Pipe rolls, except for the occasional addition of
3382-421: A siege. At the start of 1161 war seemed likely to spread across the region until a fresh peace was negotiated at Fréteval that autumn, followed by a second peace treaty in 1162, overseen by Pope Alexander III . Despite this temporary halt in hostilities, Henry's seizure of the Vexin started a second long-running dispute between him and the kings of France. Henry controlled more of France than any ruler since
3560-531: A table used to perform calculations for taxes and goods in the medieval period. According to the Dialogus de Scaccario ('Dialogue concerning the Exchequer'), an early medieval work describing the practice of the Exchequer, the table was large, 10 feet by 5 feet with a raised edge or "lip" on all sides of about the height of four fingers to ensure that nothing fell off it, upon which counters were placed representing various values. The name Exchequer referred to
3738-517: A term that described his ability to punish or financially destroy particular barons or clergy. In England, Henry initially relied on his father's former advisers whom he brought with him from Normandy and on some of Henry I's remaining officials, reinforced with some of Stephen's senior nobility who made their peace with Henry in 1153. During his reign, Henry, like his grandfather, increasingly promoted " new men ", minor nobles without independent wealth and lands, to positions of authority in England. By
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#17327651057313916-573: A trivial argument over how money destined for the Crusader states of the Levant should be collected. Louis allied himself with the Welsh, Scots, and Bretons, and attacked Normandy. Henry responded by attacking Chaumont-sur-Epte, where Louis kept his main military arsenal, burning the town to the ground and forcing Louis to abandon his allies and make a private truce. Henry was then free to move against
4094-410: A way of securing his other French territories and as a potential inheritance for one of his sons. Initially Henry's strategy was to rule indirectly through proxies, and accordingly, Henry supported Conan IV 's claims over most of the duchy, partly because Conan had strong English ties and could be easily influenced. Conan's uncle, Hoël , continued to control the county of Nantes in the east until he
4272-510: Is documented as early as 1180. This exchequer had broader jurisdiction than the English exchequer, dealing in both fiscal and administrative matters. The Dialogue concerning the Exchequer presents it as a general belief that the Norman kings established the Exchequer in England on the loose model of the Norman exchequer, while noting with some doubt an alternative view that the Exchequer existed in Anglo-Saxon times. The specific chronology of
4450-457: Is necessary to search more than one set of rolls for a complete history of a debt. If a debt was not paid off completely in one year, the remainder of the amount owed was transferred to the next year. They did not record the full amount of debts incurred in previous years, only what was paid that year and what was still owed. Besides the sheriffs, others who submitted accounts for the audit included some bailiffs of various honours, town officials, and
4628-461: Is not supported by French chronicles. If the agreements at Montmirail had been followed up, the acts of homage could potentially have confirmed Louis's position as king while undermining the legitimacy of any rebellious barons within Henry's territories and the potential for an alliance between them and Louis. In practice, Louis perceived himself to have gained a temporary advantage. Immediately after
4806-527: Is often termed the Henrician phase of the civil war. This time, Henry planned to form a northern alliance with King David I of Scotland , his great-uncle, and Ranulf of Chester , a powerful regional leader who controlled most of the north-west of England. Under this alliance, Henry and Ranulf agreed to attack York , probably with the help of Scots. The planned attack disintegrated after Stephen marched north to York, and Henry returned to Normandy. Henry
4984-697: Is partly because, to contemporaries, the differences between founding and patronizing a house was blurred; in the scholar Elizabeth Hallam 's words, "Henry II was 'patron and founder' of many houses where he had inherited this right from his ancestors and predecessors". In England, he provided steady patronage to the monastic houses, but established few new monasteries. Of those he did, three – Witham Charterhouse in Somerset, Waltham Abbey in Essex and Amesbury in Wiltshire – were founded as part of his penance for
5162-426: Is uncertain if Henry had a grand vision for his new legal system and the reforms seem to have proceeded in a steady, pragmatic fashion. Indeed, some scholars believe that in most cases he was probably not personally responsible for creating the new processes, but he was greatly interested in the law, seeing the delivery of justice as one of the key tasks for a king and carefully appointing good administrators to conduct
5340-459: The Duchy of Brittany , which neighboured his lands and retained strong traditions of independence. The Breton dukes held little power across most of the duchy, which was mostly controlled by local lords. In 1148, Duke Conan III died and civil war broke out. Henry claimed to be the overlord of Brittany, on the basis that the duchy had owed loyalty to Henry I, and saw controlling the duchy both as
5518-517: The Duchy of Normandy in France. It is believed that the Norman rolls were started about the same time as the English, but due to lack of survival of the earlier Norman rolls, it is unclear exactly when they did start. An Irish Exchequer produced Irish Pipe rolls, and much like the English Pipe rolls, the earliest surviving Irish Pipe roll, that of 1212, does not appear to be the first produced. The Dialogus de Scaccario or Dialogue concerning
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5696-471: The Exchequer , is the accounting process of central government and the government's current account (i.e., money held from taxation and other government revenues ) in the Consolidated Fund . The term is used in various financial documents, including the latest departmental and agency annual accounts. Historically, it was the name of a British government department responsible for
5874-581: The River Avon , preventing Stephen from forcing a decisive battle. In the face of the increasingly wintry weather, the two men agreed to a temporary truce, leaving Henry to travel north through the Midlands , where the powerful Robert de Beaumont , Earl of Leicester, announced his support for the cause. Henry was then free to turn his forces south against the besiegers at Wallingford. Despite only modest military successes, he and his allies now controlled
6052-679: The Standards Department of the Board of Trade took over metrological responsibilities and audit functions were combined with those of the Commissioners for auditing the Public Accounts under the new post of Comptroller and Auditor General . The name continued as the Exchequer and Audit Department from 1866 until 1983 when the new National Audit Office was created. In modern times, "Exchequer" has come to mean
6230-745: The Superior Exchequer , a court of equity and revenue akin to the Exchequer of Pleas, and the Inferior Exchequer . The latter were the treasurers who handled all logistics from collecting the money (Teller or Cashier), logging it (Clerk of the Pells) and signing money orders accepting or paying money. It was managed by its own Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer . The Court of Exchequer (Ireland) existed from about 1299 to 1877. It
6408-456: The Treasury and, colloquially, pecuniary possessions in general; as in "the company's exchequer is low". The Scottish Exchequer dates to around 1200, with a similar role in auditing and royal revenues as in England. The Scottish Exchequer was slower to develop a separate judicial role; and it was not until 1584 that it became a court of law, separate from the king's council. Even then,
6586-609: The Young Henry , to Louis's daughter Margaret . The marriage deal would have involved Louis granting the disputed territory of the Vexin to Margaret on her marriage to the Young Henry: while this would ultimately give Henry the lands that he claimed, it also implied that the Vexin was Louis's to give away in the first place, in itself a political concession. For a short while, a permanent peace between Henry and Louis looked plausible. Meanwhile, Henry turned his attention to
6764-487: The shire courts , hundred courts and in particular seignorial courts — to deal with most of these cases, hearing only a few personally. This process was far from perfect, and in many cases claimants were unable to pursue their cases effectively. While interested in the law, during the first years of his reign Henry was preoccupied with other political issues, and even finding the King for a hearing could mean travelling across
