The Patent Rolls (Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium, Rotuli litterarum patentium) are primary sources for English history, a record of the King of England's correspondence, starting in 1202.

The record the letters patent, or royal letters issued unsealed, and were started under the Chancellorship of Hubert Walter. This was during the reign of King John of England, and the patent roll was started in order to keep track of letters that had been issued by the government. Instead of keeping the records in a register or book form, they were written on sheets which were stitched together into long rolls to form a roll for each year.^[1]

The series stored in the Tower of London started in 1202, and ran to the late fifteenth century.^[2]

Notes

1. ↑ Saul, Nigel A Companion to Medieval England 1066–1485 Stroud: Tempus 2000 ISBN 0-7524-2969-8 p. 116
2. ↑ CALENDARIUM ROTULORUM PATENTIUM (THE PATENT ROLLS): medievalhistory.net

External links

• Extracts from Calendar of Patent Rolls
• Searchable Patent Rolls Courtesy of Prof. G.R. Boynton and the University of Iowa Libraries.

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