Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/507

NOTICE OF DOCUMENTS IN THE RECORD OFFICE, MALTA. ^69 Riclware; given in Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. i., liJ3'-; and by a plea roll of the 15th of llichard II., quoted in Nichols' Leicestershire, in a note to the j^edigree of " Appleby of Appleby" (vol. iv, pt. 2, p. 442). This last bears record, that Thomas Stafford, miles, and Alice, his wife, were sum- moned, &c., " ad respondendum Nicholao Longford, chivaler, et Margerie uxori de placito, quare cum iidem Nicholaus et Margeria et Thomas et Alicia, insimul et pro indiviso teneant inanerium de Penkeston et Normanton cum pertin' de here- ditate que fuit Johannis Sulny, militis, fratris predictarum Margerie et Alicie, cujus heredes ipse sunt, iidem Thomas et Alicia partitionem inde inter eos faciendo contradicunt, &c." On comparing the above pedigree and the facts illustrating it, with the costume of the figures in the church, there seems every probability that the effigies commemorate two of the earliest De Sulneys, and the last knight of the name, who died in the reign of Richard 11. It might not, perhaps, be too venturous to assume, that the knight of freestone, in the south aisle, was Sir Norman himself, the founder of his house, and the warrior in banded mail, his son Sir Alfred. And what a lesson for founder and warrior : the founder was buried away for years among the rubbish of the church^^ard, and the warrior was " removed from the nave into a lumber- room on the north side of the chancel ! " J. HEWITT. NOTICE OF DOCUMENTS PRESERVED IN THE RECORD OFFICE, AT MALTA. Amongst the archives preserved in the island of Malta there exist numerous documents of more than ordinary value, alike to the historian and the antiquary. During a visit which I paid to this Record-office in the winter of 1848 — 49, I was struck with their varied character, as also with the interest- ing evidences, connected with English Annals, preserved in this depository. I am induced to hope that the following- brief notice may be acceptable to the readers of the Journal, and serve to invite attention to this very curious and important collection. Of these, very little is, however, known ; for persons