The System of Account in the Wardrobe of Edward II

Inhis masterly account of the administrative activities of the Wardrobe, ProfessorTout has necessarily been led to say something of its system of accounting; but his treatment of it has been to a great extent incidental to the wider aspect of his subject. In a paper read before this Society in March 1923, Mr. Charles Johnson supplemented Professor Tout's work by a study of the system of account in the Wardrobe of Edward I. The system employed in the Wardrobe of Edward II during the first seventeen years of his reign was essentially the same as that of his father's time. For this earlier part of the reign, then, all that I propose todo is to supplement Mr. Johnson's account by a more detailed examination of certain points, a thorough understanding of which is of some importance to those who may have to interpret the evidence of these accounts on questions of constitutional and administrative history. In addition to this, it is hardly necessary to repeat that the reign of Edward II is of extreme importance in the history of the Wardrobe as a period of far-reaching reforms.