482 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acaderny. 



the Archbishop of Dublin, and have some entries in common with 

 the book before us. The binding is modern ; and it is lettered on the 

 back " Dignitas Decani Eccles. S. Pat. Dublin," an abbreviation of the 

 phrase, "Dignitas decani et omnium canonicorum," &c., which occurs 

 several times in the later charters, and refers to the privilege granted 

 to the Chapter by Archbishop Comyn in his foundation Charter, 

 exempting them from episcopal visitation, save in their own chapter- 

 house. This exemption was very highly prized, and was regarded as 

 the central feature of the privileges of the Dean and Canons of St. 

 Patrick's Cathedral. Hence this Chartulary or collection of deeds 

 relating to Chapter property and privilege came to be designated in a 

 lax way as the "Dignitas Decani," although it concerns the Dean 

 no more than it concerns any other member of the capitular body. 



The Chartulary began to be compiled at the end of the fifteenth 

 century or beginning of the sixteenth ; several hands may be traced, 

 but none earlier (I think) than 1500. The initial letters are in many 

 instances not filled in, a space being left for the illuminator or 

 artist to work in ; but for the most part they are roughly done in inlc. 

 Avery few initials (such as those on pp. 3, 9, 39, 198, 202, 208) show 

 some artistic or decorative instinct, and there are a couple of grotesque 

 heads which are tolerably drawn (on pp. 11, 12). The intertwined 

 snakes on p. 48 may, perhaps, be a distant reminiscence of Celtic 

 design, but there is nothing remarkable about them. On pp. 146, 

 150, 155, where documents relative to Maynooth begin, the initial U 

 is fashioned so as to recall the TitzGerald shield ; and upon the U on 

 p. 146 is inscribed the FitzGrerald motto, " Crom a bo." From 

 p. 181 to p. 192, and from p. 225 to the end, the writing is in the 



margin the pages of its exemplar ; and (as the pagination of the book itself is not 

 carried very far) it is convenient to refer to it by these pages — thus : M 5 mg. 



The Trinity College copy (T), numbered MS. 554 in the Library Catalogue, was 

 also transcribed while A was unmutilated, and the original pagination is entered 

 in the margin. It is badly written, and is the work of a poorly educated scribe. 



The late Bishop Reeves made an elaborate and complete transcript from A, 

 collating M and T, and incorporating aU the additional matter they contain. His 

 copy (R) is numbered 1061 among the Trinity College mss., and a rough calendar 

 of the contents was printed by the late Professor G. T. Stokes in the Journal of 

 the Royal Society of Antiquaries (Ireland) for 1896-7. R has been enriched by 

 valuable indexes to the proper names which occur in it, compiled by Mr. T. J. 

 Westropp. 



I have thought it well to give the reference in each case to all these extant forms 

 of the Register, as it may facilitate the labour of those who wish to consult it for 

 other purposes. 



