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The 'Chancery Rolls'
Rochester is a wonderful siege to investigate, not only because it was the greatest siege of its age,
but because the evidence we have for it is so good.
Up until the end of the 12th century English kings had been in the
habit of sending out dozens of written orders to their deputies on
a daily basis. King John, however, made an important innovation: he
instructed his clerks to keep a copy of all his letters. Every order
that the king sent out, his chancery clerks would dutifully transcribe
onto large parchment rolls, and these rolls still survive today in
the Public Record Office.
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