II. Petition concerning an old bridge, with arches too low and too narrow to allow boats to pass, 1442 • 426 III. London Bridge and its maintenance • 427 IV. Inquests as to the maintenance of bridges, _temp._ Ed. I and Ed. II • 429 V. The King’s journeys. Petitions and statutes concerning the Royal Purveyors • 430 VI. The recurrence of leet-days and visits of Justices • 431 VII. The dress of the worldly monk • 432 VIII. Noblemen’s exactions when travelling • 433 IX. Passage of the Humber in a ferry • 433 X. The right of sanctuary • 434 XI. A monopoly of minstrelsy for the King’s own minstrels • 435 XII. Popular English songs of the Middle Ages • 437 XIII. Indulgences and the theory of the “Treasury” according to Pope Clement VI • 438 XIV. Sermon accompanying the display of a pretended papal bull (on the occasion of the coming of Henry of Lancaster) • 439 XV. Ecclesiastical documents concerning chiefly English pardoners • 440 XVI. The first recorded crucifix in England sculptured from life • 445 XVII. The pilgrimage of Reynard • 446 INDEX • 449 {13} ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Knights travelling, followed by their escort of archers. From the MS. Harleian 1319, in the British Museum, fol. 25, painted circa 1400 (below No. 15). The two travellers are the Duke of Exeter and the Duke of Surrey; they go to meet Henry of Lancaster at Chester, to whom they are sent by King Richard II, August 1399. • _Frontispiece_ 4 2. A minstrel dancing and singing. From the MS. 2 B. vii., in the British Museum, fol. 197_a_. English, early fourteenth century • 7 3. The three-branched bridge at Crowland, fourteenth century, present state • 21 4. Old London Bridge. From an illumination in the MS. 16 F. ii. fol. 73, in the British Museum, containing the poems of Charles d’Orléans (fifteenth century). This is the oldest representation extant of the famous bridge built by Isembert and his peers. The painting, of which the upper part only is here given, represents the Tower of London with Charles d’Orléans sitting in it as a prisoner. In our reproduction may be seen the chapel of St. Thomas Becket and the houses on the bridge, the wharves along the City side of the water, and the tops of the white turrets of the Tower of London. The view was obviously painted from nature. A complete reproduction serves as a frontispiece for Vol. I of my “Literary History.” • 29 5. The old bridge on the Rhône at Avignon, built by the friars pontiff in the twelfth century, as it now stands, the four arches and the chapel • 33 6. The old bridge at Cahors, thirteenth century, present state, photographed by Prof. Enlart, director of the Trocadero Museum • 37 7. The bridge at Stratford-at-Bow, as it stood before its reconstruction in 1839. From an engraving dated 1814 • 41