1921 AN 'ATTRACTED' SCRIPT 421 pleted. 1 A, then, was written after the general chapter of 1260 and before that of 1261. The same system of dating when applied to the second of these versions proves that it was written between the years 1358 and 1363, a result far more exact than that reached by palaeography alone. 2 The general chapter of Strasbourg in 1358 confirmed two additions to the constitutions, the one to the section de capitulo generally the other to the section de electione prions.* Both are included in the text of B. 5 Moreover, every change in the constitutions made by general chapter prior to the year 1358 has had its effect : B differs from A in accordance with the confirmations of the general chapters 1260-1358. B, then, cannot have been written before 1358. After 1358 the first confirmation to be found in the Acta is in the year 1363, when an addition is made to the section de capitulo provinciali* This addition is not included in B. The date of B is, therefore, some- where between the years 1358 and 1363. On purely palaeographical grounds, the last eight pages may be ascribed to the fourteenth century, 7 but not to this late date in it. When, however, from internal evidence B is definitely placed 1 Compare (a) Reichert, Acta, i. 106, 1. 13, with marginal note fo. 75 ; (6) Reichert, Acta, i. 112, 1. 15, with marginal note fo. 76. 2 Add. MS. 23935 contains 579 leaves, hence the second version, B, forms the last eight pages. ' Twenty leaves at the beginning and a quire of eight leaves at the end are additions of the fourteenth century ' (Palaeographical Society, Facsimiles, second series, plate 112). See also Wickham Legg, Tracts on the Mass, xxii, and the British Museum Catalogue. 3 ' Confirmamus hanc : In capitulo de capitulo generali, ubi dicitur : qui durante capitulo vices magistri ordinis [gerat in omnibus] dumtaxat, que ad tractatus et acta capituli pertinebunt, deleatur illud, quod sequitur : et extra capitulum locum suum teneat, et dicatur sic : et locum magistri ordinis ubique teneat, fidelium dicat et licen- ciam loquendi tribuat et possit concedere litteras de beneficiis ordinis ut magister, et statim sequatur prout ponitur ibi : sed in diffinicionibus unam habeat vocem. Et hec habet iii capitula ' (Reichert, Acta, ii. 382).
- 'Item. Confirmamus hanc. In capitulo de electione prioris provincialis, ubi
dicitur : volumus, quod electio predicta spectet tantum ad priores conventuales et duos fratres ad hoc idem electos [de quolibet conventu] addatur sic : pro qualibet electione de priore provinciali fienda, si pluries fieri contigerit, noviter electos. Et hec habet iii capitula ' (Reichert, Acta, ii. 382). 5 The text of the manuscript is as follows : (a) in the section ' de capitulo generali * (fo. 577 v , col. 2, last line), ' Si vero magistr[um] aliquo casu abesse c[on]- (fo. 578) tig[er]it, unus ex diffinitoribus eiusde[m] capituli ab ipsis diffinitoribus [ve]l maiori p[ar]te eor[um] assumat[ur] in magistri vicarium q[ui] dura[n]te cap[itu]lo vices mag[ist]ri gerat in o[mn]ib[us] du[m]taxat q[ue] ad tractatu[m] et acta cap[itu]li p[er]tinebu[n]t q[ui] locu[m] mag[ist]ri ubiq[ue] teneat et fidelium dicat et lice[n]ciam loq[uen]di tribuat et possit conced[er]e l[itte]ras de b[e]n[e]ficiis ord[in]is ut mag[iste]r et i[n] diffinit[or]ib[us] una[m] habeat t[a]m[en] voce[m]. (b) in the section ' de electione prioris provincialis ' (fo. 576, col. 2, 1. 46), ' Volum[us] aut[em] q[uod] electio predicta spectet t[antu]m ad priores c[on]ve[n]tuales et duos f[rat]res de quol[ibet] c[on]ve[n]tu pro q[ua]l[ibet] el[e]ct[i]o[n]e de p[ro]vi[n]ciali fie[n]da si pl[ur]ies f[ier]i c[on]tigerit ad h[o]c ide[m] noviter el[ec]tos. . . .' • Acta, ii. 398. 7 See n. 2.
