Ancient Handwriting

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S n c i e n tH a n d u x r i t i n g sA n I n t r oduc t o r y M a nua l f o r I n t e nd i ng S t ude n t s

o f P a l a e og r a phy a nd D i p l oma t i c ,BY

W I L L I A M S A U N D E R S .

To J. A. M , S.

1 9 0 9 .C H A S . A . B E R N A U , W A L TO X-O N-T HA M KS .


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5

D U N N , C O L L I N & C O . ,P R I N T E R S ,

S T . M A R Y A X E , L O N D O N , E . C .


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A N C I E N T H A N D W R I T I N G S .AN INTRODUCTORY MANUAL FOR INTENDING STUDENTS OF

P A LEOGR A P HY A N D D I P LOM A TI C .

The rules for deciphering- the old handwritingsPalaeography encounters in documents of an earlier date, than the seventeenth ceuturv, are embodied in twoDiplomatic . . . i , , , -, ." . . ,distinct thou gh related and interacting- sciences. T h efirst of these is the science of Palaeography, which has for its provincethe mere deciphering of the writings, as well as questions concern ingthe nature of the material upon which it is imposed, of the implementsby which it was produced, and of the m edium thro ug h which thet h o u g h t r an d intention of the writer are recorded. Diploma tic, on theother hand, the second of the sciences, is chiefly concerned with thestyle of the document, with the peculiar formulas which kept c han ging

from a ge to age, and with the special metho ds of assi gn ing dates, theconten ts of the docum ents, and even the individuals who producedthem . In the words of M . I^eon Ga utier, the learned Professor ofPalaeography in the Univ ersity of Chartres< " Palaeography studies thebody, wdiile Diplomatic studies the soul of the Document." *Fo r genealogical purposes the la tter is not so necessary as a th oro ug hgrounding in the former, and though in the following essay Diplomaticwill not be neglected, our chief and first attention must be devoted to thesystematic study of Palaeography. T o do so in an adequa te ma nn er then,we must begin with the very first appearance of an attempt on the part ofman to keep a permanent record of his deeds, intentions, and desires, andthence we must follow the development of the writing step by step, until

* Le palatographs eludie le corps des chartres> le diplomatist c en ctudic I'd me.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 5wr iting took place. Th er e were five distinct species of these h and s,which may be taken in chronological order. Th ose writ ings, whichwere entirely composed of capitals, were known as Majuscule, whilethe mix ed hand s and those in sm all letters are called Min uscule.T h e Majuscule han ds com prise the first four of the following, but wehave in the fifth the earliest tendency towards the Minuscule and Cursivestyles:

1. T H E P U N I T I V E or A N G U L A R type which is found principallyin inscriptions on stone or coins. Instea d of curve s the letter stake an angu lar form, as D ; J> = D of which the GreekA is a surv ival; O = O j an d JT* P

2. SQUARE CAPITALS : T hi s is the style still in use, to wh ichreference h as already been ma de. Th ere are very few MS S.extant which are entirely written in this form, but it wasfrequently used during the Middle ages for ornamental purposes in Biblical and Litur gical M SS ., and even in Chartersand other documents square capitals are occasionally metwith, often a part or the whole of the first line being in thesecharacters .3. R U S T I C C A P I T A L S .These are modifications of the SquareCapitals, and mark the first step in the degeneracy which, inthe late Middle Ages, had such far-reaching effects, and whichmak es such a work as this so necessary an adjunct to theparaphernalia of the wo rking genealogist. T he cause of thedecadence was, of course, the increasing necessity for writingmo re swiftly, and the con com itant carelessness 011 the p art ofthe scribe. T he m ost chara cteristic exam ples of letters in thisstyle are / \ = A ; f = E - , J = L ; a n d 1 1 T A characteristic of this style also was the fact that all the letters werenot of equal leng th and did no t adhe re strictly to the Hues,but frequently extended both above and below them.


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6 A n c i e n t4. U N C I A L writing is, like the Rustic, a modification of the regularcapital, but instead of being square like the former it is round,and probably originated in the same man ner as the Ang ularform, which was easier to make on stone or metal, whilecurves were easier to form on the softer materials, such asparchm ent or vellum, w hich were now in use. T he derivationof the term Uncial is not certain, but it may have comefrom the Latin Uncia an inch . It first appea rs in St.Jerome's Preface to the Book of Job, uncialibus> utvulgo aiunt,littcris. The chief characteristic of Uncial writing lies inthe fact that the main vertical strokes generally rise aboveor fall below the line. Th er e was still no separation of thewords,* and punctuation was comparatively rare. Th erewere also few abbrev iations and contraction s, a phase of thesubject which will be dealt with at greater length later,though it would almost require a special treatise to itself,form ing as it does one of th e g reate st obstacles the palaeograph er ha s to overcome. Uncial wr itin g was in use fromthe second to the ninth century, and is important as it formed

one of the principal bases upon wh ich the Caroline Reformwas effected.T he characteristic letters are d B A 5 t 5 = D ; . = E ;

h = H ; (Y ) = M . T he age of an Uncial M S. can generallybe estimated by reference to the letters E and M. The earlierthe MS. happens to be, the high er in the will the tongueappear, and the mo re perpen dicular is the first limb of the

. , thus ( Y > .5. D K M I - U N C IA L ; H A L F U N C I A L ; or M I N E D UNCIAL.This isan exceedingly important form as it marks the transition

* The reason why words were not separated was the fact thai , mater ial s be ing so costly, scr ibeswere compel led to economise space as much as poss ible . Th e only wonder i s that they were so longin introducing the Minuscule and Cursive forms.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 7between the Majuscule and Min uscule or Cursiv e forms. Itm ust not be forgotten tha t all these han ds constitute theliterary forms of writing, but there was also a correlative andmore widely used form kno wn as Cur sive wr iting , and thedist inction between the two might be compared with thatwhich to-day exists between ordinary type printing andindividual hand writ in g. In t ime, however, the two formsbecame to a large extent merged into one, and there waspractically no dis t inction between them during the laterMiddle Ages.* Th e following are the principal ma rks bywhich demi-uncial writ ing may be recognised :

(a ) A is sometimes in the form of an i and a c juxtaposed,v iz . : UC* sometimes Hke two cs in the same position AC.

(b ) G is invariably made up of three dis t inct s trokes,3 5 i 5

(c ) The last limb of the M turns to the left 7 > 3 .(d ) N is always a square capital 14,(e ) R is always cursive ~P i T 1.

W e now pass to the true Cursive and MinusculeCursive forms of han dw riting . T h e former of these as used bythe Rom ans is , as has been remark ed,f now know n onlyfrom graffiti or wall inscription s, wax en tablets, or Im per ial R escripts,and is only of antiquarian interest, so it need not concern us here.Ab out the seventh or eighth century, howev er, a tende ncy to com binethe literary and cursive styles can be discerned, and on this combinationthe five National hands, which now became the vogue in Europe, wereto a considerable extent moulded.

* A s the pre-Carol ingian Cursive forms are of l i t t l e or no value from the evolutiona ry point ofview, they are only deal t wi th here in pass ing. Exa mp les are to be found chief ly in Po mp eian Wa l lInscr iption s , on Wax en Tablets , and in Imperial Rescr ipts . Alp hab ets of these ear ly forms are giveni n S i r E . Maunde T hom pson ' s Handbook.

f Se e above note .


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8: A n c i e n tThe Fiye" National"Handwritings

Con cerning the five Natio nal h and s little need besaid here, for notwithstanding their his torical importance, from our point of view, they, with a single exception, contribute little to the development of Palaeography. T he epithet National is somewhat misleading, as they werenot really so in the sense of having been invented by the various nationsby whom they were utilised. T he y were all derived from the Ro m anforms, and were national only in so far as they were worked out on linespeculiar to the nations whence they derived their nam es. T w o of the seNational hands were derived from the Roman Half-Uncial writ ings, andare of special interest to us, both on account of their great beauty, andbecause they were peculiar to our own land:

i. S C R I P T U R U S SCOT IA . The first is kno wn as the Iri sh Natio nalHand or Scriptures Scotia, and is the most important of themall, as it alone had a durab le influence on all t he ha nd s ofEur ope. . T he Rom an missionaries firs t introduced the Uncialwriting into Ireland, and this was modified and improved bythe Irish scribes until it acquired the well-nigh perfect formswhich continue to the present day, and of which the famousBook of Kells, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, isthe most characteris tic example. Th ou gh alien to thepurpose of this book, it may be remarked in passing that theintensely beautiful illumination in this wonderful M S . ,derived from the earlier Byzantine art, and consisting ofinterlaced ribbon ornaments of the most delicate description,often terminating in the heads of griffins, is one of the mosttypical features of this han d and period. In one instance,158 interlacements, all perfectly distinct, were counted withthe aid of a magnifying glass in a single square inch.