6942-490: The 1180s this new class of royal administrators was predominant in England, supported by various illegitimate members of Henry's family. The links between the nobility in Normandy and England had weakened during the first half of the 12th century and continued to do so under Henry. Henry drew his close advisers from the ranks of the Norman bishops and, as in England, recruited many "new men" as Norman administrators: few of
7120-520: The 11th century and the county became largely autonomous. Henry's mother was the legitimate daughter of Henry I , King of England and Duke of Normandy . She was born into a powerful ruling class of Normans , who traditionally owned extensive estates in both England and Normandy, and her first husband had been Holy Roman Emperor Henry V . Henry I had during his own lifetime obtained pledges of fealty from his nobility, including from his nephew Stephen of Blois , promising to support Matilda's claim to
7298-497: The 12th century. Some of their income came from their private estates, called demesne ; other income came from imposing legal fines and arbitrary amercements , and from taxes, which at that time were raised only intermittently. Kings could also raise funds by borrowing; Henry did this far more than earlier English rulers, initially through moneylenders in Rouen , turning later in his reign to Jewish and Flemish lenders. Ready cash
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7476-416: The 13th century onwards are less important for historical study because there are other surviving financial records. Some, such as the receipt rolls, were also kept by the Exchequer, and were used by the treasury clerks to prepare the Pipe rolls. Other surviving records were kept by the sheriffs for their own use in submitting accounts to the Pipe rolls. However, the post 13th-century Pipe rolls are occasionally
7654-484: The 1600s, goldsmiths would deposit their reserve of treasure with the Exchequer, sanctioned by the government. Charles II "shut up" the Exchequer in 1672, forbidding payments from it, in what Walter Bagehot described as "one of those monstrous frauds... this monstrous robbery". This ruined the goldsmiths and the credit of the Stuart government, which would never recover it. In 1694, the credit of William III 's government
7832-594: The 18th century, scholars argued that Henry was a driving force in the creation of a genuinely English monarchy and, ultimately, a unified Britain. During the Victorian expansion of the British Empire , historians were keenly interested in the formation of Henry's own empire, but they also criticised certain aspects of his private life and treatment of Becket. Henry was born in Maine at Le Mans on 5 March 1133,
8010-572: The 23rd year of the reign of Henry II which is the date of the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer , the Exchequer was split into two components: the purely administrative Exchequer of Receipt , which collected revenue, and the Exchequer of Pleas , a law court concerned with the King's revenue. Appeals were to the Court of Exchequer Chamber . Following the proclamation of Magna Carta , legislation
8188-533: The 25th regnal year of Henry I or 1124, has been found in a 14th-century manuscript now in the Cotton Library at the British Library . The exact time of the first production of Pipe rolls is debated amongst historians. Some hold that they date from Henry I's reign, whether early or late in the reign, but others feel that they were introduced by King William I (reigned 1066–1087). The precursors of
8366-604: The 9th century Carolingians ; these lands, combined with his possessions in England, Wales, Scotland and later parts of Ireland, produced a vast domain often referred to by historians as the Angevin Empire . The empire lacked a coherent structure or central control; instead, it consisted of a loose, flexible network of family connections and lands. Different local customs applied within each of Henry's different territories although common principles underpinned some of these local variations. Henry travelled constantly across
8544-583: The Abbey St Nicolas in Angers in the early 1140s. Henry founded houses in England and France; he had done this sporadically before Becket's death, but, in Hallam's words, they "accelerated dramatically" following it. As part of his penance following the death of Becket, he built and endowed various hospitals—particularly for lepers —in France, for example at Mont-Saint-Aignan , which was dedicated to
8722-525: The Anarchy by historians, dragged on and degenerated into a stalemate. Henry most likely spent part of his childhood in his mother's household. In the late 1130s, he accompanied Matilda to Normandy, which would only be fully taken by Geoffrey around 1144. Henry's later childhood, probably from the age of seven, was spent in Anjou, where he was educated by Peter of Saintes, a noted grammarian . In late 1142, Geoffrey sent his nine-year-old son to Bristol ,
8900-649: The Becket murder, and built at considerable cost. Cirencester was also a foundation of significance, and comparable to those of his forebears. He was relatively conservative in religion, and when he did intervene in monastic affairs, it usually regarded houses with established links to his family, such as Reading Abbey, founded by his grandfather Henry I. In the struggle with Becket, contemporaries believed that he could have been influenced by his mother. Before his accession several charters, including to religious institutions, were issued in their joint names, such as that to
9078-477: The Channel and locating his peripatetic court. Nonetheless, he was prepared to take action to improve the existing procedures, intervening in cases which he felt had been mishandled and creating legislation to improve both ecclesiastical and civil court processes. Meanwhile, in Normandy, Henry delivered justice through the courts run by his officials across the duchy, and occasionally these cases made their way to
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#17327651057319256-519: The Count in an attempt to secure his southern frontiers; nonetheless, when Henry and Louis discussed the matter of Toulouse, Henry left believing that he had the French king's support for military intervention. Henry invaded Toulouse, only to find Louis visiting Raymond in the city. Henry was not prepared to directly attack Louis, who was still his feudal lord, and withdrew, contenting himself with ravaging
9434-419: The Count of Champagne and Odo II, Duke of Burgundy . Three years later the new Count of Flanders, Philip , concerned about Henry's growing power, openly allied himself with the French king. Louis's wife Adèle gave birth to a male heir, Philip Augustus , in 1165, and Louis was more confident of his own position than for many years previously. As a result, relations between Henry and Louis deteriorated again in
9612-543: The Cowick Ordinance attempted to return the rolls to an exposition of accounts. Another attempted reform at this time was the removal of customs receipts, as well as military accounts, from the rolls. New offices in the Exchequer were also created, in an attempt to speed up the auditing process and lessen the time it took to prepare the Pipe rolls and other financial records. The attempt to remove non-Exchequer accounts did completely remove those types of records from
9790-511: The Duchy of Aquitaine, had become increasingly independent and was now ruled by Count Raymond V . The rulers of Aquitaine had made tenuous claims on the county by hereditary right; Henry now hoped to claim it on Eleanor's behalf, and encouraged by her, Henry first allied himself with Raymond's enemy Raymond Berenguer of Barcelona and then in 1159 threatened to invade himself to depose the Count of Toulouse. Louis married his sister Constance to
9968-464: The Duchy of Aquitaine. Thus, he controlled most of France. Henry's military expedition to England in 1153 resulted in King Stephen agreeing, by the Treaty of Wallingford , to leave England to Henry, and he inherited the kingdom at Stephen's death a year later. Henry was an energetic and ruthless ruler, driven by a desire to restore the royal lands and prerogatives of his grandfather Henry I. During
10146-517: The English church was considering promoting a peace treaty. On Louis VII 's return from the Second Crusade in 1149, he became concerned about the growth of Geoffrey's power and the potential threat to his own possessions, especially if Henry could acquire the English crown. In 1150, Geoffrey made Henry the Duke of Normandy and Louis responded by putting forward King Stephen's son Eustace as
10324-472: The English king and publicly gave homage for Toulouse to Henry and his heirs. One of the major international events surrounding Henry during the 1160s was the Becket controversy. When the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec, died in 1161 Henry saw an opportunity to reassert his rights over the Church in England. Henry appointed Thomas Becket , his English Chancellor , as archbishop in 1162. According to
