The Gascon Rolls 1317-1467

For much of the later Middle Ages, south-western France (Aquitaine) was under English rule. Every year from 1273 a ‘Gascon roll’ was drawn up by the English royal administration, recording a wide range of business and mentioning many people and places. The rolls were continued until 1467 even though the area was lost by the English in 1453. The Gascon rolls are to be found today in The National Archives at Kew in C 61.

This site contains calendars of all of the rolls from 1317 (TNA C 61/72) to 1467 ( to C 61/144). (Printed calendars of the rolls before 1317 were published between 1900 and 1950.) Alongside the  online calendars you will find digital images of the rolls provided by The National Archives (TNA). We also provide introductions to each roll as well as scholarly apparatus, indexes and a search engine.

The Project

In 2007 Dr Paul Booth of the University of Liverpool received a British Academy Small Research Grant supporting a pilot project. Formal work began on creating an on-line calendar of the Gascon Rolls in 2008 and was finally completed in 2019.

The first phase of the calendaring (1317-30, some selected files 1330-59) was executed at the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool and Kings College London between 2008 and 2011, under the direction of Dr Malcom Vale, Dr Paul Booth and Dr Paul Spence, with involvement by the Ranulph Higden Society; the second phase at the Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3, under the direction of Prof Françoise Lainé, and Prof Frédéric Boutoulle, concluding the work of the first phase and producing a French interface; the third phase (1360-1467) at the Universities of Southampton and Keele and KCL under the direction of Prof Anne Curry, Dr Philip Morgan and Dr Paul Spence, between 2013 and 2015; and the fourth phase (all files 1330-59) at the University of Southampton, directed by Prof Anne Curry, from 2015 to 2019.

Dr Guilhem Pépin has worked on the calendars across all phases and has also been responsible for identifications of people and places in France. Dr Simon Harris worked on the calendars in phases one to three and has assisted with final completion of introductions, with Dr Jonathan Mackman also providing additional calendaring assistance.

The Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London co-ordinated the technical research development in the first two phases, developing editing tools for the project researchers to use, and in the third phase incorporated geospatial analysis and visualisations. King's Digital Laboratory of KCL, through the collaboration of Dr Paul Caton, has supported the final stage and completion of the project.

Because there was no funding to maintain the site and project at KCL, the University of Southampton agreed, pro bono, to take on the hosting of the site and to solve the various technical issues which had emerged at this stage in a project which had begun as long ago as 2008 and was therefore in danger of relying on obsolete processes.

In this process we are grateful to Christopher Gutteridge of I-Solutions and Isobel Stark of the University Library who have advised Anne Curry throughout the process of transfer from KCL and beyond. The University continues to support the site as part of its initiative to enhance digital conservation.

In order to facilitate searching a new search mechanism was needed drawing on the coding. The indexes tab can also be used for searching. The images of the rolls had also become detached from the files as a result of the difficulties of the transfer and require more work to be reintegrated. We are working to resolve this issue.

Funding

British Academy Small Research Grant  (2007) 

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (2008-11)

The Château Ausone (Saint-Émilion) and Dr Jonathan Sumption (2011-12)

Laboratoire D'excellence (LABEX) - Unité mixte de recherche Ausonius - Université de Bordeaux 3, the Banque numérique du savoir d'Aquitaine (BNSA), financed by the Conseil régional d'Aquitaine and the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles (DRAC) (2012-13)

The Leverhulme Trust (2013-15)

The University of Southampton (2015-ongoing) - When KCL indicated they could no longer maintain the site without further funding, the University of Southampton expressed its willingness to host the site. In the transfer and in remedying technical issues, the expertise of Christopher Gutteridge has been essential. The University continues to support the site as part of its initiative, fostered by the University Library, to enhance digital conservation.

The Friends of the National Archives (2018-19)