This work investigates the administrative origins and operational mechanics of the English Exchequer during the twelfth century. Reginald Lane Poole, a distinguished historian of medieval institutions, examines the evolution of fiscal record-keeping and the transition from the royal household to a centralized financial office. By analyzing the Pipe Rolls and contemporary administrative treatises, the author reconstructs the bureaucratic framework that governed the crown's revenue collection under the Norman and early Angevin kings.

Historians and medievalists regard this text as a foundational study for understanding the development of English governmental institutions. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which assumes a working knowledge of medieval Latin and administrative history.