10
Introduction
When I first began studying the administrative history of England, Professor Lyon’s works provided the crucial grounding in the sources that helped me to navigate the tremendous volume and variety of texts collected at the National Archives in London that make this field so rewarding. But I owe an even deeper debt of gratitude to Professor Lyon for stimulating my very interest in this fascinating field. One of the very first works of medieval history that I read, encouraged by one of Lyon’ former students, was From Fief to Indenture. I am, therefore, doubly grateful for the opportunity to participate in this memorial volume honoring Bryce Lyon.
The focus of the present study is on the production and acquisition by the English government of ammunition for the many thousands of crossbows used by royal troops from the reign of Richard I (1189–1199) to the reign of Edward I (1272–1307).1 Over this long century, the English government devoted a considerable quantity of resources to produce and purchase millions of crossbow quarrels, of a variety of types. The regular employment of crossbowmen in the royal armed forces meant that the government had to have available a steady stream of ammunition supplies. This led kings from Richard to Edward I to maintain ammunition production facilities on a regular footing in peacetime as well as during periods of overt military operations. However, in periods of intense military activity, the royal government found it necessary to supplement production from its own facilities with purchases on the private market.2
1. Regarding the important role of crossbows in English warfare from the late twelfth through the early fourteenth century, see David S. Bachrach, “The Origins of the English Crossbow Industry”, Journal of Medieval Military History 2 (2003), 73–87; idem, “The Crossbow Makers of England, 1204–1272”, Nottingham Medieval Studies 47 (2003), 168–197; idem, “The Royal Arms Makers of England 1199–1216: A Prosopographical Survey”, Medieval Prosopography 25 (2004, appearing 2008), 49–75; idem, “Crossbows for the King: Some Observations on the Development of the Crossbow during the Reigns of King John and Henry III of England, 1204–1272”, Technology and Culture 45 (2004), 102–119; idem, “Crossbows for the King (Part Two): The Crossbow during the Reign of Edward I of England (1272–1307)”, Technology and Culture 47 (2006), 81–90; and idem, “The Crossbow in English Warfare from King John to Edward I, An Administrative Perspective”, Cithara 52 (2012), 3–21. All of these studies are also published in this volume.
2. Due, in no small part, to Professor Lyon’s extensive work and publications, the legal and administrative sources for thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century England are accessible to scholars. Bryce D. Lyon, A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England 2nd edn (New York, 1980), provides an essential introduction to the numerous corpora of administrative documents that shed light on the actions of the royal government from King John onward. Similarly, Professor Lyon’s publication with Mary Lyon of The Wardrobe Book of William de Norwell: 12 July 1338 to 27 May 1340 (Brussels, 1983) and The Wardrobe Book of 1296–1297: A Financial and Logistical Record of Edward I’s 1297 Autumn Campaign in Flanders Against Philip IV of France (Brussels, 2004), have helped illuminate the value of the voluminous Wardrobe accounts for numerous aspects of administrative history, including military affairs. The pipe rolls for the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, and John have all been edited separately by the Pipe Roll Society. Each roll will be cited individually in this chapter. Several of the pipe rolls from Henry III’s reign have been edited by the Pipe Roll Society and will be cited individually. The majority of the pipe rolls for the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, however, have not been edited. These will be cited by their catalogue numbers in the National Archives at Kew Gardens (formerly the Public Record Office). For a valuable introduction to the pipe rolls, see Lyon, A Constitutional History of Medieval England, 257–265. The basic published collections of documents that provide information for this study are Rotuli Litterarum Patentium in Turri Londinensi Asservati, ed. Thomas D. Hardy (London, 1835), hereafter RLP; and Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londonensi Asservati 1204–1227, Thomas D. Hardy, 2 vols (London, 1833–1844), hereafter CRI and CR II; The misae accounts and praestita rolls are recorded in Rotuli de Liberate ac de Misis et Praestitis regnante Johanne, ed. Thomas D. Hardy (London, 1844), hereafter Rotuli. For the Norman rolls, see Rotuli Normannie in Turri asservati Johanne et Henrico Quinto Anglie Regibus, ed. Thomas D. Hardy (London, 1835), hereafter Rot. Norm. Editions of the close roll texts for the reign of Henry III appear in Close Rolls 1227–1272 (London, 1902–1938) hereafter CR. Calendars of the close rolls for the reign of Edward I appear in Calendar of Close Rolls 1272–1307 (London, 1900–1908), hereafter CCR. Calendars of the patent rolls for the reigns of Henry III and Edward I appear in Calendar of Patent Rolls 1216–1272 (London, 1901–1903), and Calendar of Patent Rolls 1272–1307 (London, 1893–1901) hereafter CPR. The liberate rolls for Henry III’s reign are in Calendar of Liberate Rolls 1226–1272 (London, 1916–1964), hereafter CLR with year ranges. The liberate rolls for the reign of Edward I have not been published and are cited here according to their call numbers at the National Archives. Many thousands of other documents have not been published and also are published according to their record numbers in the National Archives.
