Data from the Rolls of the Justices of Gaol Delivery
Barbara Hanawalt (October, 2010 version)
Barbara Hanawalt is the author of a number of studies of crime, criminal justice, and punishment in medieval England. Several of her works analyze the data she gathered on violent crime and property crime from the rolls of the justices of gaol delivery of eight English counties: Essex, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Surrey, and Yorkshire. The originals are located in the National Archives (Public Record Office in Kew in the United Kingdom). The classification when Professor Hanawalt read these records in 1966-1968 and in 1974 was Justice Itinerate 3 (JI3). The classification is now Just. 3. Please consult the website for the National Archives for more information. An excellent Index to the rolls is in the PRO but is not published. It was done by C. A. F. Meekings.
In addition, Professor Hanawalt gathered data from some of the Oyer and Terminer sessions (JI 1) or Trailbaston sessions. These sessions were an experiment to indict and try criminals in counties where justice was being flouted. Some of the gaol delivery cases also appear in King's Bench (KB) sessions. When the justices of King's Bench were in a county, they superseded the gaol delivery sessions. The coroners' rolls are JI 2 (formerly Just. 2). The coroners were charged with investigating sudden deaths (homicide, accidents, suicides). A good guide to these is R. F. Hunnisett, The Medieval Coroner.
The data are from the following studies
- Hanawalt, Barbara A. (1970) "A Study of Crime in Norfolk, Northamptonshire, and Yorkshire, 1300-1348." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.
- Hanawalt, Barbara A. (1979) Crime and Conflict in English Communities, 1300-1348. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
The data are described in the codebook and in the studies from which the data are drawn. The data are currently available in JPEG files made from scans of Professor Hanawalt's original notes.
Codebook
Spreadsheets of English Homicide Data
-
Bedfordshire Coroner Rolls, 1265-1275 and 1300-1305 from Hunnisett.XLS
-
Herefordshire homicide victim data 1300-1355 from Hanawalt.XLS
English Population Estimates and Some Homicide Rate Estimates, compiled by Randolph Roth
- Homicide Rates in Medieval England, by Randolph Roth.docx
- Homicide Rates in Bedfordshire, by Randolph Roth.docx
- English County and Borough Populations, 1200-1589, from estimates by Clark and Russell.XLS
- Comparison of Russell's and Givens' population estimates for medieval England.xlsx
- Estimates of County and Borough Populations in England, 1200-1589.docx
NOTE: The following data exist as numerous jpeg images for each of the locations. Each image file is of a separate sheet containing roughly 30 cases, hand-entered in pen or pencil in a spreadsheet format. They are collected in various numbers of zip files. The individual sheets are numbered, but note that the numbering is not continuous across locations and that some sheets are numbered "a," "b," "c," etc. Thus there may be consecutive sheets numbered, for example, "56" and "56a."
Original notes on Gaol Delivery Rolls (Zipped collections of JPEG files)
- Bedfordshire
- Essex
- Essex Trail Baston
- Herefordshire
- Northamptonshire
- northamptonshire_sheets_700_to_712a.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_713_to_726.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_727_to_739.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_740_to_751.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_751a_to_764.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_765_to_776.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_777_to_788.zip
- northamptonshire_sheets_789_to_798.zip
- northampton_kings_bench_plus_oyer_and_terminer.zip
- Norwich and Norfolk
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_001_to_014.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_015_to_027.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_028_to_042.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_043_to_058.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_059_to_074.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_075_to_089.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_090_to_104.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_105_to_119.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_120_to_134.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_135_to_149.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_150_to_164.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_165_to_179.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_180_to_194.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_195_to_209.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_210_to_224.zip
norwich_and_norwich_castle_sheets_225_to_232.zip
norwich_castle_gaol_deliveries.zip
norwich_castle_kingsbench_and_norfolk.zip
- Somerset and Bristol
- Surry
- York
York_sheets_300_to_315.zip
York_sheets_316_to_332.zip
York_sheets_333_to_348.zip
York_sheets_349_to_367.zip
York_sheets_368_to_386.zip
York_sheets_387_to_403.zip
York_sheets_404_to_420.zip
York_sheets_421_to_438.zip
York_sheets_439_to_455.zip
York_sheets_456_to_470.zip
York_sheets_471_to_486.zip
York_sheets_487_to_502.zip
York_sheets_503_to_514a.zip
York_sheets_515_to_532.zip
York_sheets_533_to_550.zip
York_sheets_551_to_568.zip
York_sheets_569_to_587.zip
York_sheets_588_to_605.zip
York_sheets_606_to_623.zip
York_sheets_624_to_633.zip
York_sheets_634_to_643.zip
Original notes on Coroners' Rolls (Zipped collections of JPEG files)
- Bedfordshire Coroner's Rolls
- Cambridgeshire
- Lincolnshire
- London
- Northamptonshire
- Oxford City
- Wiltshire
[doc] - Some links on this page are to Microsoft .doc files requiring the use of Microsoft Word. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please contact cjrc@osu.edu.
[jpg] - Some links on this page are to .jpg files requiring the use of an image viewer program. If you need these files in a more accessible format, please contact cjrc@osu.edu.