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assign the county of Wilts as the positive locality of the Religious 
House whose register I was examining, and the tenor of the Papal 
deeds, plainly indicated by such terms as “quod decimas dare non 
tenemur de laboribus propriis,” and other similar expressions, shewed 
me that the Order of the house I was seeking to which to attribute 
this book was of Cistercian rule. 
Finally, the Bull of Pope Alexander III., “De Protectione 
Abbatie de Stanleg,” plainly indicated that the Abbey of Stanley 
was the one which only satisfied the search ; and on consulting the 
meagre account in the “ Monasticon” I was fully satisfied that I had 
discovered a calendar of the archives of that Abbey, and thereby was 
enabled to make a valuable addition to the scanty records of that 
house. 
_ The MS. is a thin long folio of 17 pages, written in a fine clear 
hand of.the 13th century, and carefully ruled and prepared in such 
_ away that additions may be made from time to time without cramping 
_ or want of space. Many such additions have been made down to 
_ the period of the suppression of monasteries by King Henry VIII. 
It is written along the broad way of the leaf, and there are occasional 
erasures, but these do not appear to be numerous nor of any 1m- 
_ portance. The book commences with an account of method in which 
the “ Compositiones”’ or “agreements” of the house are arranged, 
namely, “by alphabet according to names of places.” After these 
are described, the compiler commences a new section with the 
“Titles of the Privileges and Indulgences” granted to the Abbey, 
and apparently arranged according to the chronological list of the 
Roman Pontiffs. The series commences with several of Pope 
Celestine III., some of which appear to be grants made to the 
Cistercian Order in general, others to the Monastery of Stanley in 
‘particular. After enumerating a very interesting Bull, entitled 
“Concerning the absolution of the first vow ot Ralph Fitz-Stephen 
and concerning the confirmation of the second vow,” documents 
ratified by Pope Alexander III., to the number of twelve, are calen- 
dered. Then follow those of Popes Clement III., Honorius IITI., 
Gregory IX., Innocent IV., and other sii of Rome, with ‘a 
3 of Otho, the Papal Legate. 
x¥2 