The reigns of Richard and John, 1189–1216
It was not until the reign of King John that we have evidence for the royal government’s involvement in crossbow production in England.3 By contrast, the production of ammunition for crossbows significantly antedates John’s successful effort to transplant a crossbow industry across the channel in 1203–1204. By Richard I’s reign, at the latest, the royal government already had spent considerable sums purchasing, producing, and stockpiling crossbow quarrels for use in the king’s military campaigns on land and on the sea. In 1192, for example, the pipe roll entry for London and Middlesex records that the sheriffs of London were stockpiling quarellae, along with other war materiél, including stone-throwing engines (petrariae), stones, and shields at the Tower of London, which was one of England’s main magazines.4 Two years later, in 1194, the pipe roll account for Hampshire and Winchester notes the expenditure of funds by the sheriff on iron to be used for the production of quarrel heads.5 In 1196, William the son of Alan, the sheriff of Shropshire, was credited 4 s. in the pipe roll for his purchase of quarellae.6
3. Bachrach, “The Origins of the English Crossbow Industry”, 73–87.
4. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of King Richard the First Michaelmas 1191 and Michaelmas 1192 (Pipe Rolls 37 and 38), ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1926), 158.
5. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Sixth Year of the Reign of King Richard the First Michaelmas 1194 (Pipe Roll 40), ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1928), 212, “et pro ferro ad fabricandas quarellas ad opus R”.
6. The Chancellory Roll for the Eighth Year of the Reign of King Richard the First Michaelmas 1196 (Pipe Roll 42), ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1930), 42.
During King John’s reign, the pipe rolls record a significant increase both in the sums spent by the government to produce quarrels in royal workshops and on the purchase of this ammunition from private sources. The pipe roll account in 1200, for example, records that Reginald Cornhill, the sheriff of Kent, spent 50 s. for 5,000 quarrels.7 After the opening of the earliest royal crossbow workshops, first in Nottingham and then in five other centers during the summer of 1204, the pipe rolls show an even more dramatic rise in the quantity of quarrels obtained by the government.8 In 1207, the royal officials administering the bishopric of Lincoln for King John are credited in the pipe roll for spending in excess of £70 to purchase 92,000 crossbow bolts as well as chests and barrels in which to store them.9 That same year, the sheriff of Nottingham spent an additional £5 on about 7,000 quarrels.10 The pipe rolls record a second major series of expenditures on crossbow bolts in 1211. The royal keepers of the bishopric of Durham purchased just under 86,000 quarrels that year.11 The sheriff of Yorkshire purchased 40,000 quarrels.12 The royal officer Brian de L’Isle spent in excess of £21 on 32,000 crossbow bolts.13 Finally, a royal officer named John Fitzhugh purchased 34,500 quarrels, for a grand total of just under 200,000 bolts.14
7. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Second Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1200 (Pipe Roll 46), ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1934), 209.
8. Regarding the establishment of these production facilities in England, see Bachrach, “The Origins of the English Crossbow Industry”, 73–87.
9. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Ninth Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1207 (Pipe Roll 53), ed. A. Mary Kirkus (London, 1946 ), 14. The see of Lincoln was vacant in 1207 following the death of Bishop Walter of Coutance.
10. Ibid., 114. The next year, the royal officials overseeing the vacant see of Lincoln purchased an additional 42,000 quarrels for use in the garrisons in the Poitou, and at Winchester Castle. See CR I, 100.
11. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1211 (Pipe Roll 57 ), ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1953), 39.
