Minor Queries Answered.
De Rebus Hibernicis.—
1. Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis, born in Wales, A.D. 1145, was the author of numerous works. Can any one furnish a list of them?
2. What is the date of the Annals of the Four Masters?
3. Who was Tigernach, and when did he live?
4. What are the Annals of Ulster, and when were they written?
WILLIAM E. C. NOURSE.
[1. The printed works, as well as the manuscript collections, of Giraldus, are so numerous, and deposited in so many different libraries, that we must refer our correspondent to Sir R. C. Hoare's description of them in his Introduction to the translation of Giraldus' Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, vol. i. pp. liv.-lxxii. 4to. 1806.
2. The Annals of Dunagall, otherwise called The Annals of the Four Masters, were compiled between A.D. 1632 and 1636. From a MS. in the Duke of Buckingham's library at Stowe, Dr. O'Conor published the first part of these Annals, extending from the earliest period to A.D. 1172, in his Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores. The latter portion has since been edited, with a translation and notes, by John O'Donovan, Esq., M.R.I.A., in 3 vols. 4to.
3. Tigernach was Abbot of Cluain-mac-nois, and died A.D. 1088. He wrote the Annals of Ireland, from A.M. 3596 to his own time.
4. The Annals of Ulster were compiled by Cathald Mac Magnus (Charles Maguire), who died A.D. 1498. They commence with the reign of Feradach Fionnfachtnach, monarch of Ireland, A.D. 60, and are carried down to the author's own time. They were afterwards continued to the year 1504, by Roderick O'Cassidy, Archdeacon of Clogher. See O' Reilly's Chronological Account of Irish Writers.]
Abridgment of the Assizes.
—Where can one see, or what is the correct title of the book containing Abridgment of the Assizes, and Iters of Pickring and Lancaster? It is referred to in Manwood on Forest Laws.
S. S.
[Richard Tottle, dwelling at the Hand and Star in Fleet Street, and who was "licensed to print all manner of books touching the common laws of England," published in the middle of the sixteenth century the following work:—"The Abridgment of the Book of Assises, lately perused over and corrected, and now newely imprinted by Richard Tottle, the last day of September, 1555." It is probable that the Iters of Pickring and Lancaster are still in manuscript.]
Life of Cromwell.
—I have in my possession a Life of Cromwell, written by R. B. "without passion or partiality," printed by N. Crouch in the Poultry, 1715. Query, who was this R. B.?
PHILO.
[The author was Richard or Robert Burton, alias Nathaniel Crouch, who, says Dunton in his Life and Errors, "melted down the best of our English histories into twelve penny books, which are filled with wonders, rarities, and curiosities." The first edition of The History of Cromwell was published in 1693, "relating only matters of fact without reflection or observation.">[