PREFACE

In this volume the various extant documents-Chartulary and other Papers-connected with the "house" of the Blackfriars, Perth, are, for the first time, put together and printed. These documents now belong to the General Session of Perth-to whom, as trustees of King James VI. Hospital for behoof of the poor and other "pious and divine uses," the conventual and monastic properties in the city were conveyed shortly after the Reformation.

The Chartulary bears, on fol. 23, the title, "Liber Registri omnium cartarum et evidenciarum loci Fratrum Prædicatorum, prope burgum de Perth, fact: anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo octavo,' 1548. It appears to have consisted of 138 fols.—about one half in parchment and the other in paper-which had been written out in portions or fasciculi, and afterwards stitched together. Many papers, however, had not been copied into it. Little more than half of it remains-the leaves 26-76, 106-113, and 119-124 (59 in all) having been cut or torn out. It may be doubted if they were ever filled up. The fragments of them are blank.

The first part, generally speaking, contains, but not in strictly chronological order, copies of the earlier charters. Those actually dating farthest back are found in fols. 23-26. The second part, from fol. 76 onward, contains those of a later period-several of a later than that mentioned in the title.

An "Inventory of Writs" in possession of the Hospital, and dated