12. Ibid., 43.
13. Ibid., 88.
14. Ibid., 108 and 111.
Purchases of this order of magnitude continue to characterize royal arms acquisitions up through King John’s failed French expedition of 1214. The pipe roll for 1212 records purchases of 140,000 quarrels by the royal officials overseeing the vacant see of Durham, as well as by Bishop Mauger of Worcester, and by the sheriff of Derby.15 In addition to these large purchases of ready-to-use quarrels, John Fitzhugh, noted in the preceding paragraph, was credited for the expenses he incurred to have 28,000 bolt heads fitted with shafts and feathers.16 The pipe roll for 1213 is lost, but the evidence from 1214 indicates that the large-scale purchases of quarrels continued up to the eve of King John’s final continental campaign. The sheriff of Gloucester, for example, purchased 45,000 quarrels in 1214.17 Brian de L’Lisle, now serving as the constable of Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire’s West Riding, purchased an additional 15,000 crossbow bolts. Moreover, he sent a shipment of 30,000 bolts to Portsmouth to be transported to the English fleet gathering there for the invasion of France.18 Finally, William Saint John, the sheriff of Southampton, added a further 10,000 quarrels to the royal stockpiles.19
15. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1212 (Pipe Roll 58), ed. Patricia M. Barnes (London, 1955), 47, 61, and 169. The bishopric of Durham was without a prelate following the death of Philip of Poitou in 1208, who was not replaced until 1217 by Richard Marsh.
16. Ibid., 44.
17. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Sixteenth Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1214 (Pipe Roll 60), ed. Patricia M. Barnes (London, 1962), 55.
18. Ibid., 67. Alan was originally ordered to produce as many quarrels as possible in a writ issued by the Chancery on 23 May 1214. See CR I, 206, “Dei gratia etc. dilecto sibi Alano de S. Georgio [sic] constabulario de Gnaresburgh salutem. Mandamus vobis quod fieri faciatis omnes quarellos quos poteritis et eos mitti usque Portsmouth, retentis ad garnesturam castri de Gnaresburgh uno millario is opus fuerit. Et custum quod in opere et in cariagum posueritis vobis faciemus computari”. A similar order was sent the same day to Reginald Cornhill, one of King John’s chief procurement officers. See CR I, 206.
19. PR 14 John, 126.
Even without the undoubtedly large number of quarrels purchased in 1213, the four years before King John’s final continental campaign saw the acquisition of least half a million quarrels on the private market.20 Of course, this number must be seen as a minimum figure. Not only are all of the records for 1213 lost, but a great majority of the pertinent documents produced by the royal Chancery and Exchequer also have not survived. As we shall see in this chapter, the surviving administrative records of this type from the reigns of Henry III and Edward I also refer to the purchases of very substantial numbers of quarrels by the crown.
20. Some indication of royal expenditures on crossbow bolts in 1213 can be gleaned from a letter issued by the Chancery to the Exchequer authorizing the barons to credit Brian de L’Isle the expenses he incurred for purchasing 10,000 quarrels and transporting them from Knaresborough Castle, where he served as constable, to Portsmouth. See CR I, 148.
The purchase by royal officials of large numbers of quarrels from private producers was complemented in John’s reign by the regular output of crossbow bolts from royal workshops. The latter can be understood as operating in conjunction with the crossbow workshops established by John in the period 1203–1212.21 At least three fletchers, Denis, Philip, and Thomas, who specialized in the fabrication of crossbow quarrels, as contrasted with fletchers making arrows, can be identified in King John’s service.22 In addition to these three men, the pipe roll from 1214 records the service of smiths who produced iron heads for crossbow bolts for the royal government during John’s reign. These records do not provide the names of the smiths.23
21. Bachrach, “The Origins of the English Crossbow Industry”, 73–87.
22. See The Great Roll of the Pipe for the First Year of the Reign of King John Michaelmas 1199, ed. Doris M. Stenton (London, 1933), 132; PR 13 John, 171; CR I, 2, respectively.
23. Pipe Roll 16 John, 136. In this case, William Saint John, the sheriff of Southampton, noted already, was credited with the expenses he incurred for transporting the smiths from Winchester to Portsmouth. The original order to dispatch the smiths was issued on 23 May 1214 by Bishop Peter de Roches of Winchester. He wrote to the sheriff of Southampton to instruct him to find transportation for the smiths serving there along with their wives, children, and tools, as well as the quarrels they had produced, and to send them to Portsmouth. See CR I, 205.
The evidence from the pipe rolls makes clear that John’s government maintained workshops for the production of crossbow quarrels, with a major center at the Tower of London. In addition, the royal government supplemented the supplies of quarrels available from its own workshops with the purchase of this ammunition on the private market. Indeed, as noted, many of these purchases were very large, that is in excess of 10,000 units, and it is clear that government obtained many hundreds of thousands of quarrels from private producers.
