2. Forms of Entries

The production of calendars of the entries contained in the Gascon Rolls presented some problems to the editors of those records. The entries, as with all chancery records, are rather formulaic, and set out in the following sequence:

However, although for ease of calendaring it would have made sense to calendar the entry as it was entered on to the roll, it was considered that this had some major shortcomings. Principally following this form would have meant that the actual nature of the document would have come last, and any researcher would have to read the entire entry through in its entirety to ascertain what it was.

The order of the entry as calendared was an invertion of the original order, so that:

Although such types of entries as grants needed rather less intervention than this, the majority of entries did require this invertion. Most entries are letters patent, but this is taken as assumed for most entries, and only specified when the original texts specified this.

The majority of entries within most of the rolls are orders to various officials in the duchy of Aquitaine, usually the seneschal of Gascony and constable of Bordeaux, the principal royal officials in the duchy for much of our period. To describe the majority of entries as orders would have been less than helpful to researchers, so that every effort has been made to describe entries in more specific terms, examples of which follow.