10502-464: The English, British, Irish and United Kingdom governments, covering a span of about 700 years. The early medieval ones are especially useful for historical study, as they are some of the earliest financial records available from the Middle Ages. A similar set of records was developed for Normandy , which was ruled by the English kings from 1066 to 1205, but the Norman Pipe rolls have not survived in
10680-571: The Exchequer , written in about 1178, details the workings of the Exchequer and gives an early account of how the Pipe rolls were created. The Dialogue was written by Richard FitzNeal , the son of Nigel of Ely , who was Treasurer for both Henry I and Henry II of England. According to the Dialogue , the Pipe rolls were the responsibility of the clerk of the Treasurer, who was called the Clerk of
10858-428: The Exchequer clerks. The main source of income recorded on the Pipe rolls was the county farm, or income derived from lands held by the king. Occasional sources of revenue, such as from vacant bishoprics or abbeys or other sources, were also recorded. The payments were made both in coin, or in objects, such as spurs, lands, spices, or livestock. The only surviving roll from Henry I's reign also records payments of geld ,
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#173276510573111036-481: The Exchequer when distinguished as a component of government funding. Henry II of England Henry II ( ( 1133-March-05 ) ( 1189-July-06 ) 5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189 ), also known as Henry Fitzempress and Henry Curtmantle , was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England , substantial parts of Wales and Ireland , and much of France (including Normandy , Anjou , and Aquitaine ), an area that altogether
11214-545: The Exchequer, and some taxes and levies were never recorded in the Pipe Rolls. Under Henry I, a procedure adopted for the audit involved the treasurer drawing up a summons to be sent to each sheriff , who was required to answer with an account of the income in his shire both from royal demesne lands and from the county farm (a form of local taxation). The chancellor of the Exchequer then questioned him concerning debts owed by private individuals. By 1176,
11392-467: The Exchequer, not all sources of income went through that office, so the Pipe rolls are not a complete record of royal income. They did include both regular income from the royal lands and judicial profits, as well as more occasional income derived from feudal levies, wardships , and ecclesiastical vacancies. Another source of income recorded in the rolls was from feudal reliefs, the payment made by an heir when inheriting an estate. A major source of income in
11570-455: The Exchequer, they were not recorded in the Pipe rolls. Expenditures were also subject to documentation in the Pipe rolls. Among the recorded expenditures are payments for carts and cart horses, wages for royal servants, payments for improvements to royal manors and houses, royal gifts to persons, hunting expenses, payments to acquire a governmental office, payments to mercenaries, and the costs of bags and casks to transport silver pennies about
11748-484: The Exchequer, with some functions moved to other departments. The Exchequer became unnecessary as a revenue collecting department in 1834 with the reforms of Prime Minister William Pitt , who also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The government departments collecting revenue then paid it directly to the Bank of England , with all money previously paid to the Exchequer being credited to the Consolidated Fund . In 1866,
11926-446: The French, for instance, did not have an equivalent system of accounting until the 1190s. The exact form of the records, kept in a roll instead of a book, was also unique to England, although why England kept some of its administrative records in this form is unclear. A set of Norman rolls, drafted differently, are extant in a few years for the reigns of Kings Henry II (reigned 1154–1189) and Richard I (reigned 1189–1199), who also ruled
12104-434: The King himself. He also operated an exchequer court at Caen that heard cases relating to royal revenues and maintained king's justices who travelled across the duchy. Between 1159 and 1163, Henry spent time in Normandy conducting reforms of royal and church courts, and some measures later introduced in England are recorded as existing in Normandy as early as 1159. In 1163 Henry returned to England, intent on reforming
12282-694: The Loire and in western Touraine, but Henry had few officials elsewhere in the region. In Aquitaine, ducal authority remained very limited, despite increasing substantially during Henry's reign, largely owing to Richard's efforts in the late 1170s. Henry's wealth allowed him to maintain what was probably the largest curia regis , or royal court, in Europe. His court attracted huge attention from contemporary chroniclers, and typically comprised several major nobles and bishops, along with knights, domestic servants, prostitutes, clerks, horses and hunting dogs. Within
12460-430: The Pipe and later the clerk of the pells. FitzNeal wrote his work to explain the inner workings of the Exchequer, and in it he lists a number of different types of rolls used by the Treasury. He also describes the creation of the Pipe rolls and how they are used. The Dialogue also states that the Pipe rolls, along with Domesday Book and other records, were kept in the treasury, because they were required for daily use by
12638-620: The Pipe Roll Society in 2012. In 1883 the Pipe Roll Society (a text publication society ) was founded by the Public Record Office, on the initiative of Walford Dakin Selby and his colleague James Greenstreet, to establish a systematic publishing programme for the Pipe rolls. It published its first volume in 1884, and has now published all the rolls from 1158 to 1224. Besides the continuous series, it has also published
12816-422: The Pipe rolls for historical study is the fact that the chronological limits for the financial year varied from roll to roll. In theory, they only recorded revenues from the previous Easter to Michaelmas of that financial year. However, the Pipe rolls often record payments made past Michaelmas, often up until the date the roll was actually compiled. Also, a few debts were not audited annually, but would instead have
12994-411: The Pipe rolls; further reforms in 1368 created a set of foreign rolls, and all extraneous records in the Pipe rolls were transferred to those rolls. In 1462, the Exchequer was told to no longer summon for audit any farms or feefarms worth over 40 shillings per year, as these would be supervised by a newly appointed board of receivers or approvers. The Pipe rolls series ended in 1834 when the office that
13172-408: The accounts of the sheriffs and a few other sources of income. Some of the payments that did not regularly fall under the Exchequer were occasionally recorded in a Pipe roll. Neither do the Pipe rolls record all payments made by the exchequer. They were not created as a budget, nor were they strictly speaking records of receipts, but rather they are records of the audit of the accounts rendered. Although
13350-419: The age of fourteen. Taking his immediate household and a few mercenaries, he left Normandy and landed in England, striking into Wiltshire . Despite initially causing considerable panic, the expedition had little success, and Henry found himself unable to pay his forces and therefore unable to return to Normandy. Neither his mother nor his uncle was prepared to support him, implying that they had not approved of
13528-454: The average was around £22,000. One economic effect of these changes was a substantial increase in the amount of money in circulation in England and, post-1180, a long-term increase in both inflation and trade. Long-running tensions between Henry and Louis VII continued during the 1160s, the French king slowly becoming more vigorous in opposing Henry's increasing power in Europe. In 1160 Louis strengthened his alliances in central France with
13706-534: The basis for the English Common Law , while his intervention in Brittany, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland shaped the development of their societies, histories, and governmental systems. Historical interpretations of Henry's reign have changed considerably over time. Contemporary chroniclers such as Gerald of Wales and William of Newburgh , though sometimes unfavourable, generally laud his achievements. In
13884-654: The campaign, and Geoffrey was forced to come to terms with Henry. In response to Stephen's siege, Henry returned to England again at the start of 1153. Bringing only a small army of mercenaries, probably financed with borrowed money, Henry was supported in the north and east of England by the forces of Ranulf of Chester and Hugh Bigod , two local aristocrats, and had hopes of a military victory. A delegation of senior English clergy met with Henry and his advisers at Stockbridge, Hampshire , shortly before Easter in April. Details of their discussions are unclear, but it appears that