The reign of King Henry, 1216–1272
Henry III’s government continued the policies of King John regarding both the production and purchase of quarrels. The much larger corpus of surviving administrative documents in the period after 1216, however, permits a far more detailed understanding of royal efforts both to purchase crossbow bolts on the private market as well as to maintain, and even expand, royal workshops that specialized in the production of ammunition. Before the spring of 1221, as noted earlier, the royal government already had in place a major production facility for crossbow bolts at the Tower of London. A letter from the Chancery on 25 May 1221 instructed the officers of the Exchequer to disburse £10 to a royal officer named Alex of Dorset to pay the wages of the smiths and crossbow makers producing quarelli and balistae at the Tower.24 A second royal production facility was in full operation no later than 1222. The pipe roll for this year records that the sheriff of Gloucester and the constable of St. Briavels Castle paid the wages of William Malemort, a smith, his two assistants (garciones), and a fletcher named William, who were all engaged in producing crossbow bolts for the crown in a workshop located in the Forest of Dean.25 In addition to paying the wages of the two Williams and their assistants, the sheriff and constable also purchased iron, coal, a forge, bellows, and hammers, for use in the workshop.26
24. CR I, 460.
25. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Sixth Year of the Reign of King Henry III Michaelmas 1222 (London, 1999), 39.
26. Pipe Roll 6 Henry III, 39. Concerning the role of St Briavels Castle and the Forest of Dean as an important arsenal during the reign of Edward I, see Cyril E. Hart, Royal Forest: A History of Dean’s Woods as Producers of Timber (Oxford, 1966).
The surviving administrative records suggest that the two workshops at the Tower of London and the Forest of Dean produced a sufficient quantity of crossbow bolts for peacetime needs. In periods of intense conflict, however, the royal government sought additional quarrels from private makers. The royal response to the siege of Bedford Castle in 1224 exemplifies this pattern.27 On 20 June 1224, the Chancery issued an order to the sheriff of London requiring that he send a large quantity of military supplies to the royal forces encamped outside Bedford Castle. Of particular importance in this context, the sheriff was ordered to send as many quarrels as he could.28 The text emphasizes that the sheriff was to send these supplies sub omni festinacione, indicating that the war materiél was to be taken out of current stocks stored in the magazines.
27. For a detailed discussion of the logistical efforts undertaken by the royal government during the siege, see Emilie Amt, “Besieging Bedford: Military Logistics in 1224”, The Journal of Medieval Military History 1 (2002), 101–124.
28. CR I, 605, “Mandamus vobis sicut nos diligitis sub omni festinacione qua poteritis ad nos mittatis usque Bedeford duas carectatas vel tres de cordis et xx funas ad mangonellos et petrarias et targias et quarellos quotquot poteritis”.
That same day, however, the Chancery sent a second order to the sheriff of London ordering him to find five or six smiths (fabri) to work non-stop, literally day and night (de die et nocte), to produce as many quarrels as possible for use at the siege of Bedford Castle.29 Within eight days, that is by 28 June 1224, the sheriff of London was able to acquire an additional 3,000 quarrels which he then sent to Bedford.30 However, even the additional supplies of crossbow bolts sent from London proved to be insufficient, and the government sought further shipments of ammunition. On 23 July 1224, the Chancery issued orders to the bailiffs of Northampton to mobilize all of the smiths in town who knew how to make quarrels to produce 4,000 of them as quickly as possible.31 On 24 July, the next day, further orders were issued to the royal bailiffs of Oxford, as well as to the sheriffs of London, requiring that they have the local smiths produce 6,000 and 10,000 quarrels, respectively.32 It should be noted that this was the second lot of crossbow bolts required from the sheriffs of London in the space of a month.
29. CR I, 605.
30. Ibid., 608.
31. CR I, 613, “mandamus vobis quod … visis litteris tam die quam de nocte fieri faciatis per omnes fabros ville Northampton qui in arte fabricanti quarellos sunt instructi, quatuor milia quarellorum”. A letter issued by the Chancery on 19 August 1224 to the constable of the castle at Northampton required him to store at his castle 900 of the 4,000 quarrels, which were produced by the smiths of the city. See CR I, 617.
