Of the Contents of the Red Book of the Irish Exchequer
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OF THE CONTENTS OF THE RED B OOK OF THE IRI SH EXCHE&UER . B& JAMES FREDERICK FER G S N . U O , ES& From the Procee dings and Transa ctions of the Kilkenny and S outh~ Eastern Archae ologica l S ocie J a nua r 1 8 1 8 5 4 . ty, y , TH E Red Book of the Irish Exchequer has been adverted to by several writers . Each has selected some portion of its contents to fi which his remarks have been con ned, but the entire record has i not h therto received that full description to which , from its nature and antiquity, it is undoubtedly well entitled . Sir John Davys ” refers to it in his Historical Relations . Patrick Darcy in his “ Argument delivered in 164 1 by the express order of the House ” ak . of Commons , m es mention of it also Parts of it have been long i l . in since transcribed , and w l be found in the M S Trinity Col l . 3 . 2 0 . lege, Dub in , entitled E Gorges Edmond Howard , in his an d R e ve nu e a l 1 Treatise of the Exchequer of Irel nd , Dub in , 7 7 6 , i . 14 vol . , p , makes mention of it also , but merely states that the “ chief remembrancer has in his custody the Red Book of the Ex ” and adds di . 1 . 4 chequer, , in the Appen x , No , vol ii , p 7 , the oaths ffi i ofthe o cers and m nisters of the Court of Exchequer, and of some t . 1820 . others , aken from the same book In the year Dr Henry Joseph Monck Mason , in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca fac- dra wi demy, gave a simile of an ancient ng of the Court of Ex chequer which appears upon one of the leaves of the Red Book, I r . accompanied by a short and , think , an inaccurate desc iption of it “ ” a Lynch , in his Feudal Dignities , refers to this book , and to m ny r s . l E s of the ent ie appearing in it Wil iam Henry Black, q , has A 1 6 3 0 3 7 6 recently published amongst ” Institute of London , the old Calenda r ; and the writ casions transm i several entries many inte r e sti - wide spread publication . lish Record Reports , an and published from it . There can be little that the earliest entries in this book have not been period of time than during I . It is probable that the not of a later period . That a r & fi the Magna Ch rta Hibe nia of the rst year of Henry III . was th IS u n u e s therein recorded at e time that it was made , , I think, q tionable and n f a r , , theref ore , it is not goi g too to say, that the Red E he iie r Book of the i g q , as a national muniment , from its nature i and an tiquity, talics precedence of all other records l n Ireland . n i The a c ent pagination has been erased , and a more modern has paging been substituted by some rude and unskilful hand , ' whence it becomes somewhat difficult to say in what form this r e cord originally stood . The binding of the book (as I have been informed by a gentleman whose opinion is of valu e ) is not ofan earlier ’ III . s no w date than George time, and consequently it is not pre 11 sented to us in its original form . The book is written partly 0 1 . vellum and partly on parchment , and consists of 7 9 pages As it requires more time and attention to decipher a large n. portio of the handwriting of this manuscript , which is much de f h aced t rough time and careless guardianship , than I have as yet been able to devote to it, I feel that justice is scarcely done to so valuable a record by giving to it a hasty description , but as , each day that l passes , it is iable to many casualties , and as hitherto no attempt de scri has been made to elucidate its contents , the following short p r tion is now submitted, in the hope that at some futu e time the entire book, or at least the greater part of it, may be published . I am inclined to think that the Red Book originally consisted ri of two separate parts , and I shall therefore now desc be it as if it were divided into two distinct portions, namely, Parts I . and II . l - PAR T I . Folios 6 Upon these folios are written an ancient o s Calendar, similar to that which has been published by the Ar ba o 1 a of . logic l Society Ireland As each folio consists of two pages , each month occupies a page , i . e . there are six folios , or twelve pages, being one page for each of the twelve months . At the top of each - k o f O M o f C C u l . 60 7 4 . The Boo bits and artyrology hrist h rch , Dub in, pp 3 of these pages , Latin lines have been written , descriptive ofunlucky d ays , and these lines will be found in a recent number of Notes ” and &ueries . Scattered here and there throughout the entire C a le ndar , there have been from time to time inserted memoranda of remarkable events & these have been transcribed by one who has done more to rescue valuable records from decay and obscurity than i perhaps any other in modern times , and whose antiquarian sk ll and E s ability are well known (William H . Black , q , of London) , who a has published them , as I have already mentioned , in one of the p pers of the Chronological Institute . At the foot of one of the pages of this Calendar , namely, the second page , which is devoted to the l month of February , the following Latin ines have been written Post nonas Febr u ar ii n ov am Lu n am quere u ar tam f Inde q eriam proximo venere, Ibi f e st u m Cin er u m prudentes f ece r e N u nqu am per hanc regulam tu di ssipiere . r obable that It is p w the foregoing lines contain a rhythmical fi direction for the ndi ng of Ash Wednesday . The ancient Calendar to which I have adverted is followed by an the Canon of the Mass , and as it is a perfect as well as a very m cient copy, it is well worthy of the exa ination of those who take an interest in the early ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies . The a 4 9 Canon of the Mass occupies sixteen pages , namely , from p ge to 6 4 page . 64 This Canon of the Mass is followed on page by two lines, which cannot be deciphered by the writer of this paper at present, and these lines are followed by other Latin lines descriptive of the meaning attached to the forms of taking an oath upon the book libr um t o ( ) , having reference, as I presume , the Bible , and not to a the Red Book . As these lines have recently ppeared in Notes a . and &ueries , I conceive it to be unnecess ry to repeat them here a h Upon the same page is given , in the Norman French , the o t ' ’ n s f taken by the members of the K g council , but so much de aced that it is scarcely possible to deci pher the greater part of it . Assuming that I a m co n e ct in the opinion I have formed , that the Red Book originally consisted of two distinct parts , I would sa - a y, that the above mentioned C lendar, and Canon of the Mass , ’ and also the above- mentioned o a th of the King s councillors , as ‘ s b f u of well as the oaths of sheriff , mayors , and aili fs , of the j dges e c , an d the several courts , and of the tr asurer of the Ex hequer of fi a am the escheator , were also included in that rst p rt , and I also a ; fi inclined to think that. the Magna Ch rta Hibernia of the rst year o f a a the a l . Henry III . lso formed portion of origin book ' The seve ral oaths to which I have above a dverted tu e wri tten “ in t u Norman French , and a transcript in wha is sually called long 4 a u Latin, of the Magna Ch rta , will be fo nd in the Appendix to the ’ first volume of Leland s History of Ireland it is al so referred to in “ ” i a un a publ c tion called the Law Reporter , wherein a short acco t was many years past given by the write r of thi s paper of the points of diff erence existin g between this an d the great Charter of Kin g John for England . Various entries which appear in the Books of Orders of the Cour t of Exchequer show that the officers of the Crown in Ireland were sworn upon the Red Book, and the form in which the oaths were administered is manifest by the present appearance of many of f r its vellum leaves, which have been partly worn away by the e quent pressure of the lips of high officials ; so much so that many of li the memorabi a of the Calendar cannot now be deciphered .