14062-458: The centre of Angevin opposition to Stephen in the south-west of England, accompanied by Robert of Gloucester. Although having children educated in relatives' households was common among noblemen of the period, sending Henry to England also had political benefits, as Geoffrey was coming under criticism by Matilda's supporters for refusing to join the war in England. For about a year, Henry lived alongside Roger of Worcester , one of Robert's sons, and
14240-467: The children being only five and three years old respectively—and promptly seized the Vexin. Now it was Louis's turn to be furious, as the move broke the spirit of the 1160 treaty. Military tensions between the two leaders immediately increased. Theobald mobilised his forces along the border with Touraine . Henry responded by attacking Chaumont in Blois in a surprise attack and took Theobald's castle in
14418-437: The churchmen emphasised that while they supported Stephen as king, they sought a negotiated peace; Henry reaffirmed that he would avoid the English cathedrals and would not expect the bishops to attend his court. To draw Stephen's forces away from Wallingford, Henry besieged Stephen's castle at Malmesbury , and the King responded by marching west with an army to relieve it. Henry successfully evaded Stephen's larger army along
14596-485: The clergy. By contrast with the tensions in England, in Normandy Henry had occasional disagreements with the Church but generally enjoyed very good relations with the bishops there. In Brittany, he had the support of the local Church hierarchy and rarely intervened in clerical matters, except occasionally to cause difficulties for his rival Louis of France. Further south, the power of the dukes of Aquitaine over
14774-486: The coinage in 1180, with royal officials taking direct control of the mints and passing the profits directly to the treasury. A new penny, called the Short Cross, was introduced, and the number of mints reduced substantially to ten across the country. Driven by the reforms, the royal revenues increased considerably; during the first part of the reign, Henry's average exchequer income was only around £18,000; after 1166,
14952-569: The collection and the management of taxes and revenues, making payments on behalf of the sovereign, and auditing official accounts. It also developed a judicial role along with its accountancy responsibilities and tried legal cases relating to revenue. Similar offices were later created in Normandy around 1180, in Scotland around 1200 and in Ireland in 1210. The Exchequer was named after
15130-503: The conference, he began to encourage tensions between Henry's sons. Meanwhile, Henry's position in the south of France continued to improve, and by 1173 he had agreed to an alliance with Humbert III, Count of Savoy , which betrothed Henry's son John and Humbert's daughter Alicia. Henry's daughter Eleanor was married to Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1170, enlisting an additional ally in the south. In February 1173, after unremitting pressure from Henry since 1159, Raymond finally capitulated to
15308-433: The consent of Louis; accordingly the kings held fresh peace talks in 1169 at Montmirail . The talks were wide-ranging, culminating with Henry's sons giving homage to Louis for their future inheritances in France. Also at this time, Richard was betrothed to Louis's young daughter Alys . Alys came to England and was rumoured to have later become the mistress of King Henry, but the rumour originates from prejudiced sources and
15486-538: The court were his officials, ( ministeriales ); his friends ( amici ), and his small inner circle of confidants and trusted servants ( familiares regis ). Henry's familiares were particularly important to the operation of his household and government as they drove government initiatives and filled the gaps between the official structures and the King. Henry tried to maintain a sophisticated household that combined hunting and drinking with cosmopolitan literary discussion and courtly values. Nonetheless, Henry's passion
15664-567: The custodians of ecclesiastical and feudal estates. The earliest surviving Pipe roll, already in a mature form, dates from 1129–30, and the continuous series begins in 1155–56, and continued for almost seven hundred years. Combined with the Domesday Book of 1086, the Pipe rolls contributed to the centralisation of financial records by the Norman kings (reigned 1066–1154) of England that was ahead of contemporary Western European monarchies;
15842-417: The dead Archbishop. Since travel by sea during the period was dangerous, he would also take full confession before setting sail and use auguries to determine the best time to travel. The historian Nicholas Vincent argues that Henry's movements may also have been planned to take advantage of saints' days and other fortuitous occasions. Medieval rulers such as Henry enjoyed various sources of income during
16020-455: The early years of King Henry III's reign. The Pipe rolls have also been used to identify royal officials, especially those that were involved in local government and were not high-ranking. Because they recorded judicial fines, the Pipe rolls also can be used to shed light on how the judicial system in medieval England worked, as well as identifying royal judges. Although they don't provide exact revenue figures, most historians believe they represent
16198-621: The early years of his reign Henry restored the royal administration in England, which had almost collapsed during Stephen's reign, and re-established hegemony over Wales. Henry's desire to control the English Church led to conflict with his former friend Thomas Becket , the Archbishop of Canterbury . This controversy lasted for much of the 1160s and resulted in Becket's murder in 1170. Soon after his accession Henry came into conflict with Louis VII of France , his feudal overlord , and
16376-538: The eldest child of the Empress Matilda and her second husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou . The French county of Anjou was formed in the 10th century and its Angevin rulers attempted for several centuries to extend their influence and power across France through careful marriages and political alliances. In theory, the county answered to the French king , but royal power over Anjou weakened during
16554-482: The empire, producing what the historian John Edward Austin Jolliffe describes as a "government of the roads and roadsides". His journeys coincided with regional governmental reforms and other local administrative business although messengers were able to connect him to all of his domains wherever he went. In his absence the lands were ruled by seneschals and justiciars , and beneath them, local officials in each of
16732-463: The end of Henry II's reign, royal income recorded in the Pipe rolls had risen to £20,000. The end of John's reign saw a recorded income of about £30,000, but Henry III's reign recorded only £8,000 in the early years, rising to £16,500 by 1225. Not only do the rolls from the early years of Henry II's reign show less income reaching the Exchequer than during Henry I's reign, those early rolls were haphazard and not as accurate and detailed as rolls dating from
16910-473: The expedition in the first place. Henry instead turned to King Stephen, who paid the outstanding wages and thereby allowed Henry to retire gracefully. Stephen's reasons for doing so are unclear. One potential explanation is his general courtesy to a member of his extended family; another is that he was starting to consider how to end the war peacefully, and saw this as a way of building a relationship with Henry. Henry intervened once again in 1149, commencing what
17088-477: The failure of Henry and Eleanor's parenting, have been put forward to explain Henry's family's bitter disputes. Other theories focus on the personalities of Henry and his children. Historians such as Matthew Strickland have argued that Henry made sensible attempts to manage the tensions within his family, and that had he died younger, the succession might have proved much smoother. Henry's reign saw important legal changes, particularly in England and Normandy. By
17266-410: The first time and greatly reducing the number of moneyers licensed to produce coins. These measures were successful in improving Henry's income, but on his return to England in the 1160s he took further steps. New taxes were introduced and the existing accounts re-audited, and the reforms of the legal system brought in new streams of money from fines and amercements. There was a wholesale reform of
17444-719: The frequent face-to-face meetings to attempt to resolve them have led the historian Jean Dunbabin to liken the situation to the 20th-century Cold War in Europe. On his return to the Continent from England in the 1150s, Henry sought to secure his French lands and quash any potential rebellion. To this end, in 1154 Henry and Louis agreed to a peace treaty, under which Henry bought back Vernon and Neuf-Marché from Louis. The treaty appeared shaky, and tensions remained — in particular, Henry had not given homage to Louis for his French possessions. They met at Paris and Mont-Saint-Michel in 1158, agreeing to betroth Henry's eldest living son,