32. CR I, 638.
The pattern of quarrel production and purchases established by the royal government during the early 1220s remained the norm throughout the remainder of Henry III’s reign. Henry’s government employed no fewer than thirteen master smiths and fletchers in royal workshops between 1225 and 1272, and several of these men, including William Malemort noted above, employed teams of assistants.33 Perhaps the best known of these men was William Malemort’s brother John, who began working with William in 1225, and subsequently supervised his own workshop at the Forest of Dean from 1230 until at least 1278, during the reign of Edward I.34 The Tower of London also continued to house a major production facility through the end of Henry’s reign, although the smiths and fletchers there served for much shorter terms of service than John Malemort.35 In addition to these major facilities, Henry III’s government established at least one subsidiary production center for crossbow quarrels in 1261 at Dover Castle under the direction of a smith named Adam.36
33. I intend to write a prosopographical study of all of the arms makers who served during the reign of Henry III, including the smiths, fletchers, crossbow makers, and artillery builders. Concerning the arms makers employed by the royal government during the reign of King John, see Bachrach, “Arms Makers”, 49–75.
34. CR II, 54; CR 1272–1279, 438. John Malemort’s career has been studied by Alf Webb, “John Malemort—King’s Quarreler: The King’s Great Arsenal, St. Briavels and the Royal Forest of Dean”, Society of Archer Antiquaries 31 (1988), 40–46; and part 2, in ibid., 32 (1989), 52–58.
35. At least six master smiths can be identified serving as quarrel makers at the Tower of London between 1225 and 1273. They are Thomas, Roger, Ogerus, Henry, Alan, and Richard. For Thomas see CR II, 45, 55, 58, 68, 84, 115, 140, 143, and CLR 1226–1240, 5, 15, 24, 32, 39, 43–44; for Roger see E372/76 8v and CLR 1251–1260, 376, 401; for Ogerus see National Archives E372/77 12r and CLR 1226–1240, 203; for Henry see CR 1261–1264, 205–206 and CLR 1260–1267, 3, 7, 70–71, 112; for Alan see CR 1261–1264, 205–206 and CLR 1260–1267, 119, 144, 220, 221, 224, 253, 282; and for Richard see CLR 1267–1272, 24, 32.
36. CLR 1260–1267, 53.
The annual output of the two major production centers at the Forest of Dean and the Tower of London reached 50,000 quarrels by 1229. On 18 November of that year, the Chancery issued orders to the bailiff of St. Briavels Castle, located in the Forest of Dean, to increase the pay of William Malemort, his brother John, and William the Fletcher on the condition that they raise their daily level of production to 200 from 100 quarrels.37 Other surviving letters in the liberate rolls make clear that the Malemort brothers, William the Fletcher, and their assistants were expected to work on average five days a week, that is 250 days, to produce a total of 50,000 quarrels per year.38 In 1230, however, William Malemort left royal service, and John Malemort’s daily production quota was reduced to 100 quarrels a day, where it remained until the end of Henry III’s reign.39 This level of output likely was matched by the royal production facility at the Tower of London, although the surviving records do not record how many quarrels the master smiths and fletchers working there were supposed to produce on a daily basis.
37. CLR 1226–1240, 157–158.
38. See CR 1254–1256, 96–97; CLR 1251–1260, 373.
39. See CLR 1226–1240, 181–182, 103–104, 228, 240, 263, 320, 381–382, 468; CLR 1240–1245, 77–78, 175; CLR 1245–1251, 41, 119, 204, 229, 357; CLR 1251–1260, 45, 151, 226, 373; CLR 1260–1267, 192. The one exception to this pattern was in December 1257 when the royal government asked John Malemort to double his production from 25,000 to 50,000 quarrels for use in the king’s Welsh campaign. See CLR 1245–1251, 415.
This substantial output of crossbow bolts from the production facilities at the Tower of London and the Forest of Dean were deemed by the royal government to be sufficient for peacetime conditions. During Henry III’s many military actions on the continent, in Wales, and in civil wars in England, however, the government found it prudent to continue to supplement its normal supplies of quarrels with purchases from private manufacturers. For example, before undertaking the Welsh campaign of 1228, the royal government first ordered substantial additional stocks of quarrels. On 15 July 1227, the Chancery issued orders to the sheriff of Cumberland to have the smiths in his shire produce 100,000 quarrels at the cost of the royal government.40 In February of the same year, Stephen de Lucy, the royal official administering the vacant see of Durham, was ordered to have suitable smiths in the bishopric produce as many quarrels as possible at royal cost.41 In the end, this royal officer succeeded in acquiring no fewer than 25,000 bolts for the central government.42 The Welsh campaign of 1242 saw similar preparations. The constable of Windsor Castle purchased 50,000 iron heads for crossbow bolts from local smiths, and on 27 August 1242 the Chancery issued an order to the royal bailiffs of Windsor to provide shafts and feathers for them.43
