Curia Regis Rolls

 

Earliest Judicial Records

 

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Curia Regis Rolls

Curia regis (Latin) refers to the King’s Court. These are the surviving medieval written records of the legal proceedings heard before the King’s Court or Curia Regis, councils of advisers to the medieval kings of Europe, including England.  The curia regis rolls are a source for various information about people and places, particularly involving litigation. These records span the period from Richard I to Henry II. They are some of the earliest continuous judicial records in English history, serving as the foundational texts for the development of English Common Law.

The records primarily detail pleas, the legal cases, arguments, and outcomes brought before royal justices. They also note essoins, excuses for failing to appear in court and concords, formal settlements between parties.

During the period covered by the rolls, the King's Court began dividing into two major central courts. (1) Coram Rege (King's Bench) were cases that literally followed the King as he travelled across the realm, focusing on high-stakes, politically sensitive cases or criminal matters. (2) The Bench (Court of Common Pleas) was a court that remained stationary, usually at Westminster, to process routine, everyday civil litigation between ordinary citizens.

Records are held by the National Archives - Court of Common Pleas and King's Bench, and Justices Itinerant: Early Plea and Essoin Rolls (Reference KB 26).

The National Archives have a guide to eyre courts from 1194 to 1348 in this series and another guide to outlaws.  The surviving rolls span from 1194 (during the reign of Richard I) to 1272 (the end of Henry III's reign). After 1272, the unified Curia Regis split cleanly into separate judicial entities, and the record-keeping transitioned into the Coram Rege (King's Bench) rolls. There is another guide to early plea and essoin rolls.

 

Index to Curia Regis Rolls

Part I: Reigns of Richard I and King John (1196–1216)

Volume 1 (1196–1201): Covers 6 Richard I to 2 John. Digitised on the Internet Archive.

Volume 2 (1201–1203): Covers 3 to 5 John.

Volume 3 (1203–1205): Covers 5 to 7 John.

Volume 4 (1205–1206): Covers 7 to 8 John.

Volume 5 (1207–1209): Covers 8 to 10 John.

Volume 6 (1210–1212): Covers 11 to 14 John.

Volume 7 (1213–1215): Covers 15 to 16 John, plus an appendix mapping early fragments back to 1196.

 

Part II: Reign of Henry III (1219–1250)

Following King John's death and the disruptions of the First Barons' War, systematic record-keeping resumed in 1219:

Volume 8 (1219–1220): Covers 3 to 4 Henry III.

Volume 9 (1220–1221): Covers 4 to 5 Henry III.

Volume 10 (1221–1222): Covers 5 to 6 Henry III.

Volume 11 (1223–1225): Covers 7 to 9 Henry III.

Volume 12 (1225–1226): Covers 9 to 10 Henry III.

Volume 13 (1227–1230): Covers 11 to 14 Henry III.

Volume 14 (1230–1232): Covers 14 to 17 Henry III.

Volumes 15 to 20 (1233–1250): Cover the middle period of Henry III's reign. Transcripts stop here, but the raw unedited rolls continue up to 1272 (the end of his reign).