Vlll INTRODUCTION 



the thirteenth century treatises, and the means of noticing 

 the later accretions. 



At the same time, while the main object of the Koyal 

 Historical Society in undertaking this work must naturally 

 be to render the whole of the matter these treatises contain 

 accessible to the members, the literary interest which 

 attaches to these writings has not been altogether neglected. 

 It is hoped that the work of grouping the MSS. and dis- 

 criminating the insertions has been so far accomplished as 

 to facilitate the work of anyone who may hereafter under- 

 take the work of issuing a critical edition of the text. Several 

 of the fourteenth century MSS. are written in French closely 

 corresponding to that in the Statute Book, but the earlier 

 MSS. give readings which appear to be somewhat more 

 colloquial ; and there is very great difficulty in attempting to 

 reconstruct the language that Walter of Henley personally 

 used, either in dictating or in writing. This difficult task 

 has not been attempted in the present edition ; the text in 

 each case is a simple transcript of a single MS., which has 

 been reproduced, without correction, even in those cases 

 where there were obvious slips on the part of the tran- 

 scribers. Though it was tempting to make a more ambitious 

 effort, there is reason to believe that, by supplying a text 

 which has not been tampered with under pretence of cor- 

 rection, the Society has furnished a sound basis to students 

 for further investigations. 



In this translation, also, the requirements of the modern 

 historical student have been kept in view, as the main object 

 has been to render the matter of these treatises readily 

 accessible. In no case, therefore, has the English been 

 sacrificed in the attempt to reproduce the construction of 

 the French sentences as closely as possible, while the text 

 affords the means of verifying the substantial correctness 

 of the translation. Doubtful and disputed renderings 

 are for the most part discussed in the Glossary. 



The treatises are distinctly practical, and were intended 

 to assist men in the ordinary business of life ; they assumed 

 on the part of the readers a familiar knowledge of institu- 





