constituti matrimonia contraxerint, ab uxoribus sius nisi de communi
consensu ad religionem transire voluerint, et ibi in Dei servitio
vigilanter permanere, nullatenus separentur: sed cum uxoribus viventes,
ecclesiastica benficia nullo modo percipiant. Qui autem in subdiaconatu,
vel supra, ad matrimonia convolaverint, mulieres etiam invitas et
renitentes relinquant."

This it will be seen that the title "Clericus" under some circumstances,
affords no certain indication that a lawful marriage may not have been
contracted by the person so described and consequently that he might not
have _prolem legitimam_.

W.H.

It does not follow that William de Bolton was an ecclesiastic because he
was called Clericus; that designation being, even in that early time,
often used in a lay sense.

I have just come across an instance of a prior date. In the Liberate
Roll of 26 Henry III. the king directs a payment to be made "to
Isabella, the wife of our beloved clerk, Robert of Canterbury, to
purchase a robe for our use." Even in the reign of Richard I. it may be
doubtful whether the term was not used with both meanings; for in the
charter of Walter Mapes, granting certain lands, among the witnesses are
"Rogero, capellano, Willelmo, capellano, Thoma, _clerico meo_, Waltero,
clerico, Jacobo, clerico, Bricio, fermario meo."

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[In addition to the information afforded by the preceding