MS. Harl. 84, f. 290) bears no relation to this matter. Henry I's confirmation of this charter of his father is Y. 21, and the text will be given in the appendix to this volume.

"

This exchange took place in 4 Will. I, A.D. 1070 (see p. 2.) Domesday Book contains references to it (f. 43, coll. 1, 2) under Aultone and Clere. Of the first we read therein "De isto manerio testatur comitatus quod injuste [abbas S. Petri de Wincestre] accepit pro excambio domus regis, quia domus erat regis"; of the other : Has dedit æcclesiæ. W. rex pro excambio terræ in qua domus regis est in civitate." There is no question, therefore, as to the authenticity of the charter. It is couched in the somewhat unconventional formulæ of the period, without date or witnesses, and concludes with these significant words: Et ut munus istud ratum atque inconvulsum habeatur signum istud ego ipse manu mea pono." Below, on the margin of the leaf, and partly cut away by the plough of the binder, is a rudely formed cross, which was made, as I believe, by the Conqueror himself in solemn ratification of the deed. The colour of the ink is the same as that in the body of the deed, and it is reasonable to conjecture that the monks, having obtained good value for their land, caused the charter to be entered in this their most precious volume, and laid it before the king-who would not be far off at Winchester-at some convenient opportunity for signature. The English practice of placing crosses for the several parties and witnesses of deeds in times anterior to William is well known, and they were almost always made by the scribes who wrote the body of the deed; but from William's time onward examples are extant where the crosses have been made by the parties themselves, probably in pursuance rather of a continental than a native practice. For example: (1) the charter of William the Conqueror to Battle Abbey (Harl. Ch. 83, A. 12) facsimiled in Clarke and Holbrooke's "Foedera," which is an early copy of the original charter with crosses, now no longer extant; (2) an Anglo-Saxon charter of the same king to the Old Minster, Winchester, copied into the Codex Wintoniensis, Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 15.350, f. 1196, where the scribe tries to reproduce the ling's original cross; (3) the early copy of William II's charter of Hedreham and Lambeth to Rochester, Brit. Mus. L. F. C. vii, 1, where he says, "Signo sancte crucis propria manu confirmo +"; (4) the charter of St. Cross, Winchester, exhibited in the MSS. Department of the British Museum, with the cross and autograph writing of Richard Toclive, Bishop of Winchester, April 10, A.D. 1185 (Harl. Ch. 43, I, 38); and (5) the foundation_charter of Pulton Abbey in Cheshire, afterwards removed to Dieulacres, co. Stafford, in Brit. Mus. MS. Cotton, Nero, C. iii, f. 215, with the crosses of Robert Pincerna Rannulphi comitis Cestrensis and Iveta his wife, about A.D. 1153, may be mentioned out of many. It will be noticed by those who examine the cross on the margin of the leaf (which is here reproduced from the block kindly lent to the Society by the Proprietors of the Athenæum), that either there was not sufficient ink in the pen given to and held by the writer, or he pressed the pen too hardly-from inexperience in handling it-so that the two parts of the nib opened and made two thin parallel strokes in some parts of the cross where we should look for a single and thicker line. Just such a similar and accidental circumstance is clearly shown in a cross made by King William (and afterwards embellished with spreading ends by a scribe), facsimiled by M. Marcère in the Musée des Archives Départementales, Paris, 1878 (pl.), art. 25, pl. xviii, "Notice de la fondation et des biens de l'abbaye de Lessay, vers 1080 (Manche).' This is furnished with autograph crosses of a large number of witnesses. The use of the split or almost dry nib here by the king is an important corroboration of the genuiness of the mark. Another document of value in the present enquiry, both into the occasional practice of the grantor to make his own signum, and into the remarkable occurrence of the split nib, is facsimiled by M. Léopold Delisle from an original charter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, in the Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France (in commemoration of the Domesday celebration), Paris, 1886, fol. Of this undoubtedly authentic deed M. Delisle says, Chaque croix est accompagnée du nom du personnage qui l'a tracée ou fait tracer," and he signalizes it as "une des plus belles chartes sorties de la chancellerie du fils aïné de Guillaume le Conquérant."

I

p. 72.]

IN DIE ISTO AD PASSIONEM DICITUR DOMINUS VOBISCUM. SED GLORIA TIBI DOMINE NON RESPOND

DICATUR. NEC DOMINUS VOBISCUM. NEC GLORIA TIBI 5
DOMINE.

IN DOMINICA RAMIS PALMARUM .

