THANKS TO THE steady bureaucracy and occasional litigiousness of the members and servants of Durham Cathedral Priory, County Durham is rich in records of annual folk ceremonies and performances, although we must bear in mind that these records are of various kinds and dates, and that they were written to serve the interests and advance the financial well-being of the priory, not to inform future generations.

The Stag Ceremony

A curious example of this is reflected in an episode in Robert Graystanes's chronicle history of Durham Cathedral Priory, the fourth of five chroniclers of the Community of St. Cuthbert, which covers the period from 1213–1334. When Bishop Louis de Beaumont of Durham died in October 1333, Graystanes, who had been sub-prior for many years, was elected by his fellow monks to succeed Beaumont, but was deprived of the election by the papal provision of Richard de Bury to the see; he remained a monk of Durham until his death in 1336.

The relevant episode of Graystanes’ chronicle survives in four manuscripts:

• 1. London BL MS Cotton Titus A.ii, fols. 103r–v and 120v–121v (C);

• 2. Oxford, MS Bodley Laud Misc. 700, fols. 116v–117r and 129r–v (L);

• 3. Oxford, MS Bodley Fairfax 6, fols. 268rb–va and 278rb–vb (F);

• 4. York, Dean and Chapter MS XVI.I.12, fols. 200r–v and 218vb–220rb (Y).

We (John McKinnell and Mark Chambers) have transcribed and checked the relevant episode in all four manuscripts. Dobson states that L is a copy of F, but in the two chapters we have studied the opposite is probably true. Essential words and phrases omitted by F and by C show that neither can be the sole source for any of the other manuscripts, but when individual words are omitted from L, the other three manuscripts usually copy the same omissions and then supply the missing words as interlinear additions. This, together with the rougher appearance and summarising marginalia of L, suggest that it is a working copy or draft, of which F, C, and Y are fair copies. Later correctors and annotators of L clearly had access to at least one of the other manuscripts. For these reasons, our text is based primarily on L.