40. CLR 1226–1240, 44.
41. CLR 1226–1240, 19. This order was repeated on 21 September 1228. See CR 1227–1231, 81.
42. CLR 1226–1240, 164.
43. CLR 1240–1245, 146.
In one final example, following the defeat of the baronial forces at Evesham (4 August 1265), Henry III and his son Edward spent much of the next two years hunting down and defeating isolated pockets of rebel resistance. The most important of these centers was the castle of Kenilworth, which fell in December 1266, although scattered resistance continued into 1267.44 In order to conduct these military operations, the royal government first sought to increase production at its own facilities. In July 1266, John Malemort was asked to produce an additional 6,000 quarrels above his normal quota.45 But this proved insufficient. The royal government therefore ordered the sheriffs of the city of London to have the local smiths produce 20,000 quarrels, of which 13,200 were produced and shipped to the king’s forces.46 The next year, in March 1267, the government sought an additional 50,000 quarrels from the sheriffs of London and 30,000 from the bailiffs of Colchester, which were supposed to be produced by local smiths.47
44. Michael Prestwich, Edward I, 2nd edn (Yale, 1997), 51–59.
45. CLR 1260–1267, 221–2.
46. CLR 1260–1267, 230 and 263.
47. Ibid., 264 and 276.
During Henry III’s reign, the government established its main production centers for quarrels at the Forest of Dean and the Tower of London. The annual output of these two facilities was 25,000 quarrels each, although in times of crisis, output at these centers was doubled. This regular production was supplemented during periods of war by very large purchases of quarrels on the private market. Given the consistently large production of quarrels by royal workshops over half a century, and the continuing effort by the government to purchase quarrels on the private market, it seems clear that the numbers of quarrels obtained by Henry III’s logistics officers numbered in the millions.
The reign of Edward I, 1272–1307
The early years of King Edward’s reign saw the continued production of quarrels at the traditional workshops located in the Tower of London and the Forest of Dean. John Malemort, noted earlier, produced quarrels for the government at S. Briavels Castle, located in the Forest of Dean, until at least 1278.48 The production staff at the Tower of London in 1273 and 1274 included a smith named Henry and two fletchers named Hugh and Peter.49
48. CR 1272–1279, 438.
49. National Archives C 62/49 5r; C62/50 2r, 6r, and 15r.
Nevertheless, the surviving evidence indicates that Edward’s government made a decision at some point in the 1270s both to decentralize its production facilities and perhaps to rely more heavily on private producers to supply quarrels. John Malemort, the chief of the production facility at St. Briavels Castle, does not appear in the surviving royal records after 1278, and he does not appear to have been replaced. It is likely that he died at this time, having been in royal service for the better part of four decades. As will be clear in this chapter, however, the constables of St. Briavels Castle continued to have responsibility for the large-scale production of crossbow bolts, at least sporadically, throughout Edward I’s reign. Evidence for the production of quarrels at the Tower of London becomes scarce in the surviving administrative documents after 1274, although some master smiths and fletchers can still be identified working there. Thus, for example, in 1294, the smith John of Northampton and the carpenter Robert de Colbroke are authorized in a writ of liberate to receive their daily wages of 9 d. and 4 d., respectively, for producing quarrels at the Tower.50
50. National Archives C62/71 2r.
In place of this centralization of quarrel production in two government workshops, which was the norm throughout most of Henry III’s reign, Edward’s government would appear to have hired smiths and carpenters to produce crossbow bolts in the same places that crossbows were now being made, namely in the royal castles of Wales, Scotland, and the marches.51 This decentralization had the benefit of lowering transportation costs for the finished products. In 1294, for example, Reginald de Grey, the commander of the royal army in Wales, employed a smith at Chester Castle to make quarrels for his troops as they prepared to deal with Welsh rebels. The smith was accompanied in his work by an atilliator who was repairing the crossbows of Reginald de Grey’s troops.52
51. Regarding production of crossbows in fortresses in Scotland and Wales, see Bachrach, “The Crossbow in English Warfare”, passim.
