A Consuetudinary of the Fourteenth Century for the Refectory of the House of S. Swithun in Winchester (Volume 6) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886. Excerpt: ... The vertical lines which occur in the text indicate the divisions of the lines in the original MS. I have followed the punctuation of the MS., which is rather peculiar. The scribe apparently used five marks, in a rather arbitrary fashion: (l) the point (, )i placed either at the bottom or in the middle of a line; (2) the colon (: ), which occurs very rarely, being perhaps only one or two faint examples of (3) a kind of semi-colon, the commonest mark of all (S), a point with a flourish above it; I have represented this in the text by a semi-colon reversed (I); (4) a straight vertical line between two words ( ), occurring only in enumerations of things, as "Justiciarii Major Ballivi"; this I have rendered by a comma, and lastly (5) a faint bracket (() at the beginning of parenthetical sentences; the answering bracket appears not to have been used. Before the word " Episcopus" the scribe usually makes two dots, (thus, --Epus, ) as a mark of respect, in lieu of the Christian name. i. Vicecomitibus: --Sheriffs. The dignity of "Viscount" in England did not appear till late, and "was a novelty in the fifteenth century; the first English peer who bore the title being the Viscount of Beaumont, John, a lineal descendent of that Henry of Beaumont, who took so prominent a part in the history of Edward II." Even in his case the title was not English, but that of the French Viscounts of Beaumont in Maine. Bp. Stubbs, C. H., Ill, pp. 471, 472. The Office of Vicecomes was in existence much earlier, the word being used for the representative of the Comes, or for the royal officer (as here) appointed yearly to be a Sheriff in town or county. Fortescue gives us a long definition of his place and duties. (De Laudibus, ch. 24.) a. Sancto Petro veteris monaslerii: --The old Minst...