17622-852: The future inheritance of the empire, encouraged by Louis VII and his son Philip II , who ascended to the French throne in 1180. In 1173 Henry's heir apparent, "Young Henry", rebelled against his father; he was joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey and by their mother. Several European states allied themselves with the rebels, and the Great Revolt was only defeated by Henry's vigorous military action and talented local commanders, many of them " new men " appointed for their loyalty and administrative skills. Young Henry and Geoffrey led another revolt in 1183, during which Young Henry died of dysentery . Geoffrey died in 1186. The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland provided lands for Henry's youngest son, John . By 1189, Philip swayed Richard to his side, leading to
17800-413: The government, but debts owed to the crown and disbursements made by royal officials. Although they recorded much of the royal income, they did not record all types of income, nor did they record all expenditures, so they are not strictly speaking a budget. The Pipe Roll Society, formed in 1883, has published the Pipe rolls for the period up to 1224. The Pipe rolls are named after the "pipe" shape formed by
17978-451: The guilt of a defendant. Other methods of trial continued, including trial by combat and trial by ordeal . After the Assize of Clarendon in 1166, royal justice was extended into new areas through the use of new forms of assizes, in particular novel disseisin , mort d'ancestor and dower unde nichil habet , which dealt with the wrongful dispossession of land, inheritance rights, and
18156-466: The historian Thomas M. Jones, Henry probably believed that Becket, in addition to being an old friend, would be politically weakened within the Church because of his former role as Chancellor, and would therefore have to rely on his support. Both Henry's mother and wife appear to have had doubts about the appointment, but nevertheless, he went ahead. His plan did not achieve the desired result, as Becket promptly changed his lifestyle, abandoned his links to
18334-553: The inheritance of Louis and Eleanor's two daughters, Marie and Alix , who might otherwise have had claims to Aquitaine on Eleanor's death. With his new lands, Henry now possessed a much larger proportion of France than Louis. Louis organised a coalition against Henry, including King Stephen; his son Eustace; Henry I, Count of Champagne ; and Robert, Count of Perche . Louis's alliance was joined by Henry's younger brother Geoffrey , who rose in revolt, claiming that Henry had dispossessed him of his inheritance. Their father's plans for
18512-572: The inheritance of his lands had been ambiguous, making the veracity of Geoffrey's claims hard to assess. Contemporaneous accounts suggest he left the main castles in Poitou to Geoffrey, implying that he may have intended Henry to retain Normandy and Anjou but not Poitou. Fighting immediately broke out again along the Normandy borders, where Henry of Champagne and Robert captured the town of Neufmarché-sur-Epte . Louis's forces moved to attack Aquitaine. Stephen responded by placing Wallingford Castle ,
18690-703: The judicial and the administrative roles were never completely separated as with the English Exchequer. In 1707, the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1707 ( 6 Ann. c. 53) reconstituted the Exchequer into a law court on the English model, with a lord chief baron and four barons. The court adopted English forms of procedure and had further powers added. This was done in Section 19 of the Act of Union 1707 From 1832, no new barons were appointed; their role
18868-451: The king. A great council was supposed to advise the King and give assent to royal decisions, yet it is unclear how much freedom they actually enjoyed to oppose Henry's intentions. Henry also appears to have consulted with his court when making legislation; the extent to which he then took their views into account is unclear. As a powerful ruler, Henry was able to provide either valuable patronage or impose devastating harm on his subjects. He
19046-419: The kingdom. Information about other subjects besides revenues also is contained in the rolls, including the movement of prisoners, which helps to identify which medieval castles were used as prisons. The Pipe rolls also allow the identification of the custodians of royal lands and castles. The clerks writing the rolls also used them as places to deride officials of the government, such as William Longchamp , who
19224-406: The lands and the rights of his grandfather Henry I; it reaffirmed the betrothal of Young Henry and Margaret and the Vexin deal; and it involved Young Henry giving homage to Louis, a way of reinforcing the young boy's position as heir and Louis's position as king. Almost immediately after the peace conference, Louis shifted his position considerably. His wife Constance died and he married Adèle ,
19402-445: The larger landowners in Normandy benefited from the King's patronage. He frequently intervened with the Norman nobility through arranged marriages or the treatment of inheritances, either using his authority as duke or his influence as king of England over their lands there. Across the rest of France, local administration was less developed. Anjou was governed through a combination of officials called prévôts and seneschals based along
19580-408: The later part of the reign. Nor are they as carefully produced as either the later rolls or the roll of 1130. By the time of King John, the Pipe rolls were growing unwieldy, as too many fines and fees were being recorded, making the finding of information in the rolls difficult. Eventually, after some experimentation, by 1206 a system was settled on whereby the actual detailed receipts were recorded in
19758-445: The local church was much less than in the north, and Henry's efforts to extend his influence over local appointments created tensions. During the disputed papal election of 1159, Henry, like Louis, supported Alexander III over his rival Victor IV . The contemporary chronicler Gerald of Wales promulgated the perception that Henry was a founder of monasteries, but overall, Henry's religious convictions are difficult to assess. This
19936-426: The medieval era. A study from 1925 compiled the royal income that passed through the Exchequer for each year of Henry II and Richard I, as well as a sample of some years from John's reign, attempting to compare how the royal revenues compared in the various reigns. Recent work by Nick Barratt on the reigns of Richard and John have updated the earlier research. Historian David Carpenter has carried out further studies on
20114-446: The mid-1160s. Meanwhile, Henry had begun to alter his policy of indirect rule in Brittany and started to exert more direct control. In 1164 he intervened to seize lands along the border of Brittany and Normandy and in 1166 invaded Brittany to punish the local barons. Henry then forced Conan III to abdicate as duke and to give Brittany to his daughter Constance, who was handed over and betrothed to Henry's son Geoffrey. This arrangement
20292-460: The middle of the 12th century, England had many different ecclesiastical and civil law courts, with overlapping jurisdictions resulting from the interaction of diverse legal traditions. Henry greatly expanded the role of royal justice in England, producing a more coherent legal system, summarised at the end of his reign in the Treatise of Glanvill , an early legal handbook. Despite these reforms it
20470-486: The most prominent of these were Geoffrey (later Archbishop of York ) and William (later Earl of Salisbury ). Henry was expected to provide for the future of his legitimate children by granting lands to his sons and marrying his daughters well. His family was divided by rivalries and violent hostilities, more so than many other royal families of the day, in particular the relatively cohesive French Capetians . Various suggestions, from their inherited family genetics to
20648-419: The next few years, leaving Henry's position secure. Nonetheless, Henry inherited a difficult situation in England, as the kingdom had suffered extensively during the civil war. In many parts of the country the fighting had caused serious devastation, although some other areas remained largely unaffected. Numerous " adulterine ", or unauthorised, castles had been built as bases for local lords. The authority of
20826-412: The opportunity to speak together privately about a potential end to the war; conveniently for Henry, Stephen's son Eustace fell ill and died shortly afterwards. This removed the most obvious other claimant to the throne, as while Stephen had another son, William, he was only a second son and appeared unenthusiastic about making a plausible claim on the throne. Fighting continued after Wallingford, but in
21004-454: The past would have that documentation accepted, thus helping to clear out some of the backlogged debts on the books. Yet more extraneous details were removed from the Pipe rolls under the Cowick Ordinance of June 1323, along with further ordinances in 1324 and 1326, all of which were done during the time that Walter de Stapledon held the office of Treasurer. Prior to this reform the rolls had become clogged with debts, and clauses 2 through 8 of