PASSIO DOMINI NOSTRI IHESU CHRISTI SECUNDUM

MATHEUM .

In illo tempore: dixit Ihesus discipulis suis; Scitis 10 quia post biduum pascha fiet & filius hominis tradetur ut crucifigatur ? Tunc congregati sunt principes sacerdotum et seniores populi in atrium principis sacerdotum qui dicebatur Caiphas ? Et consilium fecerunt ut Ihesum dolo tenérent : & occiderent; Dicebant autem; Non 15 in die festo; Ne forte tumultus fieret in populo; Cum autem esset Ihesus in Bethánia in domo Simonis leprosi ? accessit ad eum mulier habens alabastrum unguenti prętiosi 1.

[THE BENEDICTIO CEREI, OR EXULTET; PORTION 20 OF THE SERVICE FOR HOLY SATURDAY, OR EASTER Even.]

*

*

*

*

*

O2 beata 3 nox que sola meruit scire tempus & horam in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit; Haec nox

1 Here the text ends abruptly at the foot of the page. The subsequent portion is missing.

2 This is a part, wanting the rubric and commencement, of the Benedictio Cerei on Holy Saturday. See the Missale Romanum, Aug. Taur. 1874, p. 125, col. 2. The variant readings in which work are here noted M. R. It is called the EXULTET, from the first word of the paragraph : Exultet jam Angelica turba." The musical pneums, or breathings, which are placed over the letters, are of much interest from their somewhat unusual character, combining the customary marks for raising and lowering the voice, with letters of the alphabet: as m, e, l, s, and so forth.

According to M. Gerbert's Scriptores de Musicâ, vol. 1, p. 95, these letters are called Romanian, and were introduced by Romanus in the time of Charlevere beata, M. R.

3

est de qua scriptum est. Et nox ut dies illuminabitur ? & nox illuminatio `mea' in1 deliciis meis; Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera. culpas lauat : & reddit innocentiam lapsis męstis letitiam; Fugat odia concordiam parat. & curuat imperia. In huius igitur 5 noctis gratia suscipe sanctę pater incensi huius sacrificium uespertinum. quod tibi in hac crei oblatione sollemni per ministrorum manus de operibus apum :' sacrosancta reddit aecclesia. Sed iam columnę huius preconia nouimus quam in honore Dei rutilans ignis 10 accendit; Qui licet 'sit' diuisus in partes mutuati luminis detrimenta non nouit. Alitur 2 liquantibus ceris. quas in substantiam pretiose hujus lampadis apes mater eduxit. Ouere beata & 5 mirabilis apes cuius nec sexum masculi uiolant ? fetus non quassant? nec 15

magne, to make the meaning of the pneums clearer. A letter, attributed to Notker Balbulus of the tenth century states that:-e stands for equaliter sonare; m for mediocriter moderari; s for sursum scandere; l for levare; and t for trahere, or tenere.

The late Mr. Maskell, in his Monumenta Ritualia, vol. i, p. clvi, states that the service contained in the "Exultet rolls" is used at the consecration of the Paschal candle upon Easter Eve, and takes its name from the first word of the beginning of an especial part of the office for that great day. The British Museum possesses one such roll, 22ft. 6in. long, 11in. wide, written, with musical notes, in Italy, with Lombardic characters of the twelfth century, and having pictures drawn in reverse direction to the text so as to be seen by the congregation, as the roll was gradually thrown over the front of the ambo or reading desk. (Add. MS. 30,337.) See Journal Brit. Arch. Assoc., vol. xxxiv, pp. 262, 321. Variant readings of this roll are marked E. R.

1 At the foot of the page is a note in Astle's handwriting:-"These musical notes were used before the present gamut was invented by Guido Aretinus, A.D. 1028.

2 Alitur enim, M. R. 40..

3 apis, M. R.

permansit, this sentence not in M. R.; nor in E. R., which, however, contains the following instead :-"Apis ceteris que subiecta sunt homini animantibus antecellit. Cum sit enim minima corporis paruitate, uigentes animos angusto uersat in pectore uiribus imbecillis sed fortis ingenio. Hæc explorata temporum uices cum caniciem pruinosam hiberna posuerint, et glaciale senium uerni temporis moderata deterserit, statim prodeundi laborem cura succedit. Dispersæque per agros libratis paululum pennis cruribus suspensis insidunt. Partim ore legentes flosculos, oneratæ uictualibus suis ad castra remeant. Ibique aliæ inestimabili arte cellulas tenaci glutino instruunt, aliæ liquancia mella stipant, aliæ uertunt flores in ceram, aliæ ore fingunt aliæ collectam e foliis nectar includunt ."

