stoms of those houses (_coenobia_) which
are in our day of the highest authority in the monastic order[131]." The
section relating to books is so interesting that I will translate it.

On the Monday after the first Sunday in Lent ... before
the brethren go in to Chapter, the librarian (_custos
librorum_) ought to have all the books brought together
into the Chapter-House and laid out on a carpet, except
those which had been given out for reading during the
past year: these the brethren ought to bring with them
as they come into Chapter, each carrying his book in his
hand. Of this they ought to have had notice given to
them by the aforesaid librarian on the preceding day in
Chapter. Then let the passage in the Rule of S. Benedict
about the observance of Lent be read, and a discourse be
preached upon it. Next let the librarian read a document
(_breve_) setting forth the names of the brethren who
have had books during the past year; and let each
brother, when he hears his own name pronounced, return
the book which had been entrusted to him for reading;
and let him who is conscious of not having read the book
through which he had received, fall down on his face,
confess his fault, and pray for forgiveness.

Then let the aforesaid librarian hand to each brother
another book for reading; and when the books have been
distributed in order, let the aforesaid librarian in the
same Chapter put on record the names of the books, and
of those who receive them[132].

It is, I think, certain that when Lanfranc was writing this passage the
Cluniac Customs must have been before him[133]. It should be noted that
the librarian is not defined otherwise than as "keeper of the books," but
we learn from the Customs of Benedictine houses subsequent to Lanfranc's
time that this duty was discharged by the Precentor, as in the Cluniac
Customs. For instance, in the Customs of the Benedictine house at
Abingdon, in Berkshire, drawn up near the end of the twelfth century, we
read:

The precentor shall keep clean the presses belonging to
the boys and the novices, and all others in which the
books of the convent are stored, repair them when they
are broken, provide coverings for the books in the
library, and make good any damage done to them[134].

The precentor cannot sell, or give away, or pledge any
books; nor can he le