21182-436: The pipe. The Pipe rolls are the records of the audits of the sheriffs ' accounts, usually conducted at Michaelmas by the Exchequer , or English treasury. Until the chancery records began in the reign of King John of England , they were the only continuous set of records kept by the English government. They are not a complete record of government and royal finances, however, as they do not record all sources of income, only
21360-407: The poor. Henry had a passionate desire to rebuild his control of the territories that his grandfather Henry I had once governed. He took back territories, regained estates and re-established influence over the smaller lords that had once provided what the historian John Gillingham describes as a "protective ring" around his core territories. He was probably the first king of England to use
21538-540: The pre-civil war borders. Henry had a difficult relationship with Louis VII of France throughout the 1150s. The two men had already clashed over Henry's succession to Normandy and the remarriage of Eleanor, and the relationship was not repaired. Louis invariably attempted to take the moral high ground in respect to Henry, capitalising on his own reputation as a crusader and circulating malicious rumours about his rival's ungovernable temper. Henry had greater resources than Louis, particularly after taking England, and Louis
21716-406: The rebel barons in Brittany, where feelings about his seizure of the duchy were still running high. As the decade progressed, Henry increasingly desired to resolve the question of the inheritance. He decided that he would divide his empire after his death, with Young Henry receiving England and Normandy, Richard being given the Duchy of Aquitaine, and Geoffrey acquiring Brittany. This would require
21894-498: The records probably date to the Anglo-Saxon period, as the historian Pauline Stafford argues that financial records must have been kept in some form during the reigns of Cnut (reigned 1016–1035), Æthelred II (reigned 978–1016), and Edgar the Peaceable (reigned 959–975). There is a reference to the king's "rolls" in a writ from 1110, which purports to be a grant from Henry I to the abbot of Westminster of ten shillings , but
22072-412: The reforms. In the aftermath of the disorders of Stephen's reign in England there were many legal cases concerning land to be resolved: many religious houses had lost land during the conflict, while in other cases owners and heirs had been dispossessed of their property by local barons, which in some cases had since been sold or given to new owners. Henry relied on traditional, local courts — such as
22250-425: The regions carried on with the business of government. Nonetheless, many of the functions of government centred on Henry himself, and he was often surrounded by petitioners requesting decisions or favours. From time to time, Henry's royal court became a magnum concilium , a great council, which was sometimes used to take major decisions, but the term was loosely applied whenever many barons and bishops attended
22428-426: The reign of his successor, King Stephen (reigned 1135–1154). But by the second year of King Henry II's reign, or 1155, they once more survive. It is unclear whether Pipe rolls were actually created during Stephen's reign and did not survive, or whether the conditions during Stephen's reign precluded the creation of Pipe rolls. Continuously from the early years of King Henry II's reign, most Pipe rolls survive, with only
22606-486: The resemblance of the table to a chess board (French: échiquier ) as it was covered by a black cloth bearing green stripes of about the breadth of a human hand in a chequer-pattern . The spaces represented pounds, shillings and pence. The term Exchequer then came to refer to the twice-yearly meetings held at Easter and Michaelmas , at which government financial business was transacted and an audit held of sheriffs ' returns. The operation of an exchequer in Normandy
22784-441: The restoration of royal finances in England, reviving Henry I's financial processes and institutions and attempting to improve the quality of the royal accounting. Revenue from the demesne formed the bulk of Henry's income in England during much of his reign, although taxes were relied upon heavily in the first 11 years. Aided by the capable Richard FitzNeal , he reformed the currency in 1158, putting his name on English coins for
22962-514: The resulting document would be rolled into a tight roll resembling a pipe. They were not formed into one long continuous roll, as the Patent Rolls were, however. The sheets for each county have a heading at the top giving the name of the county the account is for, in Latin. If more than one sheet was required for a county, the county name would be amended on secondary sheets to indicate the order
23140-772: The rightful heir to the duchy and launching a military campaign to remove Henry from the province. Geoffrey advised Henry to come to terms with Louis and peace was made between them in August 1151 after mediation by Bernard of Clairvaux . Under the settlement Henry did homage to Louis for Normandy, accepting Louis as his feudal lord, and gave him the disputed lands of the Norman Vexin ; in return, Louis recognised him as duke. Geoffrey died in September 1151, and Henry postponed his plans to return to England, as he first needed to ensure that his succession, particularly in Anjou,
23318-442: The rights of widows respectively. In making these reforms Henry both challenged the traditional rights of barons in dispensing justice and reinforced key feudal principles, but over time they greatly increased royal power in England. Henry's relationship with the Church varied considerably across his lands and over time: as with other aspects of his rule, there was no attempt to form a common ecclesiastical policy. Insofar as he had
23496-578: The role of the royal courts. He cracked down on crime, seizing the belongings of thieves and fugitives, and travelling justices were dispatched to the north and the Midlands. After 1166 Henry's exchequer court in Westminster, which had previously only heard cases connected with royal revenues, began to take wider civil cases on behalf of the King. The reforms continued and Henry created the General Eyre , probably in 1176, which involved dispatching
23674-447: The roll along with those from the reign of Henry II, looking for the exemptions and grants made by both kings to various royal favourites. Christelow has also studied the 1130 roll to see what light it can shine on Henry I's judicial system, as well as on the growth of royal courts during Henry's reign. The historian C. Warren Hollister used the 1130 Pipe roll to study the rewards of royal service during Henry's reign. The Pipe rolls from
23852-404: The roll for 1230. The rolls for 1241 were published in 1918 by Yale University Press . Various county record societies have published parts of the rolls for various years that relate to their particular county. The Society's earliest volumes (to 1900) were printed in " record type ", designed to produce a near- facsimile of the original manuscript, including its scribal abbreviations . This policy
24030-500: The roll of 1130 is from the forests, under the Forest Law , which was the royal law covering the restrictions imposed on non-royals hunting in areas of the country declared royal forest . However, royal income from taxation that was not annually assessed was not usually recorded in the Pipe rolls, nor were his receipts from lands outside England. Some payments went directly to the king's household, and because they did not pass through
24208-410: The rolled-up parchments on which the records were originally written. There is no evidence to support the theory that they were named pipes for the fact that they "piped" the money into the Treasury, nor for the claim that they got their name from resembling a wine cask, or pipe of wine. They were occasionally referred to as the roll of the treasury, or the great roll of accounts, and the great roll of
24386-471: The rolls use an accounting system , it is not one that would be familiar to modern accountants; for instance until the end of the 12th century, no record was made of the total amount taken in by the sheriff of each shire . In their early form, they record all debts owed to the Crown , whether from feudal dues or from other sources. Given that many debts to the king were allowed to be paid off in instalments, it
24564-430: The rolls, a process that had also been attempted in 1270. The attempt in 1270 had marked old debts with a "d" and stipulated that they were not to be re-entered into future Pipe rolls unless they were paid off. But this had not worked, and so in 1284 old debts were to be recorded on a separate roll. The statutes in 1284 also laid out a procedure where debtors whose documentation of payment of debt that hadn't been accepted in
24742-437: The royal forest law had collapsed in large parts of the country. The King's income had declined seriously and royal control over the coin mints remained limited. Henry presented himself as the legitimate heir to Henry I and began rebuilding the kingdom in his image. Although Stephen had tried to continue Henry I's method of government during his reign, the younger Henry's new government characterised those nineteen years as