There are two species of writing in the Irish hand,termed Rou nd and Po inted respectively, the difference being


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 9that in the latter the letters are laterally compressed andpointed instead of being round, as in the Book of Kells.

A N G L O - S A X O N HANDWRITING.We now come to the Anglo-Saxon Hand which at first was similar to the Irish form,ha vin g been directly derived from it. It was introdu ced intoScotland and England by Ir ish missionaries, and some of theearlier M SS . in this hand , such as the Half-Unc ial copy ofthe Lindisfarne Gospels, are quite as rem arkab le as the bestof the Irish M SS ., if not mo re so. Before lo ng , how ever,the w ritings of the Continen tal schools gradually began tofilter into the country, and to exercise a modifying influenceupon the han dw riting of the period. Th is reached its culm ination at the Norman Conquest, when the native EnglishMinuscule, as the official hand, disappeared; the invadersreta inin g the ir own forms for all legal p urpo ses. T h edevelopment and evolution of these forms it will presently beour duty to follow. W e shall first, how eve r, becau se of theirbearing (which, though comparatively small, was not unimportant, and cannot be despised) upon the evolution of thewritings, from which the wo rkin g genealogist may hope toobtain the greater part of his material, devote a brief consideration to the C ontinental Natio nal H an ds derived fromthe Roman Minuscule and Curs ive wr i t ings .

LOMBARDIC H A N D . F r o m the ninth to the thir teenth centurythe National Ha nd wri ting of I taly was kno wn as theIyombardic Hand. Th e descent from th e Ro m an C ursivecan generally be traced in its earliest examples, and some ofthese are very beautiful. T h e charac teristic letters are theI, wh ich is usually very tall ; t he T , which is like thedemi-Uncial T, resembling two es s tuck together ; andthe R, which is like the dem i-Un cial R, bu t is a littlelong er [ .


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10 A n c i e n t4. ViSiGOTHic.Visigothic was the nam e given to the NationalH an d of Spain. It never acquired the beau ty wh ich was sostron g a characteristic of the E om bard ic H an d, and by the endof the eleventh century it had becom e so illegible tha t a ch urchcouncil mad e a recom men dation tha t it should be abolishedaltogether. Toledo was the great school in which it flourished.It had some peculiarites which were foreign to other han ds,and are worthy of remark, as quum invariably used insteadof cu m ; and the contraction c-^i which in all the other handssignifies pro, in Visigothic stands for per. The usual contraction for per, i t may be mentioned, was then and throu gho utthe Middle Ages J? .

5. MEROVINGIAN H A N D . T h e Merovingian Hand, the last ofthe Na tional styles, was used over the whole ex tent of theFran kish E mp ire. I t was very rude and varied widely incharacter, some of the better examples closely resembling theEom bardic hand. T he chief importance of the Merovingianstyle of wr iting lies in the fact tha t it was u pon it th at theCaroline reform was based, and as the Caroline M inusculewas the actual progenitor of the Rom an hand and th ewritings with which the genealogist is principally concerned,it is from the period at which it was co nsum ma ted tha t ourdetailed and analytic survey m ust now com men ce. Indealing with the Nation al H an ds I have not deemed itnecessary to give any minu te exam ples or facsimiles, as theirvalue to the genealogist is chiefly h istorical, but anyone w howishes to follow up the study of these most interestingwritin gs, whe ther for practical or historical purposes, shouldtake as a basis Chapters X V I. and X V II . of Sir Edw ardMaunde Thompson's excellent Handbo ok of Greek and LatinPalaeography, published in the International Science Series.*

* Ther e are al so several goo d foreign col lect ion s of facs imi les , and treati ses on these system s,l i s ts of which I shal l be pleased to send to inquirers on rece ipt of a s tamped and addres sed en velo pe .


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H a n d w r i t i n g s i iIt is an undoubted fact tha t the most m omen tous

Caroline even t, for good or evil, in th e histor y of Palaeog raphyReform was the reform of penmanship, to use a modern term, inthe reign of Charlemagne, hence commonly called theCaroline Reform. Its imp ortance can scarcely be exagger ated, as it seta standa rd of writing and gave the forms of caligra phy a certain permanence and fixity throug hou t Eu rope . T he reform was inaugurate dby the famous E mp eror, who, imm ediately after h e had ascended thethron e, established a school of wr iting at Aix -la-C hap elle. In 789 A.D.,

also, he issued a decree order ing th e entire revision of all Li turg icalbooks wh ich had formerly been full of errors and inaccuracies. T h eresult was a great renaissance of interest in writing in schools andmonasteries , and new teaching centres were established throu gho ut theEm pire. T he most famous of these was tha t of To urs ,Caroline whe re, und er the rule of Alcuin of Yo rk, the beautiful

Minuscule hand k now n as the Caroline Minuscule received i tsinception and later develo pm ent. T h e chief results ofthis great event, which took about fifty years to reach comp letion,were :1. T he establishment of a form of wr it ing w hich, tho ugh latermodified to a slight degree by n ation al influences andidiosyncracies, was yet, in a general sense, com mon to thewhole of Chris tendom. As t ime went on, the character andforms of the wr iting slowly altered, bu t th e unificationachieved by Charlemagne was never really broken, such alteration being practically uniform and, to a certain ex tent, simu ltaneous throu ghou t Eu rope . T he importance of this is greatertha n appears on the surface, as, in atte m pti ng to estimate th eage of a document when dates and other evidences are absent,

the style of writin g employed m ay gener ally be taken as asafe guide. A certain allowance should always be mad e, how ever, for the time th at a new style would take to reach such


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12 A n c i e n tcoun tries as were at some distance from tha t in wh ich it firstappeared. A type appearing in France, for example, generallytook from eight to ten years to reach and to come into generaluse in England and Scotland.2. The national hands gradually declined and disappeared, or

were absorbed in the new form.3. A beginning was made, tentative at first, but, as time went on,more regularly, with the separation of words.4. Th ere was a general roundness and boldness in the formationof the letters, and altogether the writing was of much greaterlegibili ty and beauty than any of the national hands of theperiod.

Th ere seems, however, to be in man an innate tendency to degeneraterather than to progress, or even to maintain for any length of time a fairstandard of excellence, unless there be some stimulating influence drivingor draw ing him on; and as in morals and conduc t, so is it in art. T h ehig h standard set by Charlemag ne th en did n ot long continue hadit done so, this book would scarcely hav e been necessary. Til l th emidd le of the thirtee nth century the standa rd w as ma intain ed and frequently bettered. T he twelfth century charter, given at the end ofthis volume (facsimile No. 1 ) , is typical of the style in vo gue thro ug hout En glan d and Scotland at this period. I ts clear , legible and ha ndsom eappearance could hardly be surpassed, and it is second to non e of th eother handw ritings of Northern Eu rop e at the same period. Only inItaly do we find anything at all to compare with it for the qualitiesnamed.The Intrusion * n ^ m * ^ e ^ ^ e P r e c e ^ n g century , howev er, theof the Gothic type had already commenced to make its appear-Gothic Type a n C e > a n C ^ ^ c o n s ^ t u t e s t n e prevailing form during thethir teenth and later centuries, though we frequently f indthe Caroline Minuscule and the Gothic Minuscule at the former period,existing side by side.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 1 3Up to this t ime there are few M SS . written in the post-Carolinehand which cannot be deciphered after a little practice by even the, . uninitiated, and beyond a word or two upon the charac-Chara cteristics ' / 1

n j. 1 v v t ter istics 01 the writings of the three preceding centuries,of the X., XI. . , , , r ,and XII noth ing need be said about them . Alm ost from theCenturies "beginning, as has already been remarked, there were,of course, two concu rrent styles, vi z. : the Book Han d,and the Cursive writing which was more commonly employed forCha rters, Household Accounts, and for the mu ltifarious co nglo me rationof docum ents which are of special intere st to Gen ealog ists, and to thislatter our chief attention will be presently directed.

