Medieval archival records might be made in almost any form and to any length. This chapter is concerned with those that were written in or as books, either initially or at a later stage in the development of their particular textual form. Texts that in the twelfth or thirteenth century might be written on rolls and in the fourteenth century as books – such as episcopal registers – are therefore considered to be within this chapter’s scope; but texts that were always, or almost always, transcribed in roll form – such as financial account rolls, plea rolls, or the royal Chancery’s rolls of letters close and patent – are excluded.

The writing of records in book form had the practical advantage that books were more likely to survive than rolls or single sheets. Furthermore, records written into a Bible or service-book were seen as enjoying enhanced protection. Within the ecclesiastical world, books combining charters and holy texts were probably quite numerous in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but such combinations were nearly all destroyed at the Reformation or subsequently, either in the general destruction of Latin service books or by collectors such as Sir Robert Cotton (d. 1631) who were interested in the charters alone.