of the Cistercian Abbey of Stanley, 241 



assign the county of Wilts as the positive locality of the Religious 

 House whose register I was examining, and the tenor of the Papal 

 deeds, plainly indicated by such terms as " quod decimas dare non 

 tenemur de laborious propriis," and other similar expressions, shewed 

 me that the Order of the house I was seeking to which to attribute 

 this book was of Cistercian rule. 



Finally, the Bull of Pope Alexander III., "De Protectione 

 Abbatise de Stanleg," plainly indicated that the Abbey of Stanley 

 was the one which only satisfied the search ; and on consulting the 

 meagre account in the "Monasticon" I was fully satisfied that I had 

 discovered a calendar of the archives of that Abbey, and thereby was 

 enabled to make a valuable addition to the scanty records of that 

 house. 



The MS. is a thin long folio of 17 pages, written in a fine clear 

 hand of the 13th century, and carefully ruled and prepared in such 

 a way that additions maybe made from time to time without cramping 

 or want of space. Many such additions have been made down to 

 the period of the suppression of monasteries by King Henry VIII. 

 It is written along the broad way of the leaf, and there are occasional 

 erasures, but these do not appear to be numerous nor of any im- 

 portance. The book commences with an account of method in which 

 the e: Compositiones " or " agreements " of the house are arranged, 

 namely, "by alphabet according to names of places/'' After these 

 are described, the compiler commences a new section with the 

 " Titles of the Privileges and Indulgences " granted to the Abbey, 

 and apparently arranged according to the chronological list of the 

 Roman Pontiffs. The series commences with several of Pope 

 Celestine III., some of which appear to be grants made to the 

 Cistercian Order in general, others to the Monastery of Stanley in 

 particular. After enumerating a very interesting Bull, entitled 

 " Concerning the absolution of the first vow ot Ralph Fitz-Stephen 

 and concerning the confirmation of the second vow/' documents 

 ratified by Pope Alexander III., to the number of twelve, are calen- 

 dered. Then follow those of Popes Clement III., Honorius III., 

 Gregory IX., Innocent IV., and other Bishops of Rome, with two 

 of Otho, the Papal Legate. 



y 2 



