Excerpt from Croniques De London, Depuis L'an 44 Hen, III. Jusqu'à L'an 17 Edw, III

The Manuscript from which the following Chronicle of London has been transcribed forms the latter portion of a small parchment book in octavo, preserved among the Cottonian Manuscripts (Cleopatra, A. vi.), and commences at folio 54. It is written in the old Norman French, and from the handwriting appears to have been compiled about the middle of the fourteenth century, but unfortunately no clue exists by which the name of the writer can be ascertained. The period which it embraces is from the 44th of Henry III. to the 17th of Edward III., and at the commencement of each year are recorded the names of the mayors and sheriffs of London.

The following are the principal Manuscripts of which the Editor has availed himself in making his notes, as more particularly relating to the city of London during the same period.

1. The Liber De Antiquis Legibus. This manuscript is the earliest volume in the archives of the city of London. It commences at Michaelmas 1188, and is continued to the year 1272 (1 Ric. I. - 1 Edw. I.), and, besides other matters of great interest relating to the city, gives the names of the successive mayors and sheriffs, or the custodes of the city when the constitution of the corporation was suspended. A copy, made in the 17th century, is preserved in the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts. (MS. Harl. 690.) A partial transcript is also in MS. Cantab. Trin. Coll. inter MSS. Gal. O. x. 3. Mr. Hunter in the Appendix to the last Report of the Record Commission, p. 465, has given a full description of this valuable manuscript, from a transcript made by order of the Commissioners.

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