T h e characteristics of the th ree ce nturies in questio n ma y the n bebriefly summarised as follows:

X . CENTURY .The writing is rounder, better proportioned, andgenerally more elegant th an t ha t of previo us cen turies,tho ug h a great ma ny old letters are still retain ed. T h e lettersare generally elongated, and liga ture s are fewer as th e han dbecomes more legible.X I . CENTURY.There is a steady improvement both in booksand in diplomas. Ligatures almost disappear, the open a IC ^ }becomes less frequent, and long letters such as b, d ff, /t , kand / are mad e m uch longer, and their lo ng shafts are frequently ornamented, v sometimes takes the place of 11 at the

begin ning of words. W hen two is come together, strokes arefrequently placed above them , as // , and continu ation s ofwords are generally indicated by hyp hen s. Contractionsaphase of the subject which will be specially dealt with furtheronare gradually increasing,

X I I . CENTURY .The Caroline Minuscule reached its highestperfection. Th e letters become taller; the open a is 110 longerfound; the dipthong cc is replaced by c\ it and v as consonants


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I 4 A n c i e n tare interchangeable at the beg inn ing of wo rds; ?z frequentlytakes the uncial form ; the small $ is frequently found both atthe beginning and at the end of words; and long letters beginto have hooks both below and above the line. (See th e secondCharter, Facsimile No. II. , for a good example of the writingof this century.)

T h e signs of decadence, which comm enced in the thir teen th century,and for which it is specially remarkable, are evidenced by the angularityof the w ritings of the period, a sure sign also that th e G othic influence isnow suprem e. In the Book Ha nd this, as time goes on, undergoes aBl k L tt P r o c e s f slow development until it culminates in theand Italics g e n u i n e Black Letter, which, at the time of the inventionof printin g had reached its worst condition, and becamestereotyped in the earliest printed books . T he Ita lians, with theircustomary artistic insigh t and' good sense, abando ned t he Go thic typeand introduced the Rom an Minu scule, wh ich was borrowed from the mby Fra nce and E ng land , and has since remained the literar y type ofthese nations. Th e G erman and other Teutonic peoples retained the

Go thic alphabet however, and they are only now beg inn ing to discontinu e it. T he Aldine type, to which we now give the nam e Italics, itmay further be interesting to note, was first used by Aldus Minutius in1501, in a Virgil which he printed at Venice. T his was the Cursiveform of the period, and the particular style adopted was said to hav ebeen the actual hand-writing of the poet Petrarch.. \ , C U , i e S , T n e chief difficulties in interpreting the Book handsm the Black c . . i i M 1 * . . . .

r , , , irom the thirteen th centu ry till the inven tion of pri nti ngL i P T T p y f l t i nCursiYe Hands ^ i e l 1 ' a r e t l l 0 S e i n c i c l e 2 l t a l t o t n e deciphering of ordinaryBlack Letter type and are easily overcome. T he y

principally consist in disting uishin g such comb inations as mi from nu ;m from in ; z from r, and so on. Such a word as W&ka, ^mirifica, m aybe cited in illustration of the confusion such methods involve.


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i 6 A n c i e n temanating from the Royal and Imperial Chancellaries were s t i l ltolerably legible. But in the various offices to wh ich a genealog istwill instinctively turn, the increase of business and consequent pressureof time caused the writing to be done hurriedly and carelessly, and someof these hands are exceedingly puzzling even to the expert palaeographer.Exem plification of th is will be found in N os. IV ., V . and V I. ofthe Facsimiles , which have been chosen from among the worst examplesof such hands to be found in H.M . Reg ister House in Ed inb urg h, andfrom these the learner should familiarise himself with the formations ofthe various letters and characteristics of the periods which they serve toillustrate. H e should obtain as m uch p ractice inThe XV.XYI & XVII deciphering t n e writings of MSS. dating from the , . ' beginn ing of the XV . to the end of the X V II . CenturyCenturies .as possible. T hi s can be easily obtained if he resideswithin a near radius of a good library, and the reproductions best suitedfor his purpose may be found in the following volum es, all of wh ich areof easy access :

1. Sandars (W. B.). Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of England.(Ordnance Survey), 4 parts . South amp ton, 1865-1868. fol.2. Innes (C) . Facsimiles of National Manu scripts of Scotland.(Ordnance Survey), 3 parts . Sou tham pton, 1867-1871. fol.

3. Gilbert (J .T.) . Facsimiles of National Manu scripts of Ireland.(Ordnance Survey), 4 parts (in 5 vols.). Du blin and L ond on,1874-1884. fol .

4. The publications of the Palaeographieal Society, and the NewPalaeographical Society.T h ese are the commonest and most accessible collections of repro duction s, but there are many mo re besides, both British and Foreig n,*and it m ust depend upon the situation of th e studen t's place of abode towhat extent he will be able to gain experience from such facsimiles.

* I wi l l be glad to supply l is ts of such reprodu ctions on app l icatio n. See No te on page 10.Correspo ndents should sta te wh ether th e ir researches or studies are restr icted to any particular per iod.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 17Acquisitionof Facility

Of course it must never be forgotten that there is noroyal road to the acquisition of facility in the decipheringof these cramped and crabbed an cient writin gs, and jus t ashours of practice must be devoted to golf, piano-playing, or to speakinga foreign language before any measure of skill is attained, so in palaeography every opportunity for obtaining experience should be seized andused to th e best advantage. But on the other han d, tho ug h the initialdifficulties are great, no one need despair; a systematic study of thewritin gs of this period, of which the last six reprod uction s here givenconstitute a representative series of examples, will soon make the studentfamiliar with their charac teristics, an d he will find th at there is seldomany fundamental deviation from these types. A lit t le patience andlogical inference will soon do the rest, and enable him in time to spell outthe writin g upon any docu ment of the period in q uestion. Of coursesome know ledge of La tin is essential, as most of the doc um ents at thattime were written in this lan gu age , bu t as it is chiefly w ith prope r n am estha t the genealogist has to deal, th is know ledge need not be profound,unless he is desirous of learning all tha t was connected with the individual for whom he is in search.

From the middle of the fourteenth century, the process of deg radationwas rapid and very marked . T he angu larity which had app eared withthe adoption of the Gothic forms increases as time goes 011, and ultimatelybecom es univ ersal. T h e closed .? becomes greatly exaggerated G~ , andcare must be exercised to prevent its being taken for 0, T h e e also takesa form not unlike 0, and persists in th at form & , or in a modification orexagg eration of i t, down to the end of the seventeen th century . In anIndenUire dated 20th October, 1682, in my possession, it is consistentlywr i t ten thus , ( 0 r o - t n r ; ff?&-&trthf~ ; etc.) . T he scribesalso became more and more careless as the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies progressed, as is evidenced by the increasing heavine ss andcoarseness of the writings. In the reign of Elizabeth , however, our


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i 8 A n c i e n tintercourse with Italy began to hav e a beneficial effect up on ca ligraph y,as upo n the other arts of the tim e, an d it quick ly toned down into alighter and more elegant form, of wh ich the w rit ing in the Le tter ofQueen M ary and Darnley, our seventh Facsim ile, is a representative andcharacteristic exam ple. It is a clear fluent style, such as no prev iousCursive hand had ever before approached in E ng lan d, and i t containsintrinsic evidence that the appearance of the current modern hand is notfar distant.

