The Hundred & the Hundred Rolls: An Outline of Local Government in Medieval England

Originally published in 1930, this book outlines the system of local government at work in the reign of Edward I and provides a guide to the study of the 3 volumes of the Rotuli Hundredorum and Placita Quo Warranto which were printed early in the nineteenth century. The Hundreds were the districts of England into which every county was subdivided. They varied in size and shape but formed an indispensable part of the system of local government. For taxation, justice, police, law and military defence, the Hundred came into play. The Hundred Rolls were a complete statement as to the administration of the counties of England and the Hundred Rolls of 1274-75 are the starting point of this book. In interpreting them one can understand not only the England of Edward I, but the whole system of local government of the early Middle Ages in England.

Helen Cam (1885-1968) was an English historian of the Middle Ages and the first woman to be appointed a tenured professor at Harvard University.