^{page xvii note 1} The bull of Urban VI “Ad futuram rei memoriam,” issued at the petition of the English Government and condemning the alliance formed between Wenceslas and schismatic princes (April 2, 1383), f. 174a, is in original in Cleop. E II, f. 197 ; see Foed., IV, 168. Similarly, one of the letters written by Charles II of Navarre to Henry of Lancaster in 1354, after the murder of Charles of Spain (f. 147a), is also known by a contemporary copy in Calig. D III, f. 68 ; see Delachenal, R., “Premieres négociations de Charles le Mauvais avec les Anglais ”, in Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes, vol. LXVI (1900), pp. 273Google Scholar.

^{page xvii note 2} A good instance of this is the Harley MS. 431, in which are copied royal letters and papal bulls of the later part of the Schism, especially valuable for the Conciliar period ; one of these letters, sent by Henry IV to Gregory XII on Nov. 12, 1408 (f. 47a), was also copied by Hoccleve in his formulary, f. 201b.

^{page xvii note 3} On its contents, see Historical MSS. Commission, IVth Report, App. I, pp. 378–97.

^{page xvii note 4} Lambeth MS. 211. Published in two volumes of the Rolls Series under the title of The Official Correspondence of Thomas Bekington : it contains one letter of Richard II, below, no. 241.

^{page xvii note 1} The bull of Urban VI “Ad futuram rei memoriam, ” issued at the petition of the English Government and condemning the alliance formed between Wenceslas and schismatic princes (April 2, 1383), f. 174a, is in original in Cleop. E II, f. 197 ; see Foed., IV, 168. Similarly, one of the letters written by Charles II of Navarre to Henry of Lancaster in 1354, after the murder of Charles of Spain (f. 147a), is also known by a contemporary copy in Calig. D III, f. 68 ; see Delachenal, R., “Premières négociations de Charles le Mauvais avec les Anglais ”, in Bibl. de l'Ecole des Chartes, vol. LXVI (1900), pp. 273Google Scholar.

^{page xvii note 2} A good instance of this is the Harley MS. 431, in which are copied royal letters and papal bulls of the later part of the Schism, especially valuable for the Conciliar period ; one of these letters, sent by Henry IV to Gregory XII on Nov. 12, 1408 (f. 47a), was also copied by Hoccleve in his formulary, f. 201b.

^{page xvii note 3} On its contents, see Historical MSS. Commission, IVth Report, App. I, pp. 378–97.

^{page xvii note 4} Lambeth MS. 211. Published in two volumes of the Rolls Series under the title of The Official Correspondence of Thomas Bekington ; it contains one letter of Richard II, below, no. 241.

^{page xvii note 1} Latin MS. 404. See F. Bock, “An Unknown Register of the Reign of Edward III ”, in E.H.R., vol. XLV (1930), pp. 353–72. Dr. Bock, while inspecting this MS. at the P.R.O. in July 1929, kindly let me have a look at it.

^{page xvii note 2} “Que tamen alligancia non tenuit (sic) nee fuerat execute. ”

^{page xix note 1} The treaty of London was already known from a fourteenth-century copy in local French archives, and published by E. Cosneau, Les grands traités de la guerre de cent ans, pp. 2–32. The importance of the discovery of an almost contemporary copy need not be emphasised.

^{page xix note 2} These documents are now published by Dr. Bock, in the Bulletin of the John Ryland's Library, vol. XV (Jan. 1931), pp. 84–99Google Scholar.

^{page xix note 3} Cambridge University Library MS. Dd, III, 53. A long summary of its contents was published in the Catalogue of MSS. of Cambridge University Library, vol. I, pp. 106–51. For the sake of convenience, I will hereafter call it C.

^{page xix note 4} After a few folios devoted to privy seal warrants directed to the Chancellor, ff. 5–8b, there are one or more folios missing ; then ff. 9–12a are copied letters patent of the great seal, all styled “Rex etc. omnibus etc. ” with the following closing formulae : “In cuius etc. ” or “T(este) meipso. ” Again, in the next section, ff. 13a–14b, six letters of the great seal are mixed with warrants. But afterwards, all the documents are either privy seal or signet letters.

^{page xix note 5} There are at least two handwritings. Hand A ends abruptly f. 14b, while B takes the pen on f. 15a and goes on to 59a. Then, after a few blank folios, A starts again on 63a finishing the letter interrupted at 14b and filling the last section (63a–94a).

^{page xx note 1} For instance a letter to “Treschere et tresamee cousine ” inviting her to be present at the Earl of Cambridge's wedding with Isabella of Castille, f. 71b ; another to “Tres chiere et bien amee ”, asking her to marry Thomas Trevet, knight of the chamber, f. 81b, etc.

^{page xx note 2} For instance f. 26a, a letter from Edward III to Gregory XI, circa 1376, and ff. 32a–3b other letters to Raymund Beranger, great master of the Hospital, and to unnamed persons. A few letters have proved impossible to date ; not knowing if they were issued by Edward or Richard, I did not include them in my collection : e.g., f. 24a, to the Pope, asking for the canonisation of Thomas de la Hale, a monk of Dover who had been slain by the French ; f. 25a, to the Pope, commending J. de Seremeston, priest of Durham diocese ; f. 26b, to the Pope, commending Robert Thunelby, the Pope's penitentiary.

