»>' The English Historical Review NO. CXLIIL— JULY 1921 * The Dating of the Early Pipe Rolls NOW that the Pipe Roll Society proposes to complete, by a special effort, the printing of the rolls belonging to the reign of Henry II, it seems desirable to explain to those who are not members how the matter stands. Indeed, the importance of publishing the only roll of the reign which is not yet in print can only be understood when it is made clear that it will fill the last remaining gap in the series of these rolls. When the Society began its labours, the Record Commission had already printed (in 1844) the Pipe Rolls of 2-4 Henry II and of 1 Richard I. The remaining rolls of the former reign were thirty in number, namely those of 5-34 Henry II. With the exception of the single roll of 34 Henry II, these rolls have all now been printed by the Society. The remaining roll will fill the gap between that of 33 Henry II and that of 1 Richard I. The date, however, of the latter roll has proved, one finds, the subject of some misapprehension. I am not speaking, of course, of the stray topographer or antiquary, but of historical scholars and of official publications ; for, in such quarters, it not unnaturally prolongs the existence of error. The point has a special interest for myself, because, if I should contribute to the roll of 34 Henry II, as to its predecessors, 1 an introduction, I should have to deal with the subject. Happily, one is now able to refer students of the rolls to Mr. Poole's Ford lectures on
- The Exchequer in the Twelfth Century '. 2 Mr. Poole, alive
to the risk of confusion between the regnal and the fiscal year, has there devoted special care to making the matter clear. The reason why the roll of 1188 (34 Henry II) is immediately succeeded by that of 1 Richard I is explained by him as follows : 3 The roll was always cited as the roll of a given year of the king's reign. It is essential to understand exactly what this year means. The roll 1 Pipe Rolls 22-33 Hen. II. • » Delivered 1911 ; published 1912. 3 pp. 152-3. VOL. XXXVI.— NO. CXLIII. Y
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