96 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



From r. 51 onwards the manuscript is in confusion. We may at once 

 exclude from consideration the leaves numbered 65, 67, which evidently do 

 not belong to Fleming's Register. Of the remaining leaves we observe that 

 If. 51, 64 (both of vellum) are conjugate, and that if. 51-54, 66 were originally 

 consecutive. The latter were therefore the first five leaves of a gathering of 

 wliich f. 64 was the final leaf. Again ff. 56, 60 (vellum) are conjugate, and 

 the intervening leaves (tf. 57-59) have had their conjugates, which came 

 between ff. 59, 60, cut out. The same fate has apparently befallen tw(j 

 conjugate leaves, the remains of one of which now stand between tf. 56, 57, 

 and of the other before f. 60. These facts suggest that ff. 56-60 are a 

 fragment of a gathering which the binder placed within another gathering, 

 represented by tf. 51-54, 64. There remain tf 55, 61, 62, 63, 68. Of these 

 the first two are of vellum, and are conjugate. We might therefore be 

 inclined to suppose that they form the outer sheet of a gathering. But this 

 hypothesis seems to be excluded by the date of the instrument on f. 55,' 

 which lies within the period covered by tf'. 56-60. And for a similar reason 

 ff. 62, 63 appear to belong to the gathering represented by ff. 51-54, 60. In 

 short, if we put the leaves in the order 51, 52, 53, 54, 66, 62, 63, 64, and 56, 

 55, 57, 58, 59, 61, 60, we obtain two chronological sequences, the first from 

 30 August, 1412, to 30 January, 1414, and the second from 22 June, 1415, 

 to June, 1416. These, then, we take to be the remnants of two gatherings 

 of the original Eegister. Let us examine them more closely. 



In the former there are two gaps. The first is indicated by the fact that 

 in passing from f. 62 to f. 63 we leap forward from 24 May to 21 November, 

 1413.'* The second is revealed by the loss of the first part of the document, 

 the latter part of which is on f. 64.^ On the other hand, ff". 66, 62 are almost 

 certainly consecutive, since the date of the last document on f. 66 (as given in 

 the MS.) is the same as that of the first on f. 62.'' Hence, if each of the gaps 

 is accounted for by the loss of a single leaf, it may be inferred that this 

 gathering had ten leaves, of which the seventh and ninth have disappeared. 

 But it is possible that f. 68, which contains a portion of an instrument dated 

 27 July, 1413, the concluding part of which was on a leaf now lost, originally 

 stood between tf". 62, 63. In that case the gathering was of twelve leaves, of 

 which the seventh (?), ninth (?), and eleventh have perished. It must be 

 noted, however, that the document copied on f. 68 cannot have reached 

 Armagh for several— perhaps many— months after it was written. It is safer, 

 therefore, to regard it as not belonging to this gathering, though it may 

 have had a place elsewhere in Fleming's Eegister. 



' No. 243. -s See uos- 229, 231. a No. 236. ' Nos. 224, 225. 