52. National Archives C62/75 6r. The payment to Reginald de Grey for his expenses were recorded in the liberate roll for 1298.
King Edward’s wars in Scotland and the consolidation of his conquests saw the establishment of several centers for the production of quarrels there. The liberate roll for 1298 records, for example, that John Kirkeby, the sheriff of Northumberland, paid the wages of fletchers who completed 2415 quarrels at Newcastle.53 The sheriff also paid the wages of two smiths who repaired 10,000 old bolt heads so that they could be reused.54 The English garrison town of Berwick also served as a major center for the production of quarrels for use by royal garrisons in Scotland. A garrison roster for Berwick Castle, issued in 1300, indicates that the specialists on staff there included a crossbow maker, and two smiths.55
53. National Archives C62/74 5r.
54. Ibid.
55. National Archives E101/8/24.
The significant level of quarrel production achieved at Berwick is indicated by several surviving administrative documents. In 1298, for example, the account of John Burdon, the constable of Berwick Castle, includes expenses for the production of 4,300 quarrels designed for “two-foot” crossbows.56 A memorandum issued in September 1302 records that Richard de Bremesgrave, the chief logistics officer at Berwick, transported large quantities of food as well as crossbows and 5,000 quarrels from his magazine to the garrison at Selkirk Castle.57 A memorandum issued two years later in May 1304 by a royal officer named Walter Bedewind, recorded that he had received 23,000 quarrels from Richard de Bremesgrave for the garrison at Stirling Castle. Another memorandum, issued in August of 1304, recorded that the ship captain Robert, the son of Walter, carried a further load of “quarellos pro balistis preparatos apud dictum Berwick” to Stirling Castle.58 Other surviving documents from the English officers in Scotland indicate that the garrisons at Roxburgh and Dumfries Castles also had smiths and fletchers on staff to produce quarrels in each of these fortresses in 1303.59
56. National Archives E101/7/6. Regarding the types of crossbows deployed by the royal government during Edward I’s reign, see Bachrach, “Crossbows for the King (Part Two)”, 81–90.
57. National Archives E101/9/30 #14.
58. National Archives C47/22/9 #70 and #71.
59. National Archives E101/9/30 #25 and E101/14/1. The second of these documents, which is not dated, notes that James Dalilegh, one of the chief royal logistics officers for the Scottish war, sent glue pro quarellis to the castle at Bonfres. James was appointed receiver at Stirling in 1300. Concerning James Dalilegh’s career in Scotland, see Michael Prestwich, War, Politics and Finance under Edward I (Totowa, NJ, 1972), 122, 136, 165.
As had been true during Henry III’s reign, however, Edward I’s government also found it necessary to supplement the regular supply of quarrels from its own workshops with purchases from private producers. The bulk of these purchases by the crown came in the context of royal military campaigns. The Welsh campaigns of 1277, 1282–1284, 1287, and 1294–1295 all saw exceptionally large purchases of crossbow bolts. A writ to the Exchequer issued on 23 June 1277, for example, ordered the clerks there to credit the account of Robert, a royal treasury official, for almost £70 he had spent on the production of 100,000 quarrels, and a further £7 for the costs in involved in transporting 77,000 of these quarrels to the fortresses of Chester and Montgomery.60 Earlier that year, on 12 March, the king issued orders to the royal steward, Ralph of Sandwich, to have 200,000 quarrels produced at St. Briavels Castle, the site of the major workshop earlier overseen by John Malemort.61
60. National Archives C62/54 2r.
61. CR 1272–1279, 373.
The Welsh campaigns of 1282–1284 saw even larger purchases of quarrels by the royal government. The chief logistics officer for the royal army in Wales, a clerk named Ralph, recorded in his compotus, that in 1283 he had received and subsequently distributed to garrisons and troops in Wales 164,000 completed quarrels and an additional 18,750 iron heads. This included in excess of 80,000 quarrels and heads shipped into England from Gascony.62 In January and May 1283, additional purchases of crossbow bolts numbering 90,000 and 30,000, respectively, were shipped by Peter de la Mare, constable of Bristol Castle, and Grimbald Pauncefoot, constable of St. Briavels, to the royal garrisons at Chester, Carmarthen, and Rothelan.63 In December 1284, King Edward ordered Peter de la Mare to purchase a further 200,000 quarrels for use by the royal garrisons in Wales.64
62. National Archives E101/4/6/1. On 14 April 1282, Edward I ordered a royal official in London named Gregory Rokesleye to purchase 4,000 quarrels for use on the king’s ships preparing to set sail for Wales. See CR 1279–1288, 153.
