PREFACE. HE Register of Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe is issued by the THE Canterbury and York Society in conjunction with the local Herefordshire Cantilupe Society. It consists of the first seventytwo folios of a volume measuring eleven and a quarter by seven and three-quarters inches, which also contains the Registers of Bishops Swinfield and Orleton. The part belonging to Cantilupe's episcopate is in good condition, and most of the writing is fairly distinct, though the ink has faded in a few places. As a rule the parchment has been well preserved, the exception being that the right hand bottom corners of several folios have been eaten away, apparently by mice. The writing varies in style, some of it is very small and cramped; on the whole the Latin of Cantilupe's scribes is more contracted than that which follows. A number of documents are stitched to the folios. The work of transcription has been performed as a labour of love by the Rev. Robert George Griffiths, M.A., Vicar of Clifton-on-Teme, in the diocese of Hereford. In the accomplishment of the work he wishes to acknowledge with grateful thanks the assistance he has received from Prebendary HingestonRandolph, to whom he is indebted for his ability to decipher many obscure and difficult portions of the Register, and to whose mature VI experience the accuracy of the text is due. Viscount Dillon, M.A., F.S.A., is thanked for kindly explaining some obscure terms in a passage dealing with medieval armour, also several friends who have given help in determining such references as required full local knowledge. That the bulk of the work might not be increased, notes have been added very sparingly. Mr. Griffiths has also prepared the index which is issued with the Register, while the introduction is contributed by the Rev. William Wolfe Capes, M.A., Canon of Hereford. F. N. D. |