[This and other running numbers are added for cross-reference. They extend to No. 903.] [folio I(13)] The [The 'Prologe' and 'Cronicle' have been printed from this MS. in Dugdale's Monasticon (edit. 1846), iv. 369, but with the pronoun forms 'her,' 'hem,' altered to 'ther,' 'them.'] prologe of the englyssh register.
Prologue, about 1460. Reading begets under|standing, and under|standing begets care|fulness and safety. Nuns can't read Latin readily, and yet the documents necessary for proper manage|ment of their estates are in Latin. Godstow nuns are well-read in English. To help them with their estates, a well-wisher has made their Latin Register in|to English, giving the sense of it page by page: Alice Henley, be|ing Abbess.
THE wyseman tawht hys chyld gladly to rede bokys, and hem well vndurstonde; for, in defaute of vndyrstondyng, is ofttymes causyd neclygence, hurte, harme, and hynderaunce, as experyence prevyth in many a place. And, for as muche as women of relygyone, in redynge bokys of latyn, byn excusyd of grete vndurstondyng, where it is not her modyr tonge; Therfore, how be hyt that they wolde rede her bokys of remem|braunce and of her munymentys wryte in latyn, for defaute of undurstondyng they toke ofte tymes grete hurt and hyndraunce; and, what for defaute of trewe lernyd men that all tymes be not redy hem to teche and counsayl, and feere also & drede to shewe her euydence opynly (that oftyntyme hath causyd repentaunce), Hyt wer ryht necessary, as hyt semyth to the undyrstondyng of suche relygyous women, that they myght haue, out of her latyn bokys, sum wrytynge in her modyr tonge, where-by they myht haue bettyr knowlyge of her munymentys, and more clerely yeue informacyon to her seruauntys, rent gedurarys, and receyuowrs, in the absent of her lernyd councell. Wher-fore, a pore brodur and welwyller [. . . [Gap left in MS. for insertion of the translator's name.] ] to the goode Abbas of Godstowe, Dame Alice henley, and to all hyr couent, the whych byn for the more party in englyssh bokys well y-lernyd, hertyly desyryng the worshyp, profyt, and welfare of that deuoute place, that, for lak of vndurstondyng her muny [men]tys, sholde in no damage of her lyflod her aftur fallyn, In the worship of our lady and seynt John Baptist, patron of thys seyd monastery, the sentence for the more partye of her munymentys
