XXXII.-CONFIRMATIO REGIS EDWARDI QUARTI QUORUMDAM LITERARUM PATENTIUM REGIS RICARDI SECUNDI, PRO ABBATE DE FONTIBUS, PER REGEM EDWARDUM QUARTUM, CONCESSA. -[Ex orig. penes Comitem de Grey et Ripon.]

Edwardus, Dei gratia, rex Angliæ et Franciæ et dominus. Hiberniæ, omnibus ad quos præsentes litteræ pervenerint, salutem. Inspeximus litteras patentes domini Ricardi, nuper regis Angliæ secundi post conquestum, factas in hæc verba: Ricardus Dei gratia, etc. Inspeximus cartam domini Edwardi nuper regis Angliæ, avi nostri, factam in hæc verba: Edwardus Dei gratia, etc. Inspeximus cartam celebris memoriæ domini Ricardi quondam regis Angliæ, progenitoris nostri, in hæc verba: Ricardus Dei gratia, etc. Sciatis nos, pro anima patris nostri et pro salute nostra, et matris nostræ, et fratris nostri Johannis, etc.-[ Ut supra, No. xxix. p. 47.] In cujus, etc. Teste meipso apud Westmonasterium, quinto die Maij, (sic) anno regni nostri nono. Inspeximus, etiam quasdam alias litteras patentes dicti domini Ricardi, nuper regis Angliæ, factas in hæc verba: Ricardus Dei gratia, etc., omnibus ad quos præsentes litteræ pervenerint, salutem. Inspeximus litteras patentes Johannis de Moubray, nuper domini Insulæ de Haxiholm et Honoris de Brembrem, factas in hæc verba: Omnibus sanctæ matris ecclesiæ filiis, etc. Johannes de Moubray, etc., salutem in domino sempiternam. Noveritis nos inspexisse quandam cartam confirmationis claræ memoriæ domini Johannis de Moubray, patris nostri, factam abbati et monachis de Fontibus in hæc verba : Omnibus sanctæ matris ecclesiæ filiis, etc.—[Ut infra, inter cartas de KirkbyMalzeard.] Inspeximus etiam quasdam alias litteras patentes ejusdem Johannis de Moubray, similiter factas in hæc verba : Omnibus hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris Johannes de Moubray, dominus Insulæ de Haxiholm et Honoris de Brembrem, salutem in Domino sempiternam. Inspeximus quoddam scriptum indentatum claræ memoriæ domini Johannis de Moubray, patris nostri, cujus tenor sequitur in hæc verba : Cum mota esset controversia inter dominum Johannem de Moubray, ex una parte, et abbatem et conventum de Fontibus ex alia, super quibusdam quærelis et articulis liberam chaceam dicti domini Johannis, de Niderdale tangentibus, etc.-[ Ut infra, inter cartas de Dacre.] In cujus, etc. Teste meipso, apud Westmonasterium, quinto die Marcii, anno regni nostri nono.

Nos autem litteras prædictas ac omnia et singula in eisdem

contenta, rata habentes et grata, ea, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, acceptamus et approbamns, ac dilectis nobis in Christo, nunc abbati et monachis loci prædicti et successoribus suis, tenore presentium ratificamus et confirmamus, prout litteræ prædictæ rationabiliter testantur. In cujus rei testimonium, has litteras nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste meipso, apud Westmonasterium, vicesimo quinto die Novembris, anno regni nostri primo.

A fine impression of the great seal in green wax, but somewhat injured behind the equestrian figure of the king, is appended to this charter by a plaited cord of blue and white silk, interwoven with gold thread yet untarnished.

XXXIII.—DE CONFIRMATIONE, PRO ABBATE DE FONTIBUS.-[Ex Rotul. Pat., 23 Henr. VII., p. i. m. 5.]

Rex omnibus ad quos, etc., salutem. Inspeximus cartam domini Henrici, nuper regis Angliæ primi, progenitoris nostri, factam in hæc verba: Præcipio quod equi et homines, et omnes res abbatiæ de Fontibus, et monachorum ibidem Deo servientium, sint quieti de thelonio, etc.-[ Ut supra, No. iii. p. 3.]

Inspeximus etiam cartam Henrici nuper regis Angliæ secundi, progenitoris nostri, factam in hæc verba: H[enricus] rex Angl. et dux Normanniæ et Aquitaniæ et comes Andegaviæ, justiciariis, vicecomitibus, et ministris suis de Eborascira, salutem. Sciatis me concessisse et confirmasse abbatiæ sanctæ Mariæ de Fontibus, omnes possessiones et omnes res suas quas juste tenent, etc.-[ Ut supra, No. v. p. 5.]

