I would like first to thank those archivists and their staffs who over the years have been so helpful. To William Serjeant at Ipswich I am particularly grateful for seeing to the deposit of some Blois MSS at Cambridge University Library in the summer term 1971; to Arthur Owen, archivist there, I am grateful for receiving them, and to the staff of the Anderson Room for their courtesy. At the Suffolk Record Office I would also like to thank Patricia Woodgate and Marion Allen. At Norwich I am grateful to Jean Kennedy, at Stafford to Freddie Stitt, Margaret O'Sullivan, and Isobel Morcom. At Magdalen College, Oxford, Gerald Harriss and his capable deputies (Jasper Scovil and Pamela Colman) always welcomed my visits. Especially I want to thank the staffs in the Manuscripts Department of the British Museum and the Round Room of the Public Record Office: their skills have not gone unappreciated.

To my friends I am also grateful. To Bernard Finnemore for the index, to Mary Harris for help with my Latin, to Norman Scarfe for detailed criticism, to Carolyn Busfield for typing many drafts including the final one, to Peter and Margaret Spufford for constant enthusiasm, to David Morgan for interest, encouragement, expert advice, and innumerable references, to Rees Davies for reading a draft and making suggestions which without exception improved it: he has given more time and attention to this book than it deserves, certainly more than I deserve.