Medieval Account Rolls and Documents, 13th - 15th Centuries

Two Day Course: 5-6 June 2024

This course will introduce students to manorial accounting documents, both during and after the period of direct management of manorial demesnes. We will examine accounts produced by both secular and monastic owners, study the charge and discharge method of accounting, and look in detail at each of the standard sections into which manorial account rolls are divided, including grange and stock accounts. The course will look at crop yields, and briefly study the use that has been made of them by economic and climate historians. 

In the course of the week students will gain a knowledge of the nature and scope of medieval accounting practice, what can be expected to be found in the standard sections of a manorial account, and acquire the skills to read and interpret the records themselves. 

Almost all the materials are in Latin and would be distributed to students well in advance of the course.