The Fine rolls are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Chancery in the Middle Ages.
Originating in the reign of King Henry III of England (1216–72), a fine represented a willingness to pay the crown a sum of money in exchange for a particular concession.
As David Carpenter put it, the rolls remain "central to the politics, government, and society", particularly because of the broad social spectrum they touched.
[4] For example, in the context of the 1216 reissue of Magna Carta by Henry's minority government, the concern of the council for the charter's consequences to dower payments owed the king are enrolled in the Fine rolls.
[5] Letters close which record fines are also enrolled; one such example is to the widow of Nigel de Mowbray, in which Henry III agreed to her right to stay unmarried or to "marry whom she wished".