JOBNAME: No Job Name PAGE: 1 SESS: 12 OUTPUT: Thu Jul 18 15:09:40 2013 SUM: 90DDE82E
/Xpp84/wiley_journal/HISR/hisr_v0_i0/hisr_12032
The Red Book of the Exchequer: a curious
affair revisited
Margaret Procter
University of Liverpool
Abstract
The dispute between John Horace Round and Hubert Hall over Hall’s edition () of
the Red Book of the Exchequer became notorious for several reasons: because it forced a
newly-emerging historical profession to confront the strengths and weaknesses of ‘scientific
history’; because of Round’s unedifying behaviour; and because it was conducted publicly,
through the periodical press and in private publications. The existence of that material has
skewed the historiography; this account revisits the relationship between the two men in the
early eighteen-nineties and concludes that although Round was ‘correct’, the consequences of
the affair were far more beneficial for Hall.
The epic dispute between John Horace Round and Hubert Hall over the latter’s
edition of the Red Book of the Exchequer,
1
which exploded into public view in ,
quickly gained a reputation as ‘one of the classic pieces of modern historical
criticism’.
2
This was notoriety rather than celebration; well into the twentieth century,
and for medievalists in particular, it has continued to exemplify the perils of textual
criticism carried to extremes. Because so much of the dispute was carried on in the
literary and scholarly press, the private background to the affair has received little
attention. In particular, Hall’s role has been overshadowed by his opponent’s behaviour,
although he was, in the eighteen-nineties, a considerable figure in the emerging
historical community and certainly one with a finger in all the major historical pies:
on the staff of the Public Record Office (P.R.O.) from (working for most of
his career under one of its greatest deputy keepers, Henry Maxwell Lyte), literary
director of the Royal Historical Society (R.H.S.) between and , a pioneer
of economic history research and teaching, and a prolific (if not always critically
well-received) author.
3
It is the lengthy and more private gestation of the dispute which will be explored
here, with Hall as a protagonist rather than merely (yet another) Roundian victim.This
‘back story’ (which Hall himself considered ‘one of those stories which fortunately
can never be written’)
4
attempts to establish the circumstances in which the dispute
developed and provide some opportunity for corroboration of claim and counterclaim,
1
In this article Red Book of the Exchequer (italics) indicates the published edition The Red Book of the
Exchequer, ed. H. Hall ( vols., ), and ‘Red Book of the Exchequer’ the manuscript record.
2
M. D. Knowles, ‘Great historical enterprises IV.The Rolls Series’, Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., th ser., xi (),
-, at p. .
3
For a contemporary’s assessment, see ‘Hubert Hall’ [obituary], The Times, Aug. .
4
Manchester, John Rylands Library (hereafter J.R.L.), Tait papers, /, Hubert Hall to James Tait,
May .
Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
Journal Code: HISR Proofreader: Mony
Article No: HISR12032 Delivery date: 18 Jul 2013
Page Extent: 23
Copyright © 2013 Institute of Historical Research DOI: 10.1111/1468-2281.12032 Historical Research, vol. ••, no. •• (•• 2013)
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA02148, USA.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45