We've come across plenty of stories that purport to explain the origin of a particular word, but recently we came across one that gives new meaning to the term "rigmarole." The way this one goes, seven centuries ago, the tax collector was called a "ragman," and his tax list a "ragman roll." When Edward I of England invaded Scotland in the late 13th century, he was said to have forced nobles to swear their allegiance to him by signing his ragman roll.
Supposedly, after finishing the campaign, Edward ordered his emissaries to read the list of signatories aloud in public places. But not only did the King's men muddle the names, the term ragman roll was itself bungled, metamorphosing into rigmarole, which appropriately enough came to refer to "confused or meaningless talk or a complex and ritualistic procedure."

As you might have guessed, this story has a bit of rigmarole to it. While it's true that rigmarole comes from ragman roll, the original Ragman referred not to a tax man but to Rageman the Good, a title character from one of the verses written on a parchment roll in a medieval game. From this "series of verses on a parchment roll" sense, ragman roll developed the more general meaning of "any list or catalog." Years of spoken use altered both the phrase's pronunciation and its meaning, eventually giving us the more familiar rigmarole.