^{page xx note 3} Privy seal, f. 25b ; below no. 17.—Signet, f. 23a, 24b, 25b, 27a and 28b ; below, nos. 41, 14, 15, 11 and 33.

^{page xx note 4} A letter to Robert II of Scotland, May 1373, announcing the appointment of ambassadors, namely Thomas Musgrave, knight, and John de Appleby, dean of St. Paul (see Exch. Various Accounts, Bdle. 316, nos. 23 and 25), is copied twice, once in this section, f. 92b, another time in an earlier part of the MS., f. 56b.

^{page xx note 1} A letter to the King of Armenia, f. 93b (below, no. 66) and a writ to the treasurer of Calais, f. 89b, are said to be given under the privy seal. Another letter from Edward III is known, from other sources, to be issued under the same seal. See below, p. xxiii.

^{page xx note 2} A letter patent of the privy seal, by which the King promises to repay before Whitsun next, to his cousin Richard Earl of Arundel, a loan of 1,000 marcs sterling, is headed : “Richard etc. A toutz ceux qi cestes lettres verront. ” But the King asked John, Lord of Neville, steward of the Household, William Lord Latymer, chamberlain, John Knyvet, chancellor, Richard Lescrope, treasurer, and Nicholas Carew, keeper of the Privy Seal, to be pledges to his promise, and to seal the letter “ovesque le prive seal notre dit S^r le Roy come ses officers ”. Those officers were in charge in the period 1372–5.

^{page xx note 3} MS. Laing 351. See, for a short description, Cath. Borland, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western MSS. … in Edinburgh University Library, pp. 269–70. It will hereafter be quoted under the abbreviation E.

^{page xx note 4} Feb. 26, a writ for John Parker, f. 85a (C.P.R. III, 286); March 10, for Richard of Conyngton, f. 83b (ib., 298) ; March 26, for the bishop of Llandaff, f. 89b, (ib., 284); May 1, for William Tamworth, f. 84a (ib., 314); June 10, for Master John Rounhalt of Thoren, f. 82a (ib., 315); June 12, for John Warde of Sussex, f. 84a (ib., 362); July 29, for John Faton, f. 87a (ib., 340); August 11, concerning the priory of Scarborough (C.F.R. X, 200). We can add f. 84b a letter of familiarity for Henry Bowet, which may be dated April 1387 (see below, no. 76 n.). One letter, issued at the petition of the King's mother, must be prior to Aug. 1385 (f. 88a), while another, in favour of Thomas Blount, f. 86a, can be dated Feb. 1389 (C.P.R. IV, 10). All the Chancery writs here referred to are issued “by writ of privy seal ”, which shows the normal procedure followed by the King in addressing the Chancellor, through the signet and the privy seal.

^{page xxii note 1} Chapters, V, 206 ; Maxwell Lyte, p. 116.

^{page xxii note 2} The earliest datable document is a letter from the grand master of the Hospital, announcing the taking by storm of Alexandria, 1365 (f. 114a) ; there are a few letters concerning the release of the duke of Bourbon in 1366, and others relating to the conference of Bruges of 1376.

^{page xxii note 3} The bulk of the documents belonging to Richard's reign covers the period between 1385 and 1389.

^{page xxii note 4} We must note that two letters, ff. 98a and 100a, bear the heading Non emanavit which shows that, after having been drafted in the privy seal office, they were not accepted, or sent away; see below, nos. 88 and 57.

^{page xxiii note 1} E. 119a contains also the copy of a letter to Richard II, from the cardinal of Todi, July 11, 1389, the original of which is in Cleop. E II, f. 141, and f. 120a; a letter from Courtenay to the archbishop of Ravenna, also in original in the same B.M. manuscript, f. 131b. For similar instances in Hoccleve's formulary, see above, p. xvii.

^{page xxiii note 2} E. 96b contains a letter of Edward III for a servant of the cardinal of Canterbury, Simon Langham, who died in 1376, but styled “Ricardus ” : we have seen the same mistake made by C., above, p. xxi, n. 2.

^{page xxiv note 1} See later, no. 77.

^{page xxiv note 2} He was sent to France as notarial expert in the peace negotiations (Feb. 26, 1394, I.R. 546, m. 22). In July 1395 he was entrusted, together with J. Barnet, R. Ronhale and R. Selby with the task of inquiring into the legitimacy of the grant of Aquitaine to Lancaster (Baldwin, The King's Council, p. 505).

^{page xxiv note 3} The division into quires is less regular than in the middle section. After a quire of 8 folios (one page now missing after f. 125), there are five other quires, comprising respectively 5, 4, 6, 10 and 2 folios.

