Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Accounts of the Revenue of the Earldom of Cornwall

E 119

1296-1297

This series consists of a large parchment roll of accounts for the earldom of Cornwall for the year Michaelmas 1296 to Michaelmas 1297.

The lands and liberties for which the stewards of Edmund, earl of Cornwall, accounted stretched from Devon and Cornwall in the south-west to Knaresborough in Yorkshire, and included lands in the midlands, East Anglia, and the Thames Valley. The roll also includes accounts for the priory of Eye, and for building works at the castle of Wallingford.

The twenty-five rotuli of the roll are bound Exchequer-wise at the head, each of them ending in a triangular tail which, in the manner of contemporary Exchequer enrolled accounts, is indexed to refer to its contents, facilitating rapid use of the composite roll.

Public Record(s)

Latin

1 roll(s)

Topics

Construction industries

On 10 August 1302 the executors of Earl Edmund were ordered to bring to London all the muniments concerning the earl's lands which were in their custody. The relevance of the accounting documents to the royal administration meant that some of the earl's muniments were delivered in the first instance into the king's wardrobe, the mainspring of his financial administration, rather than directly into the Exchequer itself.

Edmund, earl of Cornwall, was the eldest son of Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III, by his second wife Sanchia of Provence. He succeeded to the earldom in 1272 and died without heirs of his body in 1300. The earldom was inherited by his cousin Edward I.

For administrative purposes the lands and revenues of the earldom were divided into nine bailiwicks, each under its own steward, and it is this structure that determines the form of the accounts. The earl's administration was centred on the castle of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire. The other bailiwicks were those of Mere, Wallingford, St Valery, Eye, Oakham, Knaresborough, Devon, and Cornwall.