Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/125

 12 s. iv. APRIL, i9i8.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Mr. H. T. Riley on behalf of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. As the result of a minute study of these rolls, Mr. Watkin concludes that two of the membranes are of an earlier date than was assigned to them by Mr. Blley. Mr. Watkin is of opinion that No. 16 and No. 17 ante- date No. 15, which was mostly written in 1260, and was regarded by Mr. Riley as the earliest.

Plate 'XVI. is a handsome deed of two large parchment sheets, containing in the initial letter a portrait of Henry VIII. enthroned. Owing to its large size, it has been much reduced, and Is the only one of these useful reproductions "which cannot be read. This deed, which is dated June 19, 1540, records the lease to John Champernon of the confiscated properties of the Priory of St. Germans, Cornwall, and of the Priory of Totnes ; and the subsequent grant in 1542 to Katherine, widow of John Champernon, John Rydgeway, and Walter Smyth, is ap- propriately the latest of the collection repro- duced. Other illustrations include three plates of Anglo-Saxon coins minted at Totnes, prepared from the corns in the Royal Cabinet of Stock- holm ; a general view of Totnes, showing the Norman keep ; ten full-page photographs of Totnes Church and remains of the Priory build- ings ; two views from Angers, in the department of Maine-et-Loire, where the parent house of Totnes Priory was situated ; and bound in at the end of the Index volume an unusual, but very convenient place for reference a repro- duction of the ^-gVc-scale Ordnance Survey map of Totnes, together with scaled plans of the castle keep and the Priory and church.

The second volume, which forms the descrip- tive portion of the work, contains chapters devoted to the history of Totnes from the earliest times ; the Abbey of SS. Sergius and Bachus, Angers ; Tywardreath Priory ; the Priory of Minster and Cell of St. Anthony ; and other sub- jects. There are also chapters on various families, besides an Appendix containing much supple- mentary information concerning the persons and places mentioned in the text, gleaned from various sources and arranged in chronological order, together with an account of the de Tracy family. From these indications it will be gathered that the scope of the work extends considerably beyond the limits of what imme- diately appertains to the actual history of the two priories mentioned on the title-page. Mr. Watkin sets out much incidental information gained in the course of his research with a view to elucidating hitherto obscure or unknown facts in the early history of Devon. The sections on the evolution and development of local self- government from the Saxon reeve and the Norman provost, and the acquisition of municipal control by the seneschals of the Merchant Guild, to the appointment of Wardens and the sub- sequent election of Mayor, are illustrated by actual records, and form an important contribu- tion to the history of local government of more tha n purely lo ca 1 importance. jfc [ ^g

The genealogical chapters contain many de- scents which are either new or at variance with "what is found in earlier authorities. This divergence from accepted authorities is par- ticularly noticeable in the case of Judhel, the founder of Totnes Priory, one of the most pro-

minent persons in the early history of Devon. The Domesday Survey states that this favoured baron of William the Conqueror held the burh of Totnes, a house in Exeter, one hundred and seven manors in Devonshire, and a manor in Cornwall. He was, therefore, a person of the greatest importance. In the deed of gift by which he founded Totnes Priory he is described as Juhellus, son of Aluuredus, but no further knowledge of his parents, apart from the name of his father, is forthcoming. Neither do Mr. Watkin's researches help us ; he contents himself with the pious hope that " the French archivists may some day, among their treasures, find an explanation of the parentage of Juhellus of Totnes." With this wish all will concur, but we anticipate some dissent from Mr. Watkin's suggestion that Judhel was never married, the Pipe Roll statement that Braiose and Tracy succeeded to the honour of Barnstaple as heirs having always been accepted. Mr. Watkin, however, appears to have a strong case supported by much negative evidence, principally of the nature of omissions from documents in which, it is reasonable^ to suppose, the wife and children of Judhel, if they had existed, would have been mentioned.

The Index, which forms the third volume, is very full and exhaustive. When he makes use of sub-headings as under Exeter and Totnes Mr. Watkin's arrangement is, owing to his departure from alphabetical sequence and well- defined sub-divisions, confusing. The 68 bald page-references to " Totnes, Great," are practi- cally useless in the form given. We can find no reference under Totnes to the Guild Rolls as ably dealt with at pp. 61 onwards. Nor is there a complete list of the valuable illustrations or reproductions of deeds. These are, however, trivial blemishes in a well-produced and scholarly addition to the literature of an historically interesting county.

Cathay and the Way Thither ; being a Collection of Me&ievvl Notices of China. Translated and edited by Sir Henry Yule. New Edition, revised throughout in the light of recent dis- coveries by Henri Cordier. Vol. IV. (Hakluyt Society.)

THIS volume brings to an end Dr. Cordier's new edition of Yule's ' Cathay.' It contains the story of Ibn Batuta's travels in China in the fourteenth century ; and that part of the Jesuit work on Christian expeditions to China published early in the seventeenth century which relates to the journey thither of Benedict Goes, who died on his road at Su Chan, after some four years of toilsome and perilous exploration, in 1607. Students of Asiatic geography will regret over again, as they once more go through the meagre notes which are all that remain to us, the loss of Go es's diary of his expedition, which seems to have been barbarously destroyed immediately upon his death. Ibn Batuta's ' Travels ' are among the best and most entertaining of the series.

This volume contains the Index, with a ' Note on the Passes of the Hindu Kush,' a list of books quoted by abbreviated references, and correc- tions and additional illustrations for the four volumes. We have to congratulate the Hakluyt Society on the completion of a fine piece of work.