f^o 106a.

[90] Bernard de Besse is the author of many other writings,
notably an important _Calalogus Ministrorum generalium_
published after the Turin manuscript by Father Ehrle
(_Zeitschrift fuer kath. Theol._, t. vii., pp. 338-352), with a
very remarkable critical introduction (ib., pp. 323-337). Cf.
_Archiv fuer Litt. u. Kirchg._, i., p. 145.--Bartolommeo di Pisa,
when writing his _Conformities_, had before him a part of his
works, f^o 148b, 2; 126a, 1; but he calls the author sometimes
_Bernardus de Blesa_, then again _Johannes de Blesa_. See also
Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., p. 212, and Haureau, _Notices et
extraits_, t. vi., p. 153.

[91] "_Denique primos Francisci xii. discipulos ... omnes
sanctos fuisse audirimus preter unum qui Ordinem exiens leprosus
factus laqueo vel alter Judas interiit, ne Francisco cum Christo
vel in discipulis similitudo deficeret_," f^o 96a.

* * * * *

III

DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS

In this category we place all the acts having a character of public
authenticity, particularly those which were drawn up by the pontifical
cabinet.

This source of information, where each document has its date, is
precisely the one which has been most neglected up to this time.

I. DONATION OF THE VERNA

The _Instrumentum donationis Montis Alvernae_, a notarial document
preserved in the archives of Borgo San Sepolcro,[1] not only gives the
name of the generous friend of Francis, and many picturesque details,
but it fixes with precision a date all the more important because it
occurs in the most obscure period of the Saint's life. It was on May 8,
1213, that _Orlando dei Catani_, Count of Chiusi in Casentino, gave the
Verna to Brother Francis.

II. REGISTERS OF CARDINAL UGOLINI

The documents of the pontifical chancellery addressed to Cardinal
Ugolini, the future Gregory IX., and those which emanate from the hand
of the latter during his long journeys as apostolic legate,[2] are of
first rate importance.

It would be too long to give even a simple enumeration of them. Those
which mark important facts have been carefully indicated in the course
of this work. It will suffice to say that by bringing together these two
series of documents, and interposing the dates of the papal bulls
countersigned by Ugolini, we are able to follow almost day by day this
man, who was,