Old Records, New Technology: The Records of the Kings Bench from the 15th Century

In the preface to his highly successful biography of Edward I Marc Morris stated that ‘people tend to presume that there can’t be very much [sources], and imagine that I spend my days poking around in castles, looking for previously undiscovered scraps of parchment.’ The reality is that late medieval England has left a wealth of unpublished archival material that has, and will continue to, form the basis of rigorous research. Technological developments during the past twenty years have made it easier than ever to analyse large quantities of records in a rigours fashion. Databases are now part-and-parcel of many history PhD projects. However, new possibilities create new problems. Some historians have been sceptical about the use of medieval records for the complication of comparative statistics citing their incomplete nature and regional variations in levels of law enforcement. This paper shall discuss the problems and potential associated with such records, specifically the records of the King’s Bench during the fifteenth century. It will address issues such as regarding the recording of crime and the problems associated with incomplete source material. The paper will show how modern technology can inform historical research and highlight new areas for research.