Between Magna Carta and the Parliamentary State: The fine rolls of King Henry III 1216--1272: A fine in the reign of King Henry III (1216--1272) was an agreement to pay the king a sum of money for a specified concession.
The rolls on which the fines were recorded provide the earliest systematic evidence of what people and institutions across society wanted from the king and he was prepared to give. They open a large window onto the politics, government, economy and society of England in the hinge period between the establishment of Magna Carta at the start of Henry's reign and the parliamentary state which was emerging at its end. While the originals are in Latin this site presents them in English translation.