Abo ut the beg inni ng of the sixteen th century , for official purposes,a new kind of writing was evolved, and it took the form of a modificationand intermingling of the Book and Cursive Hands of the period, and thisbecam e the style tha t was g enerally employed for le gal d ocu me nts. Itwas, not unnaturally, characterised at first by a certain heaviness, which,however, gradually became less, and it likewise grew more eleganttill the first decade of the seventeenth century, when it also acquired a, form not lackin g in sym m etry and beauty . Ou t of th isChancery and A 1 T T _ . . , - - ,, T T came the Chancery Hand, which was used for recordsCourt Hands , ' . , , T Tunder the Great Seal, and the C ourt Ha nd employed mthe Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, for fines andrecoveries, placita, etc. T he latter w as in use till the reign ofGeorge II . , and the former s t i l l survives in the modern engrossinghand s employed in enrolments and patents . The se hand s, with theassistanc e of the know ledge gained from a stud y of our facsimiles, areno t difficult to decipher, and after a littl e pra ctice , facility will soon beacquired. Wright 's Court Hand Restored (1879) will be found valuableby th e studen t, if in difficulty, for the se form s. In my note s on th efacsimiles, reference is again made to them, but they are not really hardto read, and after a few of their typ ical pec uliar ities are m aster ed, nodifficulty w hatever should be experienc ed. I have in m y possessionindenture s and other legal documents d ating from the m iddle of theseventeenth to the end of the n inetee nth century , any one of w hich anindivid ual of average intelligence wh o had never seen such a docu me ntin his life before, could read after five nrinutes study of the writing.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 1 9The chief difficulty which the palaeographer has toSigns and . . 1 0 iAbbreviations e n c o n n t e r 1 1 1 " 1 S t a s ^ * decipher ing t u e writ ings ofancient times lies, however, not so m uc h in the cramped,crabbed and corrupt nature of the writ ing itself, which , bad as itnot infrequently is, yet exhibits even in its badness something of asystem that can be studied and overcome, and has generally a certaindegree of consistency and universality rendering it capable of more com

plete scientif ic treatment than otherwise were possible; as in theconfusing methods adopted by the scribes of abbreviat ing, contract ing,and expressing words and phrases, by means of s igns wherever andwhenever it could be done. The prevailing cause of so t roublesome acustom was the expeusiveness and scarcity of pa r c hm e n t and othermaterials upon which the writings were made. As the business of theworld increased also, the necessity of economising t ime as well asmaterial, likewise became a factor of no small importance. We thus findthat from the Caroline Reform there is a continuous increase of suchabbreviations and contractions to be found in documents . Some ofthese were universally adopted and w Tere common to all Europeancou ntries. Othe rs were restricted to certain nations and localities, whilenot a few were produced at the mere whim or necessity of individualscribes. It is a subject which would, for anyth ing approaching anexhaustive treatment, require a treatise to itself, and only the commonestforms can be dealt with here. Th ere are several good dictionaries whichm ay be found useful, however, as

1. Dizionario di Abrcviaturc La fine ed Italia u e, by A. Cappelli .Milan, 1899. 1 2 1 1 1 0 .

2. Dictionairc des Abrcviations La fines el Fratifaiscs, byA, Chassant. Paris , 1884. 8vo.3. The Record Interpreter; Abbreviations, crY., in EnglishHistorical Manuscripts and Records, by C. T. Mar t in . London,1892 . Svo,


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20 A n c i e n tBut these mu st always be used with caution, and those ha vin g agood knowledge of the language in wh ich the docum ent is written, willbe wiser to exercise their own comm on-sense tha n to tru st too closely tosuch lexicons.

T he earliest form of abbreviatio n was the use of amg e e er s j n g | e i e tter, generally an initial to denote a completeAbbreviations & , , n . , A , . .word. Tho se who ha ve ever attempted to d ecipherRoman inscriptions must have been puzzled frequently by an apparentlyinexp licable string of capital letters. It is im po rtan t to no te that suchletters frequently indicated the nam es of persons and their titles .t T hi ssurvived to some extent d uring the Middle Ages, and is not even yetwholly extinct. (Witness the Inscriptions on Coins) . W he n a singleletter is written to ind icate a word in comm on use, there is generallyplaced either above or beside it some conv ention al sign from wh ich th emis sing letters may be gathe red. Fo r exam ple, N usually stood forno n in early MSS., and later on we find it signifying noster and nostri. W e then come to word s represented by two or moreTwo or More

Letter ^ ^ i e * r l ^ e r s . I t may be by the first letters of the word, asAbbreviations CUT ~cujus; or more frequently by its salientletters,as in O M B = Omnibus; SCS= to/?/j;orXPI=

Christi, The se last three are very common and occur all thro ugh th eMiddle Ages. From this method was developed the custom of writin g theinitial or leading letters of the various syllables of a word, as E O=ergo;Q D * quidem; Q B 3 quibus; T M - tamen, and so on.

+ A curious custom prevai led for dist ingu ishing the names of females . Th e le tter whic h stoodfor a ma scul ine na me w as reversed to s igni fy i ts feminine corre lative , as Q = Cains: - Caia.

* This cur ious combinatio n i s of course G reek, a nd wa s adopt ed by the Mediaeval scr ibesthroug h ignoran ce , imagining that the Greek characters were equivalen t to the Rom an le tters s imi lar lyfor m e d ,


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 2 1m . . Th e need of indica ting inflections and term ination sTironi&n _Symbols w a S s t *^ ^ ^ l o w e v e r > a i l ( ^ this w a s solved by the adoptionof certain of the T iron ian symbols a species of sh orthan d, said to have been invente d by Cicero's freedman Ti ro, but w hichneed not here concern usto indicate that certain words had been omitted.Small overwritten letters as Q = quo; V^-vcro; \rc~vemm; and H c -hunc, were also employed. Thes e lat ter modes prevailed th roug hou tthe Middle Ages, and mu st not be ignored. A few shorth an d signs,some of them Tironian ; as x.= est, of frequent occurrence in Ir ish MSS.;

~7 - et or and; y = ctiam ; K = autem; 3 - ejus; ~ = esse or est; V oru - tit; and 3 or 3 = con, cum, or am , at the beginning of words,very common throug hout the M iddle Ages (see the tenth and thir teenthwords in Facsimile No. II. , and the repeated word command in No. V.) ;are also very frequently to be met with.

We have now to consider (1) those words in whichSuppressionof Letters the end ing is suspended or su ppressed, and (2) those 111which letters are omitted from the mid dle, or from themiddle and the end.1. In both of these modes there were many examples which prevailedthroughout the whole of the Middle Ages, and continued till the adoptionof the present system of caligraphy. Th ese examples becam e exceedingly comm on, and a mastery of them is absolutely essential. T hu s wehave in early times B: bus; and Q: = quc. T he : in c ourse of time w ?asmodified by rapid and careless wr iting into a 5 shaped charac ter, andthe B : and Q : were replaced by b"5 and q5 - In words end ing in que,the q as well as the uc was also frequently suppre ssed, and we havesuch examples as at5 aiquc; n e5 -neque; and q$ = quoquc. We alsofind the 5 signifying et as in deb^ ~ debet; p\~) ~ f>facet; p 5 = / w W ;and s5 - set, the mediaeval form of scd. T he 5 later cam e also to beused for m and est, as in ide5 - idem ; and inters - interest, A knowledge


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22 Ancientof the language in which the writing happens to be executed, will ofcourse enable the Palaeographer to judge which ending is required. Thefacsimiles should also be carefully studied in this connection.

A drooping stroke at the end of a letter generally marks the omissionof is, as ^^i^^-prestitis.* Another very common mark of abbreviationis a horizontal stroke placed above the final letter, and it almostinvariably represents a suppressed m or n ; thus a.VLte~autem ; eni-enim;wo-nou; and so on. Analagous to this sign is a stroke written throughthe tall shaft of the letters / and b. It is not so easy to give evenapproximate rules for supplying the omitted letters in this case, and againone's knowledge of the language must be broitght into requisition. Suchexamples as sb~sub; v\=vel; va\to~multo; ptr&-filura; ir\$a.-singula ;Ire-litterx; liftliber c ; and the like are generally self-evident, andprevail throughout the Middle Ages.