24920-437: The royal records, they do not show profits or losses as a sum total. Most private rolls resembling the Pipe rolls are from monasteries. The household rolls, which closely resemble the Pipe rolls, for Eleanor of England , wife of Simon de Montfort , survive for part of the year 1265. A number of historians have studied the surviving Pipe rolls, using them as the basis for study of financial and governmental history, especially of
25098-494: The sheets were in. Sometimes they are referred to, in Latin , as magnus rotulus pipae . Several sources for the actual idea of making the rolls as rolls have been suggested, including Jews, Adelard of Bath , who was a royal clerk and was familiar with Arabic practices of using rolls, or the royal clerk Thurkil, who studied under a mathematician who may have been from Sicily. The rolls were written in Latin until 1733, except for
25276-563: The siege, arriving with a small army and placing Stephen's besieging forces under siege themselves. Upon news of this, Stephen returned with a large army, and the two sides confronted each other across the River Thames at Wallingford in July. By this point in the war, the barons on both sides were eager to avoid an open battle, so members of the clergy brokered a truce , to the annoyance of both Henry and Stephen. Henry and Stephen took
25454-595: The sister of the Counts of Blois and Champagne. Louis also betrothed daughters by Eleanor to Adèle's brothers Theobald V, Count of Blois, and Henry I, Count of Champagne. This represented an aggressive containment strategy towards Henry rather than the agreed rapprochement and caused Theobald to abandon his alliance with Henry. Henry, who had custody of both Young Henry and Margaret, reacted angrily, and in November he bullied several papal legates into marrying them—despite
25632-625: The sole source for historical facts such as William Shakespeare 's residence in the parish of St Helen's Bishopsgate and in Southwark . The earliest Pipe rolls were published by the Record Commission in 1833 (the isolated roll of 1130) and the Public Record Office in 1844 (the rolls for 1155–58). The Commission's edition of the 1130 roll has now been superseded by a new edition (with English translation) published by
25810-534: The son of a count. He opposed the holding of tournaments , probably because of the security risk that such gatherings of armed knights posed in peacetime. The Angevin Empire and court were, as Gillingham describes it, "a family firm". His mother, Matilda, played an important role in his early life and exercised influence for many years later. Henry's relationship with his wife Eleanor was complex: Henry trusted Eleanor to manage England for several years after 1154 and
25988-421: The south-west, the Midlands and much of the north of England. Meanwhile, Henry was attempting to act the part of a legitimate king, witnessing marriages and settlements and holding court in a regal fashion. Stephen amassed troops over the following summer to renew the siege of Wallingford Castle in a final attempt to take the stronghold. The fall of Wallingford seemed imminent and Henry marched south to relieve
26166-466: The surrounding county, seizing castles and taking the province of Quercy . The episode proved to be a long-running point of dispute between the two kings and the chronicler William of Newburgh called the ensuing conflict with Toulouse a "forty years' war". In the aftermath of the Toulouse episode, Louis made an attempt to repair relations with Henry through an 1160 peace treaty. This promised Henry
26344-527: The throne, in exchange for promises of the security of his lands; key royal castles would be held on Henry's behalf by guarantors whilst Stephen would have access to Henry's castles, and the numerous foreign mercenaries would be demobilised and sent home. Henry and Stephen sealed the treaty with a kiss of peace in the cathedral. In early 1154 Stephen became more active. He attempted to exert his authority and started demolishing unauthorised castles. The peace remained precarious, and Stephen's son William remained
26522-465: The throne. After her father's death in 1135, Matilda hoped to claim the English throne, but instead, Stephen was crowned king and recognised as the Duke of Normandy, resulting in a civil war between their rival supporters. Geoffrey took advantage of the confusion to attack the Duchy of Normandy but played no direct role in the English conflict, leaving this to Matilda and her powerful illegitimate half-brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester . The war, termed
26700-469: The treasuries; and a team of royal officials called "the chamber" who followed the King's travels, spending money as necessary and collecting revenues along the way. The long civil war had caused considerable disruption to this system and calculations based on incomplete pipe rolls suggest that royal income fell by 46 per cent between 1129–30 and 1155–56. A new coin, called the Awbridge silver penny ,
26878-480: The two exchequers' foundings remains unknown. It is unknown exactly when the Exchequer was established, but the earliest mention appears in a royal writ of 1110 during the reign of King Henry I . The oldest surviving Pipe Roll is that of 1130 (already in mature form, indicating that such records existed for some time beforehand, though they do not survive). Pipe Rolls form a mostly continuous record of royal revenues and taxation; however, not all revenue went into
27056-660: The two rulers fought, over several decades, what has been termed a " cold war ". Henry expanded his empire at Louis's expense, taking Brittany and pushing east into central France and south into Toulouse ; despite numerous peace conferences and treaties, no lasting agreement was reached. Henry and Eleanor had eight children. Three of their sons would rule as king, though Henry the Young King only as co-ruler rather than sole monarch, as he predeceased his father. As his sons grew up, Henry struggled to find ways to satisfy their desires for land and immediate power, and tensions rose over
27234-437: The unauthorised castles from the war continued. Efforts were made to restore the system of royal justice and the royal finances. Henry also invested heavily in the construction and renovation of prestigious new royal buildings. The King of Scotland and local Welsh rulers had taken advantage of the long civil war in England to seize disputed lands; Henry set about reversing these losses. In 1157 pressure from Henry resulted in
27412-490: The writ may be a forgery, or parts of it may be genuine with some interpolations. The writ only exists in a copy in a later cartulary , and the Abbey of Westminster is also known to have forged a number of other writs or charters, so the writ is not a solid source for royal rolls being kept as early as 1110. After the one surviving roll from Henry I's reign, no further Pipe rolls survived from his reign, nor are any preserved from
27590-444: The years went by he put increasing energy into judicial and administrative affairs and became more cautious, but throughout his life, he was energetic and frequently impulsive. Despite his surges of anger, he was not normally fiery or overbearing; he was witty in conversation and eloquent in an argument with an intellectual bent of mind and an astonishing memory, and much preferred the solitude of hunting or retiring to his chamber with
27768-514: The young Malcolm IV of Scotland returning the lands in the north of England he had taken during the war; Henry promptly began to refortify the northern frontier. Restoring Anglo-Norman supremacy in Wales proved harder, and Henry had to fight two campaigns in north and south Wales in 1157 and 1158 before the Welsh princes Owain Gwynedd and Rhys ap Gruffydd submitted to his rule, agreeing to
27946-644: Was abandoned in 1903, and all volumes since have been published in normal type with abbreviations extended. The Pipe Roll Society has also published numerous related texts, including the Chancellor's Roll for 1196 and the Norman Pipe Rolls of Henry II. Rolls for the Irish Exchequer and the Norman Exchequer have also been published. Exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom , His Majesty's Exchequer , or just
28124-693: Was abolished under the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 and was merged, along with the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) , the Court of Chancery (Ireland) and the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) , into the new High Court of Justice in Ireland (now replaced by the High Court ). The Central Fund , the Republic of Ireland's equivalent of the UK's Consolidated Fund, is colloquially called
28302-414: Was also infamous for his piercing stare, bullying, bursts of temper, and, on occasion, his sullen refusal to speak at all. Some of these outbursts may have been theatrical and for effect. Henry was said to have understood a wide range of languages, including English, but spoke only Latin and French. In his youth Henry enjoyed active participation in warfare, hunting and other adventurous pursuits; as