5 Beata et, omitted, E. R.

6 apis, E. R.

7

quassat, E. R.

filii destruunt castitatem. Sicut sancta concepit uirgo Maria1 uirgo peperit : & uirgo permansit.

2

O beata nox. que expoliauit Egyptios. ditauit Hebreos. Nox in qua terrenis celestia junguntur ; Oramus te domine: ut cereus iste in honore 'tui' nominis 5 consecratus `ad' noctis huius caliginem destruendam indeficiens perseueret. In 3 odorem suauitatis acceptus ? supernis luminibus misceatur. Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inueniat. Ille inquam lucifer qui nescit occasum . Ille qui regressus ab inferis humano generi 10 serenus illuxit; Precamur ergo te domine ut nos famulos tuos omnem clerum & deuotissimum populum ? una cum patre nostro papa Romano quiete temporum 5 in his paschalibus 6 gaudiis conseruare digneris. Qui semper uiuis regnas imperas : Nec 15 non & gloriaris solus Deus solus altissimus Hiesu Christe cum sancto spiritu in gloria Dei patris. AmeN:,

concessa

BENEDICTIO LACTIS ET MELLIS.

Benedic1o domine creaturas fontis lactis & mellis & pota famulos tuos de hoc fonte perhenni. quod est spiritus 20 ueritatis. & énutri eos de hoc fonte mellis & lactis ; Tu enim domine promisisti patribus nostris Abrahe. Isaac. & Iacob dicens. "Introducam uós in terram repromissionis terram fluentem lac & mél." coniunge domine famulos tuos spiritu sancto sicut coniunctum est 25 hoc lac & mel in Christo Ihesu domino nostro.

1 Maria, omitted, E. R.

2 O uere, M. R.

3 Et in, M. R., E. R.

4 una cum beatissimo Papa nostro, et antistite nostro, M. R., E. R. 5 temporum, omitted, E. R.

6 in his paschalibus, omitted, E. R.

7 gaudiis assidua protectione regere, gubernare, et, M. R.

8 gaudiis facies perfrui sempiternis, E. R.

9 Not in M. R. nor E. R., which end differently.

10 Compare the Benedictio fontis, lactis, et mellis, in the Leofric Missal, p. 224, where there are a few variations from this text.

BENEDICTIO CASEI. OUI. OMNIUMQUE PULMENTORUM.

1

Deus qui fecisti & creasti cunctis uiuentibus tuę largitatis alimoniam . humanumque genus spiritalibus escis ac poculis tuorum pręceptorum terrénisque substantiis tuorum donorum indisinenter reficis. té omni- 5 potentem dominum obnixe petimus. ut haec tua dona tú ipse qui ea creasti & nobis donasti hancque creaturam. Casei. siue Butíri. & oui. & illis sanctificare ac benedicere digneris, uescentibúsque ex ea largam tuę benedictionis sanitatem in uisceribus eorum clementer 10 largire. & presentis uitę sospitatem. & future beatitudinem misericorditer indulge. per Christum dominum nostrum. per quem hec omnia domine .

2

BENEDICTIO DICATI AGNI .

Deus celi terreque dominator. qui das escam omni 15 carni. & reples omne animal benedictione. Benedic & sanctifica Hanc creaturam agni. ut dona tua nobis concedas. per Christum dominum nostrum .

BENEDICTIO DIVERSARUM CARNIUM. Omnipotens dominator domine . qui pro nobis ex 20 María uirgine carnem dignatus est sumere quam hodierna die de sepulchro uoluisti suscitare. té humiliter deprecamur. ut per uirtutem gloriose resurrectionis tuę hás diuersorum alimentorum esças dignéris benedicere. & sancti spiritus tui infusione multiplicare . ut sicut 25 per té uiuimus mouemur & sumus. ita per té omnium

1 Compare a somewhat similar benediction in the Pontificale, MS. Cotton, Vespasian D. xv, f. 1226. "[B]enedic etiam domine creaturam casei uel buty[ri] uel ouorum tua ineffabili misericordia ut q . . . uel quecumque ex eis in tuo nomine sanctissimo gustauerint cum tuis sanctis apostolis quos in hac eadem de carne & sanguine tuo refecisti. in eterne [u]ite curia percipere facias sempiterne quie[t]is premia . qui cum patre, :" See also Tiberius c. 1, f. 1316. for another form.

2 Compare the Benedictio Agni in Pascha, Cotton MS. Tiberius, c. 1, f. 103.