2 . This brings us to words contracted by the omission of lettersfrom the middle or from the middle and the end of a word. These, ofcourse, are greatly the most numerous, and are sometimes extremelypuzzling, especially when they signify unknown or proper names. Buthere again we have certain conventional signs by means of which themissing letters may be approximately guessed. Thus a waved verticalstroke rising from the preceding letter usually signified the omision ofer or re, as in bsixiteim-breu iter; Q?\x \S "certus; and mts])sta.t\$~inferpretatis;yet it must here be kept carefully in mind that the form of these signswas by no means fixed, and that frequently it was highly ornamentaland arbitrary, especially in the Cursive Hands. For example, we findsuch combinations as 7S= tarn; fink* antem ; ^4UUfc* anuuit; ^&twy)-

* This is a very common type of Cursive writing. Th e ^ sig nif ies /* -prae or pre, a formthat will be explained immediately, and the final loop is as explained above. The conveni ence ofthese forms for rapidity of execution will be at once apparent.


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H a n d w r i t i n g sfelicem;pretatur. Sti l l another method which was exceedingly common was theuse of overw ritten letters. Th es e are genera lly vowels written abovea consonant in a small hand, and in such cases another consonant immediately preceding or following the overwritten vowel is to be understood,such omitted consonant usually being r, as cta-earfa; {\b&*iterba ;gtm~g-rafia; Other letters than r may be understood as in q=qua;ho^bona; q;~qm'bus; although siich examples are not found so frequentlyas the former. T he consonants above whic h ove rwritte n letters areusually found are b, e, d, f, g; //, p and /.

The use of the single letter as a means of abbreviation in early timeshas been referred to, and it can easily be conceived tha t so econom icaland simple a device for the saving of space and time would not beallowed easily to go out of use. We th us find m any survivals of thepractice, but in nearly every instance they becam e stereotyped or wereused in conjunction with certain s igns whic h never varied . A ma steryof these can be acquired with very little labour and pa tience , and as theyare in constant use, will not easily be forgotten. T h e following shouldat once be committed to memory :

- pro, as in jh 6 i s - probis.

P with a stroke above, or an u nd ula ting line r ising from it, p or p s,stands for pr e or prae. Thus we have i t in inferprctatio, the examplealready cited,f and in pt*it-praeter-it; in njtan- prelati'; and in (2fZAx> mprestito.% The last example depicts a characteristic of the Cursivewritings which is apt to cause great confusion and difficulty in

* Tho se des iring to carry their s tudies in P aleo gra phy beyond the point necessary for thegenea logical s tudent , must bear in mind that in the Vis ig oth ic Nat iona l H and, . ^> s ignif ies per, no tpro, as in all other hands. Se e pag e 10.

+ S e e a b o v e . X S ee P a g e 2 2 .


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Ancientdeciphering words, namely, the habit of joining the sign to a letter.This custom, in conjunction with the use of ligatures, constitutes one ofthe greatest obstacles in the way of deciphering a Cursive Hand. It isoften a question whether or not the continuation of the letter is reallyintended to represent such a sign, or is merely an ornamental nourish.Another method that was very common was that of continuing the topcurve of the long s, and crossing the stem in the form of a bow, thus ^ .This mode underwent many different phases, and represented the combination ser. The following are examplesfiitt = seruit; JtnQ = sermo;ftfpit' assent; and ( W ^ - sernatius; whilst y\vvvvfRrvi commissarij.This last is a rare occurrence of its signifying sar, instead of ser.Examples of all or nearly all of these and the other illustrations givenabove, are represented in the facsimiles, and a careful study of themwill tend to bring out many aspects which are dealt with all too inadequately in the text.

I shall now give a few examples from Cursive MSS., of some of theforms taken by these abbreviations. For these and much other matterin this connection, I here take the opportunity of acknowledging myindebtedness to the late Canon R E U S E N S , of the Roman Catholic University of Eouvain, whose Elements ale Paleographie, as a text-book, has seldombeen equalled and never excelled. From that work most of my remaining illustrations are taken, and students who can read French will beamply rewarded by devoting an occasional hour to a perusal of theReverend Canon's illuminating pages.

Prae and fire

Pro


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 25There were a great number of special signs employed for et or and. T h efollowing were the most comm on in use after th e X IV . Cen tury :A curious exam ple of the use of one of the signs for et will be foundtowa rds the end of the second line of the facsimile N o. II. , wh ere wehave pfy - Scilicet. Such a combination was by no means infrequent.

F o r esse we f ind ~ *^ 1 ^ so that wh en such a combination as ttl? is encountered, it must be read as essemus. The s ign9 here met with for the first time at the end of words usually signifies us .Equally curious, and much more numerous, are the hieroglyphicsfor est, a few of which may be met w ith by genea logical research ers ;

^ i 3 ' f -f* The letter q also takes some peculiarforms, the principal of which are *j}=quia; ef$ t c^S quod;^Q =quam; quae; cj ~ que {pron.); quern; qui;

quid; quibus; ^Kqualibet; quantum; ^ ' 7 *tl ' *P =quoque; Q > C *> quod sic; q tc = quatenus.

A very common form of abbreviation was to write the first letter ofthe word with the last letter, either overwritten in a small character, orwritten alongside, in which latter event b oth letters were of an equalsize. T h us we have such very frequent exam ples as a - a n n o ; d - datum;\\-mmc; q-quod; u-uero; ee-esse. In the last case a mark is generallywritte n above the two letters to indicate a contrac tion. Th ese, incommon w ith all the other methods of con tracting words, are sonum erous tha t it is an absolutely hopeless task to atte m pt to give evena representative selection, but as I have already indicated, a knowledgeof th e lang uag e in which the record is draw n, and a little patience w illwork wonders, and what at first sight may appear an almost insuperable
http://-mmc/http://-mmc/


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26 A n c i e n tdifficulty, will, with practice and experience, become less and less, untilit practically disappears altogether.

cases from t he modern signs ; and sim ilar ma rks to those we now employused in different app lications are sourc es of gre at confusion an dunc ertain ty. But the w orst obstacle of all is th e frequent absence ofsuch ma rks altogether. L,atin scholars will realise how grea t an obstacleto the correct interpreta tion of a docum ent this can be, and even this isincrease d by th e bad Mediaeval L-atin th at wa s con sisten tly ma de use of.Yet the difficulty is by no means insuperable, and when it is rememberedthat certain formulas in the style and phraseology of these ancientdocuments recur with constant regularity, even the badness of the L,atinsometimes tends to assist rather than retard th e interpretat ion of thedocument, and it soon becomes almost second nature to the Palaeographer to know where the proper punctuat ion marks should occur.T he most ancient M SS . were not pointed at al l , and even the w ordswere not separated, but these need not detain us. Iu the pre -Ca rolingianperiod, pauses were m arked by three dots, one above the other j , andthese again need only be mentioned in passing . Th ese were replaced inthe early Middle Ages by \ the com ma , and ; the sem i-colon. T he nfrom the eleventh century onward, punctuat ion became exceedinglyirreg ular. At tha t time th e dot served both for a period and com ma,bu t such signs as ; , and 7 are also found. In the succe edingcentury the usual signs for a comma were 3 and


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 27Po ints of Interro gation ; f- 1Points of Exclamat ion; o 6 OI was frequently marked with a faint accent i.

T he following method s of m ark ing corrections willCorrections , , , & , &also frequently be encountered, and a knowledge of themshould prove useful;1. To indicate the deletion of a word, dots were placed beneath it.2. This was also the manner employed for the deletion of letters,though frequently the modern arbitrary method of drawing aline thro ugh th e word or letters was resorted to. (An illustration will be found in Fa csim ile N o. VI.)3. T o sub stitute one word for anoth er, dots were placed beneaththe wrong word, and the correct one placed above it.4. When two words required to be transposed oblique accentswas placed above, and at th e be gin nin g of each, as "nomineep c pa^ias-episcopus nomine papias.5. W hen words were intended to be om itted, it was customary tom ark them with two oblique stro kes, similar to those abovenomine in 4.

