e to the Bible his first
care, and the most prominent place on his library shelf. Besides the
books which the abbots collected for the monastery, they often possessed
a private selection for their own use; there are instances in which these
collections were of great extent; some of which we shall notice, but
generally speaking they seldom numbered many volumes. Thus Robert of
Lyndeshye, who was abbot of Peterborough in 1214, only possessed six
volumes, which were such as he constantly required for reference or
devotion; they consisted of a Numerale Majestri W. de Montibus cum alliis
rebus; Tropi Majestri Petri cum diversis summis; Sententiae Petri
Pretanensis; Psalterium Glossatum; Aurora; Psalterium;[229] Historiale.
These were books continually in requisition, and which he possessed to
save the trouble of constantly referring to the library. His successor,
abbot Holdernesse, possessed also twelve volumes,[230] and Walter of St.
Edmundsbury Abbot, in 1233, had eighteen books, and among them a fine
copy of the Bible for his private study. Robert of Sutton in 1262, also
abbot of Peterborough, possessed a similar number, containing a copy of
the Liber Naturalium Anstotelis; and his successor, Richard of London,
among ten books which formed his private library, had the Consolation of
Philosophy, a great favorite in the monasteries. In the year 1295 William
of Wodeforde, collected twenty volumes, but less than that number
constituted the library of Adam de Botheby, who was abbot of Peterborough
many years afterwards, but among them I notice a Seneca, with thirty-six
others contained in the same volume.[231]

Abbot Godfrey, elected in the year 1299, was a great benefactor to the
church, as we learn from Walter de Whytlesse, who gives a long list of
donations made by him; among a vast quantity of valuables, "he gave to
the church _two Bibles_, one of which was written in France," with about
twenty other volumes. In the war which occurred during his abbacy,
between John Baliol of Scotland and Edward I. of England, the Scots
applied to the pope for his aid and council; his holiness deemed it his
province to interfere, and directed letters to the king of England,
asserting that the kingdom of Scotland appertained to the Church of Rome;
in these letters he attempt to prove that it was opposed to justice, and,
what he deemed of still greater importance, to the interests of the holy
see, that the king of England should not have domi