Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/353

 The Vatican Library. 341 Palladium, in chavtulano juxta Palladium). This tower was situated by S. Maria Nuova, now S. Francesca Romana, and joined J the arch of Titus, under the Palatine hill and monastery. A watch-tower begun there by John VII. (705-7) was afterwards so fortified that in the nth and i2th centuries it was considered almost impregnable, and there Urban II. betook himself in io88. a The custody of this tower was given to the Frangipanni as vassals of the Roman Church and in some way chamberlains of this keep. 8 At the beginning of the i2th century the regesta of the popes were no longer all kept in Rome. Some part of them, either for greater safety, or through the frequent change of residence on the part of the popes, began to be kept in the monasteries, outside the city. We know this from a con- troversy as to the boundary of two dioceses, which was only settled by the regestum of Alexander II. (1061) being brought from Soracte to Rome. But that the greater part was kept at Rome is known from the fact that copies of these regesta, which could only have been made during this time, are preserved, and preserved only, in MSS., one at the British Museum, one at the Vatican, and one at Cambridge. 4 Now, after Honorius III. (1216-27) no one makes mention of any regesta earlier than In- nocent III. (1198-1216.) Nor when the regesta at the beginning of the i4th century were moved to Perugia, and thence to Assisi and thence to Avignon was there any volume of them remaining earlier than the end of the I2th century. The loss, therefore, of the early regesta, took place after the pontificate of Honorius III., and before the end of that century or the beginning of the next. If, then, the cause of the destruction of these regesta is to be found, we must turn to the history of the muniment tower under the Palatine Hill. We know that documents were kept there, and that it was considered impregnable ; we know that Urban II., as we have seen, and his successors, especially Alexander III., betook themselves there for safety. It is, therefore, the highest probability that thither the regesta were removed. But 1 De Rossi, xciv., Lanciani, Ancient Rome, p. 203. 2 " Ideo dicitur Chartularium, quia ibi fuit bibliotheca publica," Mirabilia Urbis Roma. See Carini, p. 1 8. 3 They derived their distinctive name "Da Chartularia" from it. Ibid.
 * Trinity College Library, MS., R., ix., 17