Note 2 — From the Month of June, 617, Until the Present Date in 618

This document is also contained in the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), i, pp. 443–471. Certain variations occur therein from the text we follow, which is transcribed from the original MS. in the Real Academia de Historia, Madrid; and that of Ventura del Arco purports to be taken from the same MS. This apparent discrepancy probably arises from the two transcriptions being made from different copies of the same document. In the collection of the Real Academia more than one copy exists, in the case of certain documents; and there may be more than one copy of the one here presented. It should be remembered, in this connection, that in the religious houses in Europe manuscript copies of letters from distant lands were largely circulated, at that period, Page 61nfor the edification of their members (as we have before noted); and these copies were often not verbatim, the transcriber sometimes making slight changes, or omissions, or adding information which he had received later or by other channels. Our own text has been collated with that of Ventura del Arco, and variations or additions found in the latter are indicated as above, in brackets, followed by ”V.d.A.”—omitting, however, some typographical and other slight variations, which are unimportant. In the Ventura del Arco transcript there are considerable omissions of matter contained in the MS. that we follow.