which year an archidiaconus Sodorensis, by the name of Cormac, is mentioned in a letter issued by archbishop Eilif at Nidaros (Bartholiniana E. p. 134). It would even seem from the fact that William had been formerly abbot of Russin, that the pretensions of Furness had somehow again been revived. The three last copies show, that at that time William of Montague was the chief Lord of Man, and that he, Robert the Steward, Lord of Bute, and his son-in-law John Mac Donald of Isla, great-great-grand-son of Reginald Mac Somerled 1 were the three most powerful Lords in the diocese. As No. 19 and 20 we give two other letters, which show that William did not return from Avignon till after the 14th of June, 1349, and that he must have had some influence with the Pope in obtaining not unimportant grants, especially that of encumbering his church and see with a mortgage. From the letter of pope Urban V, dated Dec. 7. 1367, which is given in the appendix as No. 28, we learn, that then there was a question, at the request of the Franciscan Provincial of Ireland and the said William of Montague now Earl of Salisbury, about erecting a Franciscan convent in the Isle of Man, which, however, does not seem to have been put into execution.

P. 31. Obiit autem etc.] The date and year are so precisely stated, along with the time of his episcopate and the consecration of his successor, that there would seem to be no occasion for doubt as to the accuracy thereof. Still it is strange, that in the papal letter of provision, dated on the 26th of May 1377, which is given in the appendix No. 36, William is spoken of without the usual addition for the deceased, of „bonæ memoria". This omission, however, cannot be but a mere occasional blunder.

P. 31. Pridie mensis Juni etc.] The day is rightly described, the 31th of May a. d. 1374 being just the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. This John Doncan was previously archdeacon of Down and nuncius and collector of the papal revenues in these parts, as appears from the letters given in the Appendix No. 29. What our Chronicle says about his election and confirmation, is not quite according to the truth, in so far as the Pope did not properly confirm his election, but appointed him proprio motu by way of provision, without regarding his election otherwise than as a mere recommendation. All this appears from the papal 'See Genealogical Tables.

letter of provision, which we give here at length, with all the usual accompanying letters of recommendation (these, of course, only in extract), vid. Appendix No. 34. The date of the provision, however, or, as it is styled in our Chronicle, the confirmation, is rightly said here to be St. Leonard's day or the 6th of November. From the accompanying letter to the archbishop of Nidaros in Norway (Thrond) we learn, what is exceedingly interesting, that even so far down as 1374, his metropolitan supremacy over the bishop of the Sudreys was acknowledged by the Curia; the Sudreyan church being expressly characterized as „suffraganea tua“. How long it still continued as such, we are not able to say from want of documents, yet there is every reason to believe, that in the papal chancery nothing was altered in this respect, at least down to the time, when the See of St. Andrews was elevated into a metropolitan one by pope Sixtus IV in 1472; for in several lists of archiepiscopal Sees, with their respective suffragans, dressed in the 15th century, and preserved in the Vatican archive, the Episcopus Sodorensis is always referred to as suffragan to the Archiepiscopus Nidrosiensis. Among the accompanying letters one is directed to king Robert Stewart of Scotland, the same to whom, as Lord of Bute, a simular letter was addressed when William, the predecessor of John Doncan, was appointed bishop in 1349. Another letter, containing verbotenus the same, is addressed to „King William of Man" (Wilhelmo regi Minavia), the particulars of which, however, we must leave to our English readers to supply. The cardinal, who consecrated bishop John, was Simon de Langham or Longam, who had previously been prior and abbot of Westminster, then successively bishop of London, of Ely, chancellor, archbishop of Canterbury (in the text of our Chron. Cantuariensem" is distorted into,, Carocuviacum"), cardinalpriest of St. Praxede or St. Sixtus, legate in England and France; in 1373 he was promoted to the Cardinalbishoprick of Præneste, and died in Avignon on the 22d of July, 1376 (Ciaccone, II. 568). Why bishop John, as it is stated in the last words of our Chronicle, was arrested in Boulogne and kept as prisoner for more than a year, as it appears, we are not able to tell; maybe there was something the matter about his collecting-business, which he no doubt did not execute to the pleasure of all parties. Even the successor of Gregory XI, Urban VI, was not satisfied with his behaviour, as ap

pears from the letter given in the Appendix No. 37. Curious it is, that shortly after his deliverance, Pope Gregory in a letter of provision issued to a Sudreyan clergyman, Malcolm son of Isaiah, dated May 26, 1377, the predecessor of John, bishop William, is mentioned without the usual addition for deceased persons, of „bonæ memoria", as if he were still living (Appendix No. 36). This however, must be regarded only as an error of omission, as bishop John must have been too well acquainted with the Pope, that the latter should have forgotten the particulars about his accession.