As the genealogical researcher ma y frequently haveof Documents t 0 e s t * m a t e ^ e probabili ty of a document being genuineor otherwise, h e o ug ht to be in a position to arrive at somedefinite conclusion on the subject. Upo n tha t alone ma y han g the credib ility of the whole question, whethe r a single indiv idual or all the ind ividu alsmentioned in a particular document can be fitted into his pedigree or not.I propose, therefore, before concluding this essay, to suggest a few simplerules by wh ich such a conclusion may be reache d. T hi s forms thesubject matter of Diplomatic, and is a special, most important, and mostintricate bran ch of the a rt of deciphe ring ancient doc um ents. It has aliterature of its own, and there are erudite practitioners who confine their


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28 A n c i e n tattention exclusively to the mere interpretation of these ancient writings.When I state that the standard modern work on the subject, Manuel deDiplomatique, by A. GIRY, a large 8vo . volume published in Paris in1894, extends to nea rly a thou sand closely printe d pages, an idea of itsvastness may be obtained. Yet here, again, a few simple rule s shouldprove extremely useful to the Genealogist, and may at least assist him indetecting forgeries, which, though not obvious to the uninitiated, are yeteasy of detection when one has been put upon one's guard.The Charter ^ e mos^ impo rtant Diplomatic document was theCharter, a document which is obviously of primaryinterest from the Genealogist 's point of view. It is generally in twopar ts , vi z.: (1) the text of the Act, usually preceded b y a narration of thecircum stances, etc., wh ich called it fo rth ; and (2) the Protocol, theinitial and closing formulas which varied with the circumstances towh ich it owed its produc tion. Th ese formulas are of great imp ortancein estimating the probabilities of the deed's being authentic or otherwise.Forged Charters were very common during the later Middle Ages,* butscribes were exceedingly ignorant and unscientific, so it is no uncommonoccurrence to find the formulas of the X V I. Cen tury embodied in aCh arter dated two or three hun dred years earlier. T he wr itin g is also,as a rule, conclusive evidence of a Charter's authenticity, as forgers eveiiwhen they ante-dated a deed by some centuries, seldom made any seriousattem pt to copy the earlier caligraphy. T h e facsimiles, wh ich are fairlyrepresentative of the w ritings of the centuries in which they were pro duced, are valuable also in this respect. T he literatu re on this subjectis mostly foreign, but I shall always be glad to send bond-fide inquirers alist of available books on the subject, or to inform them privately of thepar ticu lar formu las in use at any specified tim e. It is, of course ,obviou sly impos sible to give such a list here , as it would ex tend farbeyond my available space, and be of small interest to the general reader.

* Before the Reformation there was scarce ly an Ab bey in Eng land or F rance wh ich had notat least one Charter forged in its own favour.


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 2 9Co ies ^ P ^ o m a ^ s t m u s t a ^ s o be careful to distin gui shbetween the originals and copies of docum ents. In thelatter, the material characteristics were omitted, and frequently the wordCoftia, Transcripta, Transvata or Transumpta was inserted. T he copyalso frequently varied from the original, sometimes intentionally, butusually uninte ntiona lly. Several copies of a doc um ent were often mad e,and each was regarded as auth entic , tho ug h only one had beenamplified. Duplicate.; Triplicafa, etc., was usually written on suchdocum ents . W ith the intention of preserving originals , copies wereoften written for everyday use and reference. Th ese are extrem elymislead ing, as in such cases the scribe usually sets himself to prod ucean exact facsimile of the original. Fin ally, w hen a docum ent hadbeen lost or destroyed, new Acts were usually produced from whatrema ined or was remem bered of the orig inal, bu t these ma y generallybe regarded rather as forgeries than as copies. . Dates and signs of validation are also of very greatDates importance to the Genealogist, and these likewise formspecial studies in them selves. Th ere were many systems of datin g invogu e thro ug hou t the Middle Ages, and even at one time , and in thesame country, different systems frequently prevailed, causing a considerable amount of confusion, and not seldom of error in the minds ofstuden ts . From the t ime of the N orman Conquest , the year began onthe 25th March in England and Ireland t i l l 1752, and in Scotland till

1600, wh en the first day of the year was change d to the is t Jan ua ry . Inreg ard to the former m ethod, great care mu st be exercised in dra win gconclusions, as two me thods of recko ning were in vog ue. Som e began aparticular year 011 the 25th March preceding Chris tm as, and others 011the same date following Christmas, thus making a difference of one year.Where uncertainty remains, it is customary to write both probable dates,thus u 14th July , 1734/5." Before the Norman Conquest, the year beganin England on 25th Decem ber. It will be seen, howeve r, from theCharters reproduced in this volume tha t t he m ethod mostly employed


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30 Ancientin these documents was to record the number of the year of the reigningmonarch's rule.*

generally self-explanatory to a greater or less degree, f and the latterbelonging to the kindred sciences of sigillography and heraldry. Signatures and enumerations of witnesses are of very great importance to thestudent and practitioners of Genealogy, and should always be carefullynoted. Where witnesses are only mentioned in the preamble or oratio %

* Other methods of dati ng do not concern us her e, but again let me s tate that I hol d myselfentirely at the service of readers who are interested.

f I do not , of course, sugge st that all signatures are so, or that the subjec t is to be lightlydismissed. Like all branches of Pale ograp hy and Diplomat ic, its extent is co-exte nsive with thenumber of practitioners, and a volume of Mr. Bernau's G .P. L. series might well be devoted to thesubject of signatures alone. What I wish to imply through the stat ement in the text is that, consequently upon the reader deciphering the signature, it, as a rule, explains itself.

+ Thou gh not strictly relevant , a brief explan ation of these terms may prove inter esting. Ithas been remarked that there were two main divi sions of the Charter, and these migh t be againanalysed into fourteen sub-divisions. These were :

I. Th e In it i a l P ro to co l , consist ing of;1. The Invocati o or Chrism. The latter consi sted of such a sign as a monogram of

X P I, which was regarded with a kind of superstitious awe.2 . Title or Subscriptioname of the person in whose name the Act was drafted,3. Address or Inscriptio-name or names of those to whom it is addressed.4 . Greeting or Salutatem.

I I . T h e T e x t , viz. :5. Proem, Arenga or Haren ga, or Preamblea general stat ement of the events which

called forth the Act.6. Promulgatio or Notificationthat t he Act is made known to all.7. Oratio, or Exposi tio statement of the cas e. It differs from the preamble , insofar as

the Oratio giv es a detail ed relation of what in ihe former is stated merely in generalterms.

8. Disposi tioena cting or Operating Clause.9. Sanctio penal clause or clauses.

10. Corrolorationotice of authenticat ion.

Witnesses The chief signs of validation were signatures andseals which require little comment, the former being


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 3 1of the deed, the absence of the signatures or seals of such persons mustnot too hastily be taken as conclusive evidence that they were not actuallypresent at the time ; on the other hand, it has sometimes been found thatpersons mentioned in the oratio, which is generally expressed in the pasttense, were absent at the t ime, and occasionally, even dead. Theexplanation of this is that a considerable time frequently elapsed betweenthe draught ing and the expediting of the document , a period duringwhich many events, hav ing a distinct bearing upon the transaction,might reasonably take place.

If any doubt is felt as to the authenticity of any document, someregard should also be paid to the material upon which it is written, tothe materials with which it has been written, and to the man ner in whichit is writ ten. If it is on paper, water-marks* should be studied as well asthe texture of the material and colour of the ink. Ev en the style of thedocument may frequently assist one in approximately fixing its date, butthese are matters for the expert to decide rather than the generalresearcher. It is not the intention of the writer of this volume toendeavour to make those who do him the honour of perus ing his bookdiplomatic scholars, all that he proposes is to put them on their guardagainst too rashly accepting every docum ent as genuine and authoritativemerely because it happens to be old, and written in a hand crabbed andunintelligible to the uninitiated.

I I I . T H E C L O S I N G P R O T O C O L OR E S C H A T A C O L : 11. Su bscr iption ess ignatur es and name s.12. Date of P l a c e .13. Date of T i m e .14. Appr e c i a ta , Am e n pr aye r for the e ffectuation of the de e d .

T hi s c om pr i se d a complete Charter , but it is ve r y s e l dom that suc h d oc um e nts ar e e nc ounte r e din which all of these sub-divis ions are present.

* A useful work on this and other kindred subjects , enti t led A Guide to the Collection ofHistorical Documents, Literary Manuscripts and Autograph Letters, etc., was publ i shed by theRev. Dr, S C O T T an d S A M U E L D A V E Y , F.R.S., in rSgi.


