Ragman Rolls
The Ragman Rolls are the collection of instruments by which the nobility and gentry of
The derivation of the word ragman is described in several mixed and conflicting accounts. Various guesses as to its meaning and a list of examples of its use for legal instruments both in England and Scotland can be found in the preface to the Bannatyne Club's volume, and in Jamiesons Scottish Dictionary, s.v. Ragman. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines "Ragman Roll" as follows:
originally meant the "Statute of Rageman" (De Ragemannis), a legate of Scotland, who compelled all the clergy to give a true account of their benefices, that they might be taxed at Rome accordingly. Subsequently it was applied to the four great rolls of parchment recording the acts of fealty and homage done by the Scotch nobility to Edward I. in 1296; these four rolls consisted of thirty-five pieces sewn together. The originals perished, but a record of them is preserved in the Rolls House, Chancery Lane.[3]
The name ragman roll survives in the colloquial rigmarole, a rambling, incoherent statement.
References
- ^ Foedera, ~i. 542.
- ^ Piece reference C 47/23/3.
- ^ Brewer, E.C. (1 May 2000) [1898]. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Company.
- ^ "Definition of RIGMAROLE". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
- ^ (1884), vol. ii., Introd., p. xxiv; and as to the seals see p. lii and appendix.
- ^ Peter Beal, ed., A Dictionary of English Manuscript Terminology, 1450–2000 (Oxford University Press, 2008 [online 2011]), s.v. "pendent".
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg/40px-Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg.png)
- 1834 transcription of the Ragman Rolls by the Bannatyne Club.
- McAndrew, B. (2000) The sigillography of the Ragman Roll, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 129, pp. 663-752.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ragman Rolls". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 815. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the