Inspeximus etiam cartam domini Edwardi nuper regis Angliæ primi, progenitoris nostri, factam in hæc verba: Edwardus, Dei gratia, rex Angliæ, etc., archiepiscopis, episcopis, etc., salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse, et hac carta nostra confirmasse, dilectis nobis in Christo, abbati et conventui de Fontibus, quod ipsi et successores sui imperpetuum habeant liberam warrenam in omnibus dominicis terris suis de Morker, Somerwych, etc.[Ut supra, No. xii. p. 19.]

Inspeximus etiam quandam aliam cartam ejusdem domini

Edwardi, nuper regis Angliæ, factam in hæc verba: Edwardus, Dei gratia, rex Angliæ, archiepiscopis, episcopis, etc., salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse et hac carta nostra confirmasse, dilecto nobis in Christo, abbati de Fontibus, quod ipse et successores sui imperpetuum habeant liberam warrenam in omnibus dominicis terris suis de Balderby, Marton-super-Moram, etc.—[Ut supra, No. xiii. p. 20.]

Inspeximus, insuper, cartam domini Edwardi nuper regis Angliæ tercii, progenitoris nostri, factam in hæc verba: Edwardus, Dei gratia, etc., omnibus ad quos, etc., salutem. Sciatis quod, cum nuper pro eo quod, dilecti nobis in Christo, abbas et conventus de Fontibus, concesserunt, ad requisitionem nostram, Johanni de Waltham, nuper nuncio nostro, jam defuncto, quandam sustentationem, etc.-[ Ut supra, No. xxv. p. 44.]

Inspeximus etiam quasdam literas patentes domini Henrici, nuper regis Angliæ sexti, progenitoris nostri, factas in hæc verba: Henricus, Dei gratia, rex Angliæ, etc., omnibus ad quos, etc., salutem. Inspeximus literas patentes domini Ricardi nuper regis Angliæ, prædecessoris nostri, factas in hæc verba: Ricardus, Dei gratia, rex Angliæ, omnibus ad quos, etc.—[Ut supra, No. xxx. p. 48.]

Nos autem literas, cartas, concessiones et confirmationes prædictas, et omnia et singula in eisdem contentis, rata habentes et grata, ea, pro nobis et hæredibus nostris, quantum in nobis est, acceptamus, ac dilectis nobis Marmaduco, nunc abbati et conventui loci prædicti, ratificamus et confirmamus, prout litteræ et cartæ prædictæ rationabiliter testantur. . In cujus, etc. T. R., apud Westmonasterium, xx° die Februarij.'

(I) The rest of the Royal Charters, consisting of confirmations of grants of land and licenses of Alienation in Mortmain, will be found under the subsequent heads of the places to which they relate.

1.-PRIVILEGIUM

INNOCENTII II. DE PROTECTIONE, IMMUNITATE DECIMARUM, RECEPTIONE LIBERARUM PERSONARUM, DE NON RECEPTANDO FUGITIVOS NOSTROS, NEC INTERDICENDO LOCUM NOSTRUM, ET DE CELEBRANDO DIVINA TEMPORE INTERDICTI ETC.2

INNOCENTIUS episcopus, servus servorum Dei, dilectis filiis Ricardo, abbati monasterii sanctæ Mariæ de Fontibus, quod archiepiscopatu Eboracensi situm est, ejusque fratribus, tam præsentibus quam futuris, regulariter substituendis imperpetuum.

(1) The engraving represents the obverse and reverse of a bulla or leaden seal of pope Innocent III.-A.D. 1198-1216-found a few years ago among the ruins of Fountains, and supposed to be the only remaining vestige of the original papal bulls granted to the monastery.

(2) The ensuing series of PAPAL BULLS is taken from the REGISTER OF THE PRIVILEGES OF FOUNTAINS, mentioned in the first note of the present volume. This manuscript, which records much interesting matter that otherwise would have perished, is divided into three parts. The first contains the royal charters recited in the previous pages, with some other documents, the purport of which has also been noticed. The second part consists of copies of thirty-nine bulls relating specially to Fountains; and of eighty others of a provincial or a general character, interpolated in the series, which directly affected its interests. This division, reduced to chronological order, furnishes the present text-the bulls relating, eo nomine, to Fountains, being printed in extenso and the rest in a form more or less abbreviated, according to their importance or their absence from any printed work. The third section consists of a transcript of the Bullarium or Register of the general privileges of the Cistercian Order, compiled by Jean de Cirey, abbot of Citeaux, in the year 1490, and printed in the next year at Dijon, in a small quarto volume without title or imprint, but with the following colophon: "Opere et impensa reverendissimi in Christo patris et domni, domni Johannis abbatis Cistercii, sacræ theologiæ eximii professoris: ad usum sacratissimi ordinis filiorum consolationem et profectum, hoc opus plurium summorum pontificum privilegiorum, quibus dictus sacer ordo Cisterciensis amplissime contra omnes injurias et insultus, privilegiatus est et munitus; emendatissimæ et integerrimæ impressum Divione per magistrum Petrum Bethlinger Alemannum, anno Domini Mo CCCC. nonagesimo primo, iiij Julias;