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3 2 A n c i e n tBy the Genealogist no document should be ignored, valuab le materialmay often be discovered in th e mo st u nlik ely places, and volu me s ofregisters, rolls, accou nts, and othe r misc ellanea often prov e the veriestgold min e to the pedigree hu nte r and mod ern ancestor wo rshipper .Such documents wr i tt en in the XV . , XV I . , XV I I . and X V I I I . Centuries

are, of course, the most likely to yield a golden harvest, and if thewritin gs in the four facsimiles, No s. V . , V I. , V II . and V II I . arethoroughly mastered, little difficulty will be experienced with any handproduced durin g or after the XV . Cen tury. Of course, there were widedivergences of ma nnerism s and c haracter , especially from the X V I.I d" 'duaJ'sm ^ e n ^ m " y o l l w a l " d - S , when Individual ism began to asser t

itself, and to illustrate all of these would necessitate thetranscription of at least one document from the pen of almost everyscribe who ever wrote durin g that period, bu t the general principles invogue at any particular t ime remained practically f ixed, and un derw entonly th e usua l slow evolu tionary process such as we can trace even inthe pen man ship of our own time, so th at when the u nd erlyin g basaltype is thoroughly grasped, the eccentr icities, idiosyncracies and mannerisms of individual writers can be mastered in a very short t ime, with theexercise of a little patience, study, and logical consideration of theexamp le which happ ens to be und er the reader 's view. Th ere are goodand bad writers at the present moment, and to such a Palaeographer as Irefer to, it is as easy to read the worst example he can find of the periodin question , as it is for a person of averag e intelligenc e to deciph er theletter which he may occasionally have the m isfortune to receive from anuneducated and il l i terate correspondent in the twen tieth century . L,etno one be discouraged, therefore, by difficulties which a little applicationwill soon show to lie only upon the surface, and though I do not pretendtha t actual difficulties do not exist, I mu st still m ainta in th at they hav ebeen greatly exaggerated in the past, and have only to be grappled within'real earnest to disappear

" d i sso lve ,And l ike the baseless fabric of a v ision,Leave not a wrack behind."


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H a n d w r i t i n g s 3 3

* Since wri t ing the above , i t i s wi th extreme regret that I hav e to record the death of mydear and learned fr iend, Mr. Alexa nder And erson, the Librarian of the Univ ersi ty, w ho was universal ly known, under his pseudonym of Surfaceman, as a poet of taste and dist inctio n. I shal l neverforget his kind ness in p lac ing the treasures of the Library at m y entire disposa l , the interest hetook in my work, and the sense of antic ipation wi th which he awai ted i ts publ ication, which, alas , hewas fated never to see .

Acknowledge For kind assistance in the preparation of this volume,ments I beg- to record m y than ks to the follow ing:

Professor P . H U M E B R O W N , M.A., EL .D ., of the University ofEdinburgh, for valuable advice and guidance, and for permission to use m y notes of his lecture s as th e basis of thework.S ir A N D R E W A G N E W , The Rev . J O H N A N D E R S O N , and Messrs.

A N GU S and P A T O N , of H.M. Regis te r House , Edinburgh, forpermission to take photographs of the Charters and otherdocuments here reproduced, and for assistance in decipheringand transcribing them.The Librarian of the University of Edinburgh * and his assistantsfor allowing me to have access at all times to volum es thatare scarce and difficult to procure.

And above all, toJ A M E S C U R R I E , Esq., M.A., F.R.S.E., of Eeith, for such facilitiesfor study as have alone made the writing of this volumepossible.

W I E E I A M S A U N D E R S .I , SUMMERBANK,

ED I N B U R GH.


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Facsimiles 35F ACS I M I L E S , AND N O T E S T H E R E O N . 0

I.P R E C E P T EOR RECOVERING FUGITIVE S E R E S OF THE A B B O T OF

SCONE. (William, the Lion, King of Scotland, 11651214.)

jSqô.trindi&^p ud kt rm m'tJ/Jup ôx?#ac 'Al&^ beôtoIftuc turf jctmtmJimratt:ôntCu^^^Ctt^c^^ ^ ^ 3 ^ e * S r ^ j

W///c/m//s Rex Scott/vv////, om//ib/w p/vbis \\o/ni/rib//s totiz/i1, Scocie :salw/W//. M audo iirmite r p/rc ipi o, u t in cui//scu//qw uestrum terraant potestate Abbas de Scon aut cius seruiens inuenire potrr it Cuwlawese t Ciwherbes ad trvras Abbtf/ie de Scon pMinentes , eos iuste absqz/r* T he se fac s i m i l e s , all of whi c h are pho togra phed directly from the or i g i na l s , are, of c our se ,

necessar i ly greatly reduced in comparison with these or iginals , and the c ons tant use of a m agni fy i ngor reading glass wi l l fac i l i tate s tudents in de c i phe r i ng and r e ad i ng the m .


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3 6 F a c s i m i l e sdilatione habea t. N ulla? itaque quemquam ex illis ei iniuste detineatsup


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F a c s i m i l e s 37T h e following details should be carefully observed and familiarisedby the s tudent :

1. The sign for et 7, in the first, third and fifth lines.2 . The contraction for re or er, as in prccipio and poterit.3. The modification of the horizontal stroke indicating an omittedm or u, as in firviam.4. T h e pun ctua tion ma rks


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Facsimilesi i .

CONFIRMATION OF A G R A N T OF L A N D S TO WILLIAM DE H E R C E S H E V E D .(WILLIAM DE MORVILLE , Constable of Scotland, died 1196.)

Sciant presentes et fatten qtcod ego Wiilelmus de MorvilL? Con-stabiciarms Regni Scottorwu rwcessi et hac carta rn^a conflxmam~Wil\el7UO de Hercesliened totam terrain quam Heclen et Hemmiwgtenueruwt in Herceslieued scilicet in orientali pczrte uie qui tendit deWedale in Derestre. Tenendum sibi et \\crzdibus suis de hospital! sanctet/7 'nitatis de Solecre et fmtribm ibidem deo seruientibwj in feudo ethereditate ita lihert qztiete plene Integra ct honoriflce s\o.ut cartap/'flcuratorls de Solecre et fratrtun eideni loci eidm WilW-wo deKkvcesheued testate/' et con&xmatur saluo seruicio meo. Hijs Testibws
http://crzdibus/http://crzdibus/http://crzdibus/


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F a c s i m i l e s 39Christiana sponsa rnea, Ketello de Letha/w, W il k /^ o M ansello, Henricode Sample, Alano de Thir lestaw, Petrc de la Hago, Albino Capellano,Ricardo de Neh" (?), Dmicano filio Com iiis Dunca n i, L/Ugera//^ Haruwg,Ricardo Mansello, Alano de Clapham.

T hi s is ano ther beautiful little Ch arter whic h, so far as I can learn,has n ever before been reproduced, and which mu st hav e been writtenabout the same time as No. I., William de Morville, Constable of Scot-laud, having died in 1196. W hile No. I . is executed in th e Book Ha ndof the period however, as becomes a document emanating from theRoyal Chancery, this deed, of a more private character, is written inthe C ursive Ha nd the n in vogue. Much that has been said rega rdingN o. I. applies also to this h an d; bu t it will be noticed tha t there is adecided tendency to run letters together, which is apt to cause confusion.The most flagrant examples of this habit occur in the or of orientali, andin the nt of the same word. Wh erever these combina tions appear also,throu gh out the C harter, the same tendency will be observed. Again,we have the ' / sign for et; and in Coustabularius and eoucessi the signfor co n is applied. In quod we hav e an exa mp le of th e first and lastletters only being used as the contraction for a word. T h e curious* combination for scilicet in the second line has been referred to in the text,(page 25). A still more corru pt form of th e sign for bus or us, will beseen in seruieutibus, at the beg inn ing of the fourth line . A few exam plesof the small minuscule s used at the beginning and end of words may beobserved also in this deed. The conventional sign for ur which prevailedall th ro ug h the Middle Age s will be seen in futuri and testatur. T h enames of the witnesses of such a deed as this are of primary importanceto the Genealogist, and this very Ch arter exem plies a few of the difficulties which have to be overcome. T he nam e which I have transcribedas Henricus de Sample, for instance, is blotted, and m us t be guessed to


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4-o F a c s i m i l e ssome extent. T he Genealogist, however, can generally do th is with afair appro ach to accuracy, as he usually ha s an idea beforehand of th enam e of the person or persons for whom he is in search. It will also beobserved tha t one contracted nam e has pu zzled m e, viz., Ri card us deNe h. It is given by one autho rity as Neth, but the correctness of thisinte rpre tatio n is by no m eans c ertain, and non e of the officials in theReg ister House, Ed inb urg h, would und ertake to confirm that rea ding .In such a case a-firiori information is ab solutely essential to enable oneto be confident of one's read ing. Th e sign used here to ind icate a contraction might really mean anything under the sun.


