Henry III's fines and taxes hit internet

The three-year project around the Fine Rolls of Henry III, which date from 1216, will bring to life material from an important period of British history.

Containing records of fines paid to the King, as well as taxation information and examples of his sense of humour, the rolls have been encoded electronically for the internet, creating indexes and search facilities.

With one roll for each of Henry's 56 years on the throne, the digitisation has been no easy task, with more than two million words contained in 40,000 separate entries.

Some of the delicate parchment rolls, stored in the National Archives at Kew, are three metres long and contain Latin text amounting to more than 35,000 words.

The project, formally known as From Magna Carta to the Parliamentary State: The Fine Rolls of King Henry 1216-1272, is a joint venture between researchers at King's College London, The National Archives and Canterbury Christ Church University, paid for by 1m from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at King's College London, is in charge of the three-year project.

He said: "This is a perfect example of a collaborative enterprise that develops and exploits the latest technology in order to open up a major historical source to a wide community of users, public as well as academic."

One element of the website is the "Fine of the Month" section, which offers more than 60 comments on discoveries made during research into the rolls.

The professor said this feature has helped link the rolls to communities across the country, making them more relevant for local people.

He added: "Fines of the Month have been about places across the country – from Nunney in Somerset to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, and have furthered the impact of the project."