70. Registrum brevium

This manuscript contains copies of writs beginning in the reign of Richard II [1377-1399]. It is a composite manuscript of 308 folios, in a later binding. Bound in at the front are some vellum leaves containing a detailed table of contents (TOC) for the first 98 folia of the manuscript. The listing groups the folios by numbered gathering; within each gathering there is a consecutive list of some of the marginal lemmata for the content of the page. The numbering of the gatherings appears as a running heading on the gatherings. Not all the lemmata are copied into this list, and some gatherings are given more detailed descriptions of content than others, so the TOC reveals both the content of the first section, and the entries most significant to the compiler. The enumeration of the gatherings is given according to the Anglo-Norman system in which, for example, folio 98 is given as XX over iiii (4 times 20) plus X (10) plus viii (8). The logical inference is that the TOC was compiled soon after the text which is now the first section of MS. 165 was written. The TOC ends with folium 98v which concludes a gathering, but may not be the end of the original text.