63. National Archives C62/59 8r and 6r.
64. CR 1279–1288, 308.
Purchases of quarrels on a similar scale marked the Welsh campaigns of 1287 and 1294–1295. On 25 November 1287, for example, a writ of liberate was issued to the Exchequer authorizing the payment of £120 to Thomas, the sheriff of Canterbury, for the purchase and shipment of just under 150,000 quarrels to the royal garrison at Carmarthen.65 Similarly, in 1296, John Botetourt, the constable of St. Briavels, was authorized to receive almost £130 for the purchase and production of 146,000 quarrels to be stored at the magazine at Corfe Castle and for the royal garrisons in Wales. This sum also included the costs for producing 312 chests that were used to carry these quarrels and an additional 150,000 bolts that were transported to the royal arms depot at Bristol Castle, i.e. roughly 1,000 crossbow bolts were carried in each chest.66
65. National Archives C62/64 1r. In 1290, Peter de la Mare sent an additional 19,000 quarrels and forty crossbows to the garrison in Carmarthen. See C62/66 5r.
66. National Archives C62/73 5r.
Edward’s Gascon campaigns also saw large-scale purchases of crossbow bolts. In a turnabout from the state of affairs in 1283, the royal government now shipped quarrels produced in England to the continent. A rotulus drawn up in 1298 recorded the purchase of quarrels from five separate private workshops in England in July and August of that year. The document records the purchase of 88,200 quarrel heads at a cost of just under £50.67
67. National Archives E101/5/15.
If we turn our attention to Edward I’s Scottish campaigns (1296–1307), the surviving administrative records suggest that the government relied more heavily on its own workshops rather than on the purchase of quarrels from private makers. The only year in which we see the acquisition of very large numbers of quarrels on the private market is 1298. In this year, Thomas of Suffolk and Adam Fulham, the sheriffs of London, purchased 104,000 crossbow bolts for use in Scotland, including 72,000 for “one-foot” weapons, 24,000 for “two-foot” weapons, and 8,000 for crossbows equipped with a winch (turnus).68 The royal government made an additional purchase of 100,000 bolts in 1298, but for use in Wales. Nicholas Fermbaud, the constable of Bristol Castle, was issued orders on 18 December of that year, to send 100,000 quarrels to the royal fortress at Caernarvon, from where they would be sent to the castles at Conway, Beaumarais, Harlech, and Criccieth under the direction of John de Havering, the justiciar of North Wales.69
68. National Archives C62/74 6r. Regarding the types of crossbows used in the armies of Edward I, see Bachrach, “Crossbows for the King (Part Two)”, 81–90.
69. National Archives E101/6/4.
The surviving administrative documents make clear that the royal government purchased well in excess of one million crossbow bolts for use in Edward I’s Welsh and Scottish wars. However, even this noteworthy number must be understood as representing only a fraction, and perhaps even a small fraction, of the total number of quarrels produced for the royal government in the thirty-five years between 1272 and 1307. The surviving administrative records, although numerous, are only a small percentage of the original volume of documents that dealt with military logistics. As a result, it is almost certain that a very large number of records dealing with the purchase of quarrels have been lost. In addition, the numbers of crossbow bolts discussed here does not include the normal production from the royal facilities in workshops at Chester, Berwick, Roxburgh, Dumfries, and perhaps other centers as well. As we saw already, the facility at Berwick alone was capable of producing many thousands of quarrels in a short period of time. Indeed, it would appear that the royal government relied largely on its own workshops in Scotland to produce quarrels for the forces stationed there. As a consequence, it seems likely that the total number of crossbow bolts acquired by the royal government during King Edward’s reign should be numbered in the many millions.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the surviving administrative documents from the reigns of John, Henry III, and Edward I are only a fraction of the original output produced by the royal government, they nevertheless illustrate the clear and continuing commitment of the crown to produce and acquire staggering quantities of quarrels from the late twelfth through the early fourteenth century. The royal government churned out tens of thousands of quarrels every year in its own workshops. In periods of war, the government purchased many hundreds of thousands more to supplement existing stockpiles. If one can measure the importance attached by government officials to particular policies by the resources they devote to them, then we can be reasonably sure that for well over a century, the royal government of England attached considerable importance to securing large supplies of crossbow quarrels for its troops.