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he focus of this 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 (1189–99) to that of Edward I (1272– 1307).1 Over this long century, the English government devoted considerable resources to producing and purchasing 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. In periods of intense military activity, however, the royal government found it necessary to supplement production from its own facilities with purchases on the private market. Sources Due in no small part to Bryce Lyon’s extensive publications, the legal and administrative sources for thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century England are Military Industrial Production in Thirteenth-Century England: The Case of the Crossbow Bolt David S. Bachrach 243 T When I began working on the administrative history of England, Bryce 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. One of the very first works of medieval history that I read, encouraged by one of Lyon’s former students, was From Fief to Indenture. But I owe an even deeper debt of gratitude to Professor Lyon for stimulating my very interest in this fascinating field. I am, therefore, doubly grateful for the opportunity to participate in this memorial volume honoring Bryce Lyon. 1 Regarding the important role of crossbows in English warfare from the late twelfth through the early fourteenth century,see Bachrach:“Origins of the English Crossbow,”“Crossbow Makers,”“Royal Arms Makers,”“Crossbows for the King,”“Crossbows for the King (Part Two).” accessible to scholars.2 The basic source for administrative history of the royal government during the twelfth century consists of the Pipe Rolls, which are the records of the biannual audits of the accounts of sheriffs at the Exchequer.3 The reign of King John witnesses the survival of the Patent Rolls and Close Rolls.4 The Patent and Close Rolls are supplemented in King John’s reign by misae accounts, which deal with the king’s daily expenses; the praestita roll, which records money given as advanced payments to individuals, usually for military purposes, and by the Norman Rolls, which were preserved in the Tower of London and record some of the king’s military expenses in Normandy.5 Finally, during the first six years of John’s reign, a subset of the Close Rolls, identified by scholars as Liberate Rolls, were kept separately by royal clerks.6 The Pipe Rolls, Close Rolls, and Patent Rolls survive in a more or less full sequence for the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, although the years 1216–21 and 1233–36 have extensive lacunae.7 Liberate documents continued to be enrolled with letters close until 1226, when royal clerks began to enroll them separately. In addition to these major collections of documents kept by the clerks of Chancery and Exchequer, tens of thousands of individual administrative texts, including letters , memoranda, writs, reports, and receipts, most of which are still unedited, also survive from the reigns of Henry III and Edward I.8 These texts were issued by a wide range of royal officials and individuals who had dealings with the royal government.During the reign of Edward I,in particular,these documents provide invaluable insight into the exceptionally large production and purchase of crossbow quarrels by the royal government. 2 Lyon, Constitutional and Legal History, 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, Lyon, Lyon, and Sturler, Wardrobe Book of William de Norwell, and Lyon and Lyon, Wardrobe Book of 1296–1297, have helped illuminate the value of the voluminous wardrobe accounts for numerous aspects of administrative history, including military affairs. 3 The Pipe Rolls for the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, and John have been edited separately by the Pipe Roll Society. Each roll is cited individually. For a valuable introduction to the Pipe Rolls, see Lyon, Constitutional and Legal History, pp...

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