The Garendon cartularies in BL, Landsowne 415

Abstract

THE period of maximum productivity of extant cartularies occurred in the second half of the thirteenth century, so that part of the interest of the Garendon texts in the Lansdowne volume lies in their compilation in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Their broadly topographical arrangement conforms to the format suggested by David Walker, but perhaps takes that form of organization back to an earlier time. Godfrey Davis described Lansdowne MS. 415 as 'elements of at least two cartularies, written in 12th- and 13th-century charter- and book-hands', leaving aside extraneous later material added from the late thirteenth century through to the late fifteenth. Although his judgement is incontrovertible, a more extended discussion of the contents of the volume than was allowed in Medieval Cartularies may increase our knowledge of an earlier phase of production of monastic cartularies.