^{page xxiv note 4} Except ff. 125–7 where we find : (1) a few warrants of the privy seal, (2) three imaginary letters similar to those already found in the middle section, incipiunt : “Niobas, reigne de Naby ”, “Emelie, princesse d'Europe ”, and “Philippa la beale ”, (3) an extract of the Statute of 1382 against Lollardism (Stat. II, 25).

^{page xxiv note 5} A few blank spaces were afterwards used by a later owner of the MS. for entering other documents, such as f. 137, a letter from the archbishop of Cologne to the duke of Bedford ; f. 142, from the English Parliament to the French peers, Feb. 14, 1403 ; and f. 154, amongst other unfinished transcripts, a fragment of a French poem :

Apres ce que Alisaundre Dodoseur conquis

Et a force de son espee occist le roy Melchis

Floridas esmaria, si amesna Dauris,

Adoncques s'en chivaucha li rois, leas, gaiez et joliz,

Voirs est que Hector fu prudhomme assis

Mais pour un iour soulem[en]t Porrus avoit le pris.

^{page xxiv note 6} Two letters from Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, ff. 129 and 134 (below, nos. III n.) ; other letters from members of the council, ff. 132b, 138b (below, nos. 134 n., 142 n.) ; from E. Stafford (ff. 143 and 153b, below, nos. 164 n., 211 n.) ; from Lancaster, f. 135b (below, no. 116 n.).

^{page xxv note 1} Various Latin verses are entered in the margins :

f. 135b : Principis obsta cero medicina paratur

Cum mala per longas convaluere moras.

f. 136a : Ecce novem novas nonus sumpsit sibi nomen

Nonum dans omen novo capit ipse coronas.

f. 146b : Cereus hic Christum designat sive columpnam

Que fuit Hebreis lux noctis et umbra diei.

f. 154 : De nive conceptum quem mater puerpara finxit

Pater eum vendens liquefactum irsinxit (sic).

^{page xxv note 2} The privy seal is referred to in a warrant to the Chancellor (f. 125), in a warrant to the judge of Aquitaine (f. 128), and in a letter patent of familiarity (f. 143b). Several diplomatic letters are also known from other sources, to have been issued under the privy seal, ff. 128a, 130b, 146a, 148b (see below, nos. 123, 130, 142, 157, 169).

^{page xxv note 3} This section contains seven quires of 6, 12, 8, 8, 6 and 6 folios respectively. The third quire, ff. 45–52, has two pages missing, one after f. 50, where an unfinished letter stops abruptly, and the other torn out after 51. There are two unnumbered pages after 66, but ff. 76 and 77 are missing.

^{page xxv note 4} A few documents are duplicated here and in the previous section, for instance, ff. 29a and 154a (nos. 186), ff. 31b and 152b (no. 182), ff. 50b and 146a (no. 157).

^{page xxv note 5} I published these documents in Le Moyen Age, vol. 29 (1928), pp. 264–81.

^{page xxvi note 1} e.g. a letter to the cardinal of Florence, f. 36a, another from the cardinal of Bari, f. 57, a few documents dating from 1398–1400, ff. 58–60, a petition to Innocent VII together with a letter to King of Aragon, ff. 71–2, and various other documents, ff. 78 and 80.

^{page xxvi note 2} The privy seal is explicitly mentioned on f. 31a (below, no. 216), f. 50a (no. 203), f. 50b (no. 157), and f. 73 (no. 109); a few warrants are mixed with diplomatic letters, f. 30b, 32a, 49a, 51–2 ; but there are two signet letters, f. 67 (no. 211) and 73b (no. 121), and one great seal writ, in favour of the count of Foix, March 10, 1390, taken from the Gascon Rolls (see Foed., VII, 644).

^{page xxvi note 3} In the previous section, f. 146b (below, no. 155), and in this one, f. 27a (no. 115), f. 29a (no. 156), together with a petition of William Courtenay for the same clerk, f. 31b, and, on f. 36b, in a later handwriting, a document issued by Henry IV.

^{page xxvi note 4} ff. 32b, 33a, 33b, 39a, 40a and 41b ; see below, nos. 201, 194, 127, 200, 198 and 210.

^{page xxvi note 5} Some of them were published in facsimile by Prof. Baldwin in his King's Council.

^{page xxvii note 1} In spite of the great historical value of the letters, the later section of the MS. was like the earlier one, primarily intended to provide the reader with precedents and formulae : we note, f. 44b, the following sentence : “Scribatur conservatoribus Rome sic ”, and the formula of address; f. 58, a few words, of a similar nature, but in English “To … (erased) … and to my cousin wise desiring your … ” ; f. 59b, the address of a letter from Henry IV to Reginald, duke of Jülich. The copyist, as in the previous part, also liked Latin verses ; the first folio (f. 27) starts with this sentence : “Lingua loquax mater erroris est et eciam veritatis noverca. ” f. 39b : “Mulier amicta sole. ”

^{page xxvii note 2} Prof. Tout has dealt with Prophet's career in his Chapters, V, 97. The first reference to this official as clerk of the council is in the Issue Roll for 1393 (I.R. 540, m. 20). But our collection has an earlier one, of October 1392, below, no. 155.