We wind up these notes subjoining some, hitherto unknown, supplements to the knowledge of the Metropolitan Supremacy of Nidaros over Man and the Sudreys. In a manuscript codex 1 written in the 15th century, „liber censuum Romanæ ecclesia“, composed by Cencius Camerarius a. d. 1192, but with additions of later dates, showing that it has been kept à jour with all subsequent alterations, we read fol. 44, under the superscription „Norwegia“:

„In archiepiscopatu Nidrosiensi - In episcopatu Bergensi In episcopatu Stauuengrensi In episcopatu Hamarensi In episcopatu Asloensi In episcopatu Horchadensi In episcopatu Sudereiensi, alias Manensi (to which is added: Ecclesia Sancti Columbi de Insula Hy i. Bisancios annuatim) In episcopatu Scalotensi in Islandia - In episcopatu Holensi in Islandia In episcopatu Pharensi in Grotlandia 2 In episcopatu Gardensi in Grotlandia."

In another Manuscript codex 3, written about a. d. 1400, or perhaps later, containing first an alphabetical list of all existing bishoprics, with the taxation of their revenues, referred to their respective

T Ms. cod. in the Vatic. Archive.

2 This means, of course, Greenland, but is, as everybody sees, a mistake. Ms. cod. likewise in the Vatic. Archive.

As the See of St. Andrews in Scotland is always spoken of here as an archbishopric, it might be fair to conclude that the book was written after the erection of this See to an archiepiscopate by Pope Sixtus IV. in 1472, but the hand-writing has evidently an older character, and that denomination might possibly be a blunder, of which there are more than one in the book, especially as to the spelling of the names.

metropolitan provinces; then a similar list of all monasteries, and finally a „Provinciale omnium mundi Ecclesiarum Patriarchalium, Metropolitanarum et Episcopalium," i. e. a list of the Sees, systematically enumerated under their respective metropolitans, without addition of the taxes, the Sudreyan See is mentioned, in the first list, under the letter S, in these words:

Sodorensis in Noruegia et prouincia Nidrosiensi, floren. vj.c lx. (660), in the third, fol. 53 recto, the list of Norwegian bishoprics begins with the words Archiepiscopus Nidrosiensis hos habet suffraganeos; then follow first those in Norway proper, and Greenland, next to them „Olorchadensem uel Orkadensem, Scorensem (i. e. Sodorensem) uel Insulanum, prope Scociam est" then those of Iceland, while no mention is made of Man or the Sudreys under the archiepiscopus Eboracensis" or archiepiscopus Sancti Andree".

APPENDIX.

No. 1. (December 9, 1203.)

Innocentius episcopus s. s. dei dilectis filiis Celestino abbati Sancti Columbe de Hy Insula eiusque fratribus tam presentibus quam futuris religiosam uitam professis in perpetuum salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Religiosam uitam eligentibus apostolicum conuenit adesse presidium, ne forte cuiuslibet temeritatis incursus aut eos a proposito reuocet aut robur, quod absit, sacre religionis eneruet. Eapropter dilecti in domino filij, uestris iustis postulationibus clementer annuimus, et prefatum monasterium Sancti Columbe, in quo diuino mancipati estis obsequio, sub beati Petri et nostra protectione suscipimus et presentis scripti priuilegio communimus, in primis siquidem statuentes, ut ordo monasticus, qui in eodem loco secundum deum et beati Benedicti regulam institutus esse dinoscitur, perpetuis ibidem temporibus inuiolabiliter conseruetur. preterea quascunque possessiones, quecunque bona in presentiarum iuste et canonice possidetis aut in futurum concessione pontificum, liberalitate regum, largitione principum, oblatione fidelium, seu aliis iustis modis, prestante domino, poteritis adipisci, firma uobis uestrisque successoribus et illibata permaneant. In quibus sub propriis duximus exprimenda uocabulis. locum ipsum in quo prefatum monasterium situm est cum omnibus pertinentijs suis. ecclesias de Insegal. de Mule. de Coluansei. de Cheldubsenaig. de Chelcenneg. et de Jle. Jnsulas Hy. Mule. Coluansei. Oruansei. Canei. et Calue. Terra de Magenburg. de Mangecheles. de Herilnean 1. de Sotesdal. Terras Abberade in Yle. de Aut Herilneam."