Innovative Accounting at the Exchequer and Wardrobe, c.1300: The Jornalia Bills, Books and Rolls under Edward I and Edward II

Abstract This article examines the jornalia accounts that were used in the English royal administration during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Introduced at the Exchequer under Edward I in the 1280s, the jornalia accounts are unique among the records of their time. They represent one of the first bilateral accounts with daily balancing in the late Middle Ages. Their specific layout in two columns, with receipts on the left and expenses on the right, enabled royal officials to monitor cash flow and to verify monetary reserves at any time. Analysis of the jornalia accounts demonstrates: first, that although royal administrators based their practices on long-established routines and traditions, they remained open to new and innovative techniques which became necessary due to the military conflicts under Edward I and Edward II; secondly, these novel ideas originated from close interaction between the Plantagenet government and Italian merchant-bankers; thirdly, a transfer of knowledge and practices occurred within the royal administration between the Exchequer and the Wardrobe; and fourthly, both institutions had a strong sense of identity that manifested itself in distinct forms of record-keeping.