Apostolici moderaminis clementiæ convenit religiosos viros diligere, et eorum loca pia protectione munire. Dignum namque et honestati conveniens esse cognoscitur, ut quia ad anima

Finit Feliciter." The rarity of this book-alluded to by Dom. Liron in his Singularités Historiquez et Litteraires, tom. iii. pp. 337-339-is so great that the only copy which I have been able to discover is that in the Bodleian Library, I. Q. v. 56, quoted in the following notes by the title, "Privilegia Ordinis Cist.," though this and the foliation have been added by the pen. It is in the original binding, and has a pictorial frontispiece, engraved on wood, representing a body of monks and nuns kneeling under the protection of the cloak of the Virgin, above whose head is inscribed on a scroll,

"Quam tibi Cisterci placeant sanctissimus ordo,
Hæc nobis primum ostensio facta probat;
Ergo tuo maneat semper sub numine tutus,
Deditus ante alios, Virgo beata tibi."

On the other side of the page is a large wood-cut of the pope seated, in the act of benediction, and holding a bull or charter in his left hand. Two cardinals stand on each side, and abbots and monks kneel before him. St. Robert and St. Albert hold the representation of a church, before which is an armorial shield-Seme of fleurs de lis, an escutcheon of pretence, charged with bendy of six, within a bordure-subscribed "Cistercium." This collection was published in an enlarged form by Chrysostom Henriquez, under the title, "Regula, Constitutiones, Privilegia ordinis Cisterciensis: item congregationum monasticarum et militarium quæ Cisterciense institutum observant, etc. Antverpiæ, ex officina Plantiniana Balthasaris Moreti, 1630," but it is very seldom to be met with in this country. Considering therefore, the unusual rarity of these works, and the absence of any other equally comprehensive collection, I have appended in the following notes, under the reign of each pope, the rubrics and dates of the bulls included in the third series of the manuscript register above mentioned, and not found in the second, supplemented by memoranda from accessible Registers of English Cistercian monasteries containing documents of this nature, and other quoted sources of information. Assuming the improbability of a Cistercian Bullarium being published for some time to come, such an accompaniment seems, also, requisite, inasmuch as the series of bulls in the text affords a suitable opportunity of providing, at least, a connected abstract of documents, which throw remarkable light on the influence and decline of an order that left beneficial results, deeply and indelibly traced, not only in the social history of the kingdom, but in the history of European civilization.

A large portion of the bulls granting privileges to the Cistercian order were probably obtained at the instance of the chapter-general, or of the parent house of Citeaux. In most instances, they were addressed to the abbot of that monastery and all his fellow abbots, in others, with respect to England, to the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of the provinces of Canterbury and York, when their operation was consequently confined to those provinces. Copies of them, under the bulla, or papal seal, bearing varying dates, were therefore obtained from the pontiffs who granted them, by different monasteries-a circumstance which causes much trouble in their identification and arrangement, especially when entered in a register in an undated and abstracted form. Without a knowledge, also, of the general series of privileges granted to the order, bulls might be erroneously supposed to be special and peculiar to a house that had been previously enjoyed elsewhere. Thus, the bull of Benefaciens Dominus, granted to the abbot and convent of Meux, in Holderness, by pope Honorius III., on the 9th of April, in the eighth year of his pontificate (Lansd. MS., 424, f. 17), had been addressed to all archbishops, bishops, etc., on the 31st of December, in his third year (Bullar. Rom. Cocquel., tom. iii. p. 201), and copies had been obtained by Fountains on the 4th of January (Regist. Privil. de Font., f. 38), and by Meux, on the 15th of March in the following year (Lansd. MS., 424, f. 15). In this case, the abbot of Meux probably sought to add greater weight to some cause he might have in dispute, by the production of a special exemption granted to his house under the papal seal. Sometimes the operation of a bull of privileges was confined, in the first instance, to a particular province or provinces, and afterwards was made general, as in the instance of another bull of pope Honorius III.-Cum abbates Cisterciensis ordinis-which was originally addressed to the archbishops of Canterbury and York, on the 25th of June, in the seventh year of his pontificate (Regist. Priv. de Font., f. 36), copies of that date being entered also in the registers of Meux (Lansd. MS., 424, f. 15), and of Sibton in Norfolk (Arund. MS., B.M. 221, f. 145). This was not, however, made generally operative, by being addressed to all archbishops, bishops, and prelates until the 9th of November, in the ninth