212 April Notes and Documents Two Lincoln Documents of ii^y The following two documents are printed from originals among the mmiiments of the dean and chapter of Lincoln. The date of the first charter depends upon the date of Henry of Huntingdon's letter De contemptu mundi ; for when he wrote that letter the office of treasurer of Lincoln was held by Gaufridus, while in this charter Jordan is treasurer. The first edition of De contemptu mundi was written in the autumn of 1135 ; but the date of the second edition is less certain. Mr. Thomas Arnold ^ assigns it to 1145-because in it ' no bishop is named as sitting who was elected after 1145 ' ; but it mentions the election of William bishop of Norwich, who according to Gervase was elected in 1146. In the Life and Miracles of St. William of Nortmch ^ the election is stated to have been between March 1146 and March 1147, As it is quite evident that there was an edition of the history of Henry of Huntingdon which ended at Christmas Day 1146, and this included De contemptu mundi, we may assign the second edition of the letter to that date. Bishop Alexander died on 20 February 1148,^ and was buried on Ash Wednesday,^ 25 February. His death was preceded by an illness of some length,^ and we may safely assert that our deed is not later than the end of 1147 ; and we have seen that it cannot be earlier than 1 January 1147. The witnesses are in four groups, which are marked off by a curious symbol. The first contains twenty-six of the canons of the cathedral ;* the dean, precentor, and chancellor are omitted, also the archdeacons of Oxford, Buckingham, and Bedford. The second group are ecclesiastics, including four abbots of Cistercian houses. Next come six knights, of whom the third, fifth, and
- Hen. of Hunlingdon, Rolls Series, p. xxxv n.
- Edited by A. Jessopp and M. R. James (p. 111).
• Lincoln Cathedral Statutes, p. ccxxxvi. ♦ Hen. of Hunlingdon, p. 280. ^ ' mox infirmitati, deinde languori/tandem morti succubuit ' : Hen. of Huntingdon, p. 280. • A similar list of the canons some four years later may be found in the Godstow Cartulary (Early Engl. Text Soc.), p. 342 ; and a list of 1135-45 in Lincoln Cathedral SkUutrs, pp. 789-92.
