Manuscript Itinerary of Henry III of England

Manuscript itinerary showing the geographical whereabouts of Henry III, where known, for all dates from 1216 to 1272. The manuscript is not attributed, but an entry from a sale catalogue suggests that it was probably created by Charles Trice Martin, based on the itinerary made by Theodore Craib from the patent, close, fine and liberate rolls in the Public Record Office.

Charles Trice Martin, the probable author of this manuscript, was born in Cheltenham on 27 December 1841. He was appointed a junior clerk in the Public Record Office in November 1861 after graduating from University College, London. In 1873 he was promoted to senior clerk and, fifteen years later, to assistant keeper. He retired from the Public Record Office after forty-five years' service in 1906, as the most senior assistant keeper. During his years as an archivist, Charles Trice Martin worked on numerous publications of calendars and transcripts of record series. He served as secretary of the Pipe Roll Society, and was a member of the Society of Antiquaries from 1874, later being elected a Fellow. His publication The record interpreter (1892) remains an essential reference work for archivists and students of medieval records. He died on 13 May 1914. Source: David Iredale, introduction to The record interpreter.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a number of royal itineraries were published, including an itinerary of Henry III by Robert Eyton in 1878, one of Henry I by William Farrer in 1919, and of Edward I by Theodore Craib in 1902.

The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

Purchased by the John Rylands Library from G. Harding in July 1914.

Description compiled by Henry Sullivan, project archivist, Elizabeth Gow, Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts and Archives, and John Hodgson, Keeper of Manuscripts and Archives, with reference to Charles Trice Martin, The record interpreter, facsimile of second edition with an introduction by David Iredale (Chichester: Phillimore, 1982).

Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1928 (English MS 123).