Lawlor — A Fresh Authority for the Synod of Kelts, 1152. 17 



Now, Mr. E. J. Gwynn lately examined iis. 92 of the Library of the School 

 of Medicine at Montpellier. The main contents of this manuscript are 

 Geoffrey Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, and Bede's Ecclesias- 

 tical History. They are written by the same hand, which, according 

 to the Catalogue of the manuscripts of the Library, is of the twelfth century.' 

 On the page which contains the explicit of Geoffrey's work is a list of Irish 

 sees. Mr. Gwynn tells me that it is written in a hand larger than that of the 

 rest of the its., but apparently of the same date. Supposing that it might 

 be of use to me, he most kindly made a careful copy of it, which he placed 

 in my hands on his return home. The copy was not long in my possession 

 when I turned to "Ware, and convinced myself that it was very closely related 

 to the document whicli he used for his disquisition " On the ancient disposi- 

 tion of the bishoprics of Ireland." Some months elapsed before I could 

 examine "Ware's source. The Ziber Censuuni was compiled by Cencius the 

 Chamberlain, afterwards Pope Honorius III, in 1192. Its purpose was to 

 set out a list of the bishoprics and religious establishments from which the 

 Pope claimed revenue. Its publication was begun by M. Paul Fabre in 1889, 

 and after his death the work was continued by Monseigneur L. Duchesne. 

 It has not yet been completed. The list of Irish bishoprics is in the second 

 fasciculus (1901).^ Xow, Cencius based his work on a Provinciale — i.e., a 

 list of bishoprics grouped in provinces — which had been drawn up before 

 his labours began. Duchesne gives us a specimen of such documents : 

 it is the PTovinciale of Albinus, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, which may 

 be dated 1188-9.^ Cencius seems to have used a yet earlier Provinciale, 

 from which that of Albinus was transcribed. It was probably compiled 

 between 1164 and 1167.* It is obvious to anyone who compares 

 the documents that the list which Mr. Gwynn has given us has a much 

 more intimate relation to the Provinciale of Albinus than to the Liber 

 Censimm. The Provinciale and the Montpellier list are, in fact, practically 

 identical, save for a number of clerical errors on one side or the otlier. But 

 these errors are impoi'tant. The Montpellier MS. sometimes gives the place- 

 names more correctly than the edited list : frequently the latter is more 

 accurate than the former. It is clear, therefore, that neither is copied from 

 the other. They are descendants of a common exemplar. This exemplar must 

 have been written, at the latest, ten or fifteen years after the Synod of Eells. 



' Catalogue des ALanxi^erits des Bibliotheques PiMiques des Departements, vol. i (1849), 

 p. 320. 



^ Le Liber Ceiisuum de. VEglise Romaine, pv.hlie avec I'.ne preface et un commentaire, 

 Paris, 1889-, vol. i, p. 232 If. The work of Cencius is contained in the Vatican Jis. 

 8486. Ware does not follow his authority "with scrupulous accuracy. 



5 Op. cit., ii. 8oflF., from the Vatican MS. Ottob. Lat. 3057. The list of Irish bishoprics 

 begins on p. 101. -i R. L. Poole, The Papal Oiancery, 1915, p. 193 f. 



