Ragman Roll

Ragman Roll (ragman, a word of uncertain origin, used in ancient diplomatic language for an indenture or legal deed), the name given to the collection of instruments which record the acts of fealty and homage performed by the Scottish nobility and gentry to Edward I. of England during his military progress through Scotland in 1296, and afterwards at the parliament held at Berwick. The original instruments of homage under the seals of the parties were deposited in the Royal Treasury of England, and have almost entirely perished; but the roll in existence in the Tower preserves a record of them. Its contents were given in an abridged form in Prynne's Records, and afterwards printed in extenso by the Bannatyne Club in 1834. An especial value attaches to the Ragman Roll as containing the largest and most authentic enumeration extant of the nobility, barons, landholders, and burgesses, as well as of the clergy of Scotland, prior to the 14th century, and the only genuine statistical notices of Scotland of the period.