3.2.1 Full Text Records of Parliament

The earliest and most important published records of parliament are the Rotuli Parliamentorum OCLC: 21258175, which cover the period 1272-1503. They were originally published in a six folio volume set in 1767, under the general editorship of John Strachey.

A significant new publication, under the general editorship of Christopher Given-Wilson was published in 2005. This work, which reproduces the rolls in their entirety, is complemented by a full translation of all the texts, and an introduction to every parliament held or summoned, but not held, between 1275 and 1504. Taking the 1767 edition as their starting point, the editors have included additional material previously edited by Maitland in Memoranda de Parliamento, 1305; by Richardson and Sayles in Rotuli Parliamentorum Angliae Hactenus Inediti; and by Cole in Documents Illustrative of English History in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries; as well as a number of rolls which have not been previously edited anywhere. It is also available online at http://bibpurl.oclc.org.libproxy.usc.edu/web/15805

The Rolls should be consulted to see the original authorized text of any statute from 1 Richard III (1483) on. However, at the beginning of Edward III’s reign, as A.R. Myers points out, “the records of parliament were still unorganised…(A)fter 1339 they improve and on the whole become increasingly full and informative about the proceedings until the end of the century. In the fifteenth century they gradually become more formal until… they become little more than records of legislation. So pronounced was this trend that the statute rolls exist only down to 1468, and the printed collection, the Statutes of the Realm, vols I and II (Record Commn, 1810,1916) had to fill the gap with transcripts of the statutes amongst the Exchequer records and elsewhere.”(41) For a detailed listing of early publications on parliament, see Maxwell.(42)

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41. Douglas, David C., Dorothy Whitelock, George W. Greenaway, Harry Rothwell, A. R. Myers, and C. H. Williams, eds. English Historical Documents 10 Vols. in 11. New York: Oxford University Press, 1953-1977. v.4 (1327-1485) ed. by Alec R. Myers, at p.393
42. Maxwell, William Harold, and Leslie F. Maxwell , comps. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. 8 Vols. 2nd ed. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1955- at pp.127-149


3.2.1.1 Anglo Saxon
3.2.1.2 William (William)
3.2.1.3 Henry I (Hen 1)
3.2.1.4 Stephen (Stephen)
3.2.1.5 Henry II (Hen 2)
3.2.1.6 Richard I (Ric 1)
3.2.1.7 John (John)
3.2.1.8 Henry III (Hen 3)
3.2.1.9 Edward I (Edw 1)
3.2.1.10 Edward II (Edw 2)
3.2.1.11 Edward III (Edw 3)
3.2.1.12 Richard II (Ric 2)
3.2.1.13 Henry IV (Hen 4)
3.2.1.14 Henry V (Hen 5)
3.2.1.15 Henry VI (Hen 6)
3.2.1.16 Edward IV (Edw 4)
3.2.1.17 Edward V (Edw 5)
3.2.1.18 Richard III (Ric 3)
3.2.1.19 Henry VII (Hen 7)
3.2.1.20 Henry VIII (Hen 8)