28480-419: Was deposed in 1156 by Henry's brother, Geoffrey, possibly with Henry's support. When Geoffrey died in 1158, Conan attempted to reclaim Nantes but was opposed by Henry who annexed it for himself. Louis took no action to intervene as Henry steadily increased his power in Brittany. Henry hoped to take a similar approach to regaining control of Toulouse in southern France. Toulouse, while traditionally tied to
28658-412: Was eleven years his senior, eight weeks later on 18 May. The marriage instantly revived Henry's tensions with Louis: it was considered an insult and ran counter to feudal practice because Eleanor, a holder of a French fiefdom , married without Louis's consent, and the marriage between Henry and Eleanor was just as consanguineous as that of her and Louis. Henry's acquisition of Aquitaine also threatened
28836-510: Was enacted whereby the Exchequer would maintain the realm's prototypes for the yard and pound . These nominal standards were, however, only infrequently enforced on the localities around the kingdom. From the late 1190s to the expulsion of the Jews in 1290, there was a separate division for taxation of Jews and the law-cases arising between Jews and Christians, called Exchequer of the Jews (Latin: Scaccarium Judaeorum ). Through most of
29014-482: Was far less dynamic in resisting Angevin power than he had been earlier in his reign. The disputes between the two drew in other powers across the region, including Thierry, Count of Flanders , who signed a military alliance with Henry, albeit with a clause that prevented the count from being forced to fight against Louis, his feudal lord. Further south, Theobald V, Count of Blois , an enemy of Louis, became another early ally of Henry. The resulting military tensions and
29192-447: Was for hunting, for which the court became famous. Henry had several preferred royal hunting lodges and apartments across his lands and invested heavily in his royal castles, both for their practical utility as fortresses, and as symbols of royal power and prestige. The court was relatively formal in its style and language, possibly because Henry was attempting to compensate for his own sudden rise to power and relatively humble origins as
29370-466: Was in charge of their creation, the Pipe Office, was abolished. They were created by taking the shire, or other governmental districts, accounts and writing them on two strips of parchment, usually about 14 inches (36 cm) wide. The two pieces were then attached end to end to form one long sheet. Then, the various sheets from all the shires were piled together and affixed together at the top, and
29548-546: Was increasingly assumed by judges of the Court of Session . By the Exchequer Court (Scotland) Act 1856 ( 19 & 20 Vict. c. 56), the Exchequer became a part of the Court of Session. A lord ordinary acts as a judge in Exchequer causes. The English forms of process ceased to be used in 1947. The Exchequer of Ireland developed in 1210 when King John of England reorganized the governance of his Lordship of Ireland and brought it more in line with English law. It consisted of
29726-488: Was increasingly important to rulers during the 12th century to pay mercenary forces and to build stone castles, both vital to successful military campaigns. Henry inherited a difficult situation in England in 1154. Henry I had established a system of royal finances that depended upon three key institutions: a central royal treasury in London, supported by treasuries in key castles; the exchequer that accounted for payments to
29904-465: Was instructed by a magister , Master Matthew; Robert's household was known for its education and learning. The canons of St Augustine's in Bristol also helped in Henry's education, and he remembered them with affection in later years. Henry returned to Anjou in either 1143 or 1144, resuming his education under William of Conches , another famous academic. Henry returned to England in 1147, at
30082-415: Was issued under Stephen in 1153 to try to stabilise the English currency after the war; it was effective in replacing the previously circulating currency. Less is known about how financial affairs were managed in Henry's Continental possessions, but a very similar system operated in Normandy, and a comparable system probably operated in both Anjou and Aquitaine. On taking power Henry gave a high priority to
30260-605: Was later called the Angevin Empire , and also held power over Scotland and the Duchy of Brittany . Henry became politically and militarily involved by the age of fourteen in the efforts of his mother, Matilda (daughter of Henry I of England ), to claim the English throne, at that time held by Matilda's cousin Stephen of Blois . Henry's father, Geoffrey , made him Duke of Normandy in 1150, and upon Geoffrey's death in 1151, Henry inherited Anjou, Maine and Touraine . His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine brought him control of
30438-887: Was later content for her to govern Aquitaine. Indeed, Eleanor was believed to have influence over Henry during much of their marriage. Ultimately, their relationship disintegrated. Chroniclers and historians have speculated on what ultimately caused Eleanor to abandon Henry to support her older sons in the Revolt of 1173–1174 . Probable explanations include his persistent interference in Aquitaine; Henry's, rather than Eleanor's, acceptance of homage from Raymond of Toulouse in 1173; and his harsh temper. Henry had eight legitimate children by Eleanor: five sons, William , Young Henry, Richard , Geoffrey and John ; and three daughters, Matilda , Eleanor and Joan . He had several long-term mistresses, including Annabel de Balliol and Rosamund Clifford , and also several illegitimate children. Amongst
30616-687: Was quite unusual under medieval law as Conan might have had sons who could have legitimately inherited the duchy. Elsewhere in France, Henry attempted to seize the Auvergne , much to the anger of the French king. Further south, Henry continued to apply pressure on Raymond of Toulouse. He campaigned there personally in 1161 and sent his allies Alfonso II of Aragon and the Archbishop of Bordeaux against Raymond in 1164. In 1165, Raymond divorced Louis's sister and possibly pursued an alliance with Henry instead. These growing tensions between Henry and Louis finally spilled over into open war in 1167, triggered by
30794-424: Was said by chroniclers to be good-looking, red-haired, freckled, with a large head. He had a short, stocky body and was bow-legged from riding. Often he was scruffily dressed. His preference for the short Angevin cloak earned him the nickname "Curtmantle". Henry was neither as reserved as his mother nor as charming as his father, but he was famous for his energy and drive. He was ruthless but not vindictive. He
30972-466: Was secure. At around this time, he was also probably secretly planning his marriage to Eleanor , then still the wife of Louis. Eleanor was the Duchess of Aquitaine , a land in the south of France, and was considered beautiful, lively and controversial, but had not borne Louis any sons. Louis had the marriage annulled on the grounds of consanguinity , and the nineteen year old Henry married Eleanor, who
31150-520: Was so bad in London that it could not borrow, which led to the foundation of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England . The records of the Exchequer were kept in the Pell Office , adjacent to Westminster Hall , until the 19th century. The office was named after the skins (then "pells" or pelts) from which the rolls were made. In the 19th century, a number of reforms reduced the role of
31328-411: Was the object of derision in the 1194 Pipe roll. Certain areas did not report their income to the Exchequer, so they do not usually appear in the Pipe rolls, unless the lands were in the king's custody through a vacancy. These included the palatinates of Durham and Chester . The county of Cornwall also did not usually appear in the Pipe rolls, but it was not a palatinate. Another problem with using
31506-451: Was then crowned alongside Eleanor at Westminster Abbey on 19 December. At the coronation Henry wore one of the imperial crowns his mother brought back from Germany; they had once belonged to Emperor Henry V. The royal court was gathered in April 1155, where the barons swore fealty to the King and his sons. Several potential rivals still existed, including Stephen's son William and Henry's brothers Geoffrey and William , but they all died in
31684-527: Was very effective at finding and keeping competent officials, including within the Church, a key part of royal administration in the 12th century. Royal patronage within the Church provided an effective route to advancement under Henry, and most of his preferred clerics eventually became bishops and archbishops. By contrast, the number of earldoms in England shrank considerably, removing the potential for advancement for many traditional barons. Henry could also show his ira et malevolentia – "anger and ill-will" –
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