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III. 



ANCIENT CHAETEES IN THE LIBEE ALBUS OSSOEIENSIS. 

 By HENEY F. BEEEY, I.S.O., Litt.D. 



Read November 11. Ordered for Publication Novejibeh 13, 1907. Published January 31, 1908. 



The original White Book of the Diocese of Ossory has long been lost ; but 

 transcripts of certain documents contained in it, probably (as evidenced by 

 the handwriting) made some time in the first half of the seventeenth century, 

 were preserved in the Consistorial Eegistry at Kilkenny, in the form of a 

 small paper book, bound in parchment ; and this was known for generations 

 as the White Book of Ossory. This copy was also mislaid a great number of 

 years ago, which will account for its contents not having been described by 

 Sir John Gilbert in his Eeport on the Eecords of the See of Ossory, for the 

 Historical Manuscripts Commission. Having been recently recovered by 

 Dr. Crozier, the then Bishop of Ossory, an opportunity was afforded me, 

 through his Lordship's courtesy, of having its contents transcribed, when 

 Mr. T. J. Morrissey, ll.b., of the Public Eecord Office, kindly copied the 

 original contracted Latin used in the volume.^ The little volume consisted 

 of six folios, 11^" X 8", of thin paper, five of which and folio 6 face were 

 written on. The book has been recently rebound. 



The documents comprise an Inquisition dated a.d. 1331, and fourteen 

 charters or deeds (the early portion of the first being defective), all of which 

 will be found to date between the years 1202 and 1289, i.e., during the 

 episcopates of Hugh de Ecus, 1202-1218; Peter Malveisin, 1221-1230; 

 Hugh de Mapilton, 1251-1257 ; Hugh de Thetford, 1257-1260 ; Geoffrey 

 de St. Leger, 1260-1287; and Eoger of Wexford, 1287-1289. Those wherein 

 the Earl Marshal is named in connexion with Bishop Hugh belong to the 

 period 1202-1218, during which Hugh de Ecus or Eufus, the first Anglo- 

 Norman Bishop of Ossory, occupied the see. In cases where Hugh the 

 Bishop is not mentioned in connexion with the Earl Marshal, the deeds 

 may date as of the time of Hugh de Mapilton, 1251-1257 ; or of Hugh de 

 Thetford, 1257-1260, The documents relate to the property of the see of 

 Ossory. Two of these charters — that of the Earl of Pembroke and his 



1 The scribe of the original made many mistakes ; and the text is, in several instances, inaccurate. 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXVII., SECT. C. [18] 



