[From Diocesan History, 1893]

PREFACE

IN endeavouring to write a history of the Manx Church, I have encountered various difficulties. Before the twelfth century, there is an almost total absence of trustworthy sources of information. Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, the monkish chronicles, the charters and papal bulls, which are the staple materials available for my purpose, afford, as regards a portion of the chronicles at least, a somewhat unreliable basis for the construction of a credible and continuous history. Whilst, during the last three centuries, I have found it by no means easy to make a judicious selection from the copious materials in the insular records, both ecclesiastical and civil, and in the writings of authors contemporary with the events they relate.

Want of space has, unfortlmately, prevented the publication of the canons of Bishops Simon, Mark, and Russell,¹ but the most important of the spiritual laws, and the whole of Bishop Wilson's canons, will be found in the text.

1 for these canons, see Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicaum, or vol. ix. pp. 176—210 of the Manx Society's publications.

I have to thank the Clerk of the Rolls (Mr. Alured Dumbell) and the Vicar-General (Mr. Samuel Harris) for permitting me to inspect and take extracts from the records in their charge, also their officials for having placed every facility for doing so at my disposal. My thanks are also due to the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Stubbs) for assistance in obscure points with reference to some of the bishops; to Mr. John Frowde, Librarian, Bermondsey, S.E., for searches among original documents at the British Museum; and to the Archdeacon of Man (Dr. Hughes-Games) and the Rev. E. McClure for sundry suggestions.

A. W. MOORE.
CRONKBOURNE, ISLE OF MAN, May, 1893.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

To economize space the following abbreviations which are placed in brackets, have been made use of.

Rymer's " Foedera " (Foedera). Vatican Archives (Vat. Arch.). Rotuli Scotiae (Rot. Scot.). Rotuli Hibernia: (Rot. Hib.). Rotuli Patentium (Rot. Pat.). Rotuli Patentium Hibern~e (Rot. Pat. Hib.). Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum (Rot. Lit. Claus.). Additional Charters (Add. Chart.). Chartulary of Furness (Chart. Furn.). Registry of York (Reg. York). Charters of the Duchy of Lancaster (Cart. Duch. Lanc.). Cottonian MSS. (Cott MSS.). Insular Civil Records containing Libri Rotulorum (Rotul.), Libri Scaccarii (Lib. Scacc.), and Libri Chancellarii (Lib. Chancell.). Stubbs's "Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum" (Reg. Sac. Ang.). Le Neve's " Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae " (Le Neve). Brady's "Episcopal Succession" (Brady). Sacheverell, "An Account of the Isle of Man" (Sacheverell). Browne Willis's " Survey of the Cathedral of Man " (Browne Willis). J. M. Neale's " Ecclesiological Notes,"Isleof Man, 1848 (Neale). "The Statutes of the Isle of Man," Gill's Edition (Statutes). Chaloner's "Treatise of the Isle of Man" (Chaloner). Blundell's " History of the Isle of Man" (Blundell). Keble's " Life of Bishop Wilson " (Keble). Cruttwell's " Works of Bishop Wilson" (Cruttwell). Stowell's " Life of Bishop Wilson" (Stowell). Wilson's "History of the Isle of Man " (Wilson). Waldron's " Description of the Isle of Man " (Waldron). Butler's " Memoirs of Bishop Hildesley " (Memoirs). Feltham's " Tour through the Isle of Man " (Feltham). Bullock's " History of the Isle of Man " (Bullock). Lord Teignmouth's "Scotland and the Isle of Man " (Lord Teignmouth). Rosser's " History of Wesleyan Methodism in the Isle of Man " (Rosser). The Rev. P. Ward's " Isle of Man and Diocese of Sodor and Man " (Ward). A. W. Moore's " Surnames and Place Names of the Isle of Man " (" Manx Names," A. W. Moore).

There are no special references to the Chronicon Manniae as it is so very largely quoted. Any references to the pages of Ecclesiastical Records would be impossible, as they are, for the most part, in loose sheets not paged or arranged, while the Civil Records are only partially paged.