Since the development of Annales history, and despite the popularity of historical biography, the role of individuals seems to be often underestimated by historians. It is claimed that individual destinies do not influence the evolution of societies, but simply provide isolated cases. In fact, the study of individual careers can often illuminate many facets of a particular society, and is consequently not merely anecdotal. The Gascon rolls (National Archives series C 61) tell us much about many different individuals, allowing us to observe many behavioural patterns and also to reconstruct in some detail the biographies of some important members of the Anglo-Gascon government from a prosopographical standpoint. Despite its vassalic status towards the kingdom of France since at least 1259, the duchy of Aquitaine (or Guyenne) was also from 1252 onwards united in perpetuity with the crown of England. It is well known that this ambiguous status caused several problems, notably through ‘Gascon’ appeals to the parlement of Paris. These were sometimes too easily accepted and supported by the French monarchy and were countered, sometimes tactlessly, by the officers of the king of England as duke of Aquitaine. It was in this context of tension that the king-duke called in law specialists whose task was to oppose the king of France's officers locally and defend his interests in the parlement. Among these men, the most striking was Ramon Durand, a prominent officer in the duchy of Aquitaine during the reign of Edward II and at the beginning of that of Edward III.