British museum. Dypt. Z manuscripts (Stowe mes.) BIBLIOTHECA MS. STOWENSIS. A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE Manuscripts IN THE STOWE LIBRARY. VOL. II. BY THE REV. CHARLES O'CONOR, D. D. “Præsentium non magni pendo judicium--habiturus, ut spero, apud Posteros, post decessum, si non eloquentiæ titu- "Codicibus emendandis primitus debet invigilare solertia eorum, qui Scripturas Divinas nosse (aut veritatem BUCKINGHAM: PRINTED BY J. SEELEY. 1819. PREFACE, ADDRESSED TO THE MOST NOBLE RICHARD, MARQUESS OF BUCKINGHAM. MY LORD, THOUGH this volume has swelled to a size much larger than was originally intended, it will not escape your observation that the discussions which occasionally obtrude, were necessary to the completion of your own design.-Interpolated copies of ancient Charters are quoted as originals even by such men as Spelman, Somner, and Dugdale. (1)—Many, if not most, of those which are preserved by Ingulphus, as Saxon, are but translations, into which he has introduced Norman phrases, that were unknown, or at least not used in England before his own time; (2) and if those described by him above 700 years ago, are liable to such objections, it might appear arrogant to assert the originality of much older Charters in this Collection, or the forgery of others, without assigning reasons, which can hardly be alledged without some degree of prolixity. From one Charter in this Collection, which is unquestionably genuine, it appears that when ancient Chartularies were burnt, the Saxon kings issued mandates for their renewal from the mere recollection of the persons who were concerned in their preservation, ordering the (1) See the account of the Saxon charters in this volume. (2) Such as Ballivus, Justiciarius, Bedellus, Feudum, Forisfactura, Tenura, Leuca, Croftum. The author of the "Defence of Pluralities" maintains that all the Saxon charters in Ingulphus may be proved to be spurious.----But in this he is not accurate. Ingulphus's charters are translations into which he introduced such Norman names of offices as best conveyed the meaning of the corresponding Saxon. But there is no just reason to suspect him of interpolation. He honestly confesses, in one place, that the charters of the Mercian kings were originally written in the Saxon characters, and those of Edred and Edgar, he says, were in dupli |