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F a c s i m i l e s 4 1i n .

REGISTRUM MAGNI SIGILLI RKGUM SCOTTORUM.

' . . . * ? * . , ' * - .

nice* w^.D'- * W&pfiw f^ww * fiwifanM VjBtnftwc'ftut , o ( to^ |W * fcufcu

4

" ' ' / '


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4 2 F a c s i m i l e sCarta Alexandri de Cokburn.31 . Dauid dei gracia rex Scottoram, omnibus probis bommibustocius Kent, sue ek nc is et laicis salwtem. Sciatis nos dedisse &c. dik c/onosko hXexandro de Cokburne viginiti l ibras sterlmgorum p ^ c i p i e n d ^an/matifl* de magna custutna burgo nosfoi H a dyng t ona a d A m i nosvsua les . Tenend^ e t habendas eidern Alexandre* et Margarete deMunfod sponse sue necnon bertdibus inter ipsos proereandw qiiibus fortedeficientib&w beredibus dieti Alexandri quousq^ nos vel l ieredes nartr ieosd^m Moxandn^m sponsam suam et h^ ed es suos -predictos de vigintilibratis tene. in loco competenti in feodeaummatf li^reditarie faciendoinde seruiemm &c.

Carta J . de Reda lk .32. Dauid dei gracia rex Scottorum, omibj &c. Sciatis nosdedisse, &c., diheto et fideli nostiojohanni de Ry da lk terras de Cranistonacum periinentis infra vicecomztatum de Edynburghe quas idem JoWznesnou vi aut metu ductus nec errore lapsus set mera et spontanea voluntatesua nobis per fustuin et baczVlum surs uu i redd idit pure q et s impl ic i tyresignauit &c. Tenendz'j et babendis eidem Johauni et berzdibzts suis de

corp ore suo legitim e procrea tis seu pw crea nd is quibws forte deficientibwsdiktto et fideli nostio Dauid de Ana?zdia militi et h^redibz^ suis in feodoet hye d i t a t e per omwes rectas mettas suas cum omnibus libertatibus & c.faciendo inde s^ruieium debitor et consuetum. In cuius rei &c.Test ib^ &c. Apud Edynburgeh


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Facsimiles 4 3

Carta Mai'gareta de Monfode.34. Dauid &c. Sciatis nos appr


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F a c s i m i l e sThe following points should be noted :

i. T he capital let ters a re highly orname ntal and corrupt , as wil lbe seen from the D of D avid, and the C of Cran stona in thesecond Charter.3 . Cia and do are employed instead of tia and Ho.3. Here we have a form that is new to us Q>cf fo r etc.4. The very common termination of orum will also be see n in

sterlingorum5. In these Cha rters, some ancie nt and obsolete custom s arerecorded, as, for exa mp le, the form of inve stitu re referred toin the second deed, per fustem et bacillum, which has referenceto the feudal custom of giving a straw and a stick to symbolisethe conveyance of the land, of which the Charter forms onlythe documentary evidence. The se symbols which were notnecessarily restricted to straw or staves, but which mightconsist of rings, stones, handfuls of earth, gloves, coins,books, and very often in the Middle Ages, a Bible, were

carefully preserved , and usu ally affixed to the A ct. T h ecustom was a survival of a v ery aneient principle in Rom anLaw . It had its origin, of course, in the inability of primitivepeople to comprehen d the abstrac t. Th ey could not und erstand a conveyance in which something did not actually passfrom ha nd to hand . T h e device of pass ing a par t of thewhole, or a visible symbol of the subject from the hand of theseller to that of the buyer, was therefore hit up on, th usmaking of the conveyance a concrete and formal action,wh ich , if performed before w itness es, could no t be dispute d.Ev eryth ing depended upon th e formula, and a curiousdevelopment of the custom was seen in the early Roman Law,when the action could be undone by repeating the forms,


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F a c s i m i l e s 45but instead of the responses being in the affirmative, theywere then given in the negative.

6. The lateral compression of words and letters makes them difficult to read with fluency.7. A careful study of the se deeds will elicit m an y forms of con traction to which frequent reference has been ma de both inthe text and in these notes.8. Par ticular notice should be paid to the form of th e R in Rex,Redatle, etc. T hi s was the capital R form which persistedthroughout the Middle Ages, and may be encountered inwrit ings of a comparatively recent d ate. T he 5" in Sciatis isalso very com mon, and likewise persists dow n to com parat ively modern t imes.9. T he num erals will be referred to in the notes to Facsim ile

No. V .


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4 6 F a c s i m i l e sI V .

A C T A D O M I N O R U M C O N C I U I . Vol . I . , 1 4 7 8 .

T he lord/.y assignis to Willia;/^ B liudsele ye X day of Ma y w l: con-tiwwaconne of days to profs y- Tho m as S ibbald is aw ing to him ye soumeof V c. V 5. or how mekle is awing him & ordanis him to hafe \ctfcrsto suwmond his witnes & ye partye to here yoim sworn.
http://ctfcrs/http://ctfcrs/


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F a c s i m i l e s 47T h e lord?.? decretal? & delivers y_ Jo hn e of Swyw tone zo ng ar sail

content & pay to Dauid Qu hitehe de ye some of i i ij ^ Y 1 5 audi t behim to ye said Dauid for silk & merchandis as was prufit befor ye lord?'.? behis awne hand writ and ordanis y' : letters be w?Vtin to distre^ ze him hislanda^ & gu&u herefor.

Befor ye lord?'.?


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4 8 Facsimilesearlier hands has already made him familiar with, and herein lies theprincipal value of the historical method which I have adopted in dealingwith the subject. The student is now practically at liberty to concentrate his whole attention upon the formation of the letters and theidiosyncracies of individual scribes. All the examples which follow arewritten in the Scots dialect, which varies only to a slight degree fromOld English, and the writings are selected from the official hands of therespective periods which were in a general sense common to the wholeof Europe.In transcribing, I have retained the ancient forms of th and y. Theformer is generally like our modern and is a survival and modifi

cation of the Anglo-Saxon J?~ th. Examples will be found in almostevery line of the facsimileyc=t\\Q ; yaf ~that ; y air for-therefore ; foyer ~tother, etc. I have also retained the abbreviated forms of jyi -that, andw{"with, as they are usually written in that way even by the present daytranscribers of ancient documents.

The y was written in the form of our s, as in distrenze, to distinguishit from the y-Hh. We have a survival of this custom in modern orthography in the proper name Dalziel, pronounced Dalycll.The numerals in this example are badly written, as will be seen oncomparing the 6 in the second line with the in the followingfacsimile. At the first glance the former may be taken for the Arabic 6.On comparison with the same figure on the fifth line, however, they arefound to be badly written examples of the Roman V. The Arabiannumerals did not come into use until the close of the Middle Ages, andeven then they were sparingly employed.

Great care must be taken in mastering such forms as thoseexemplified in the third word on the fourth linedecretis. In this wordwe have two shorthand devices, S; -ec, and V = et, which were verycommon in cursive writings about th is time, but unless they are


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F a c s i m i l e s 4 9familiarised by the transcriber, they may cause him no end of troub le andworry .

He re also it is frequently difficult to tell wh ethe r s uch a contin uationof the final stroke of a letter, as in jud ge m en t (L in e 10), is meant to marka contraction or is merely an ornam ental no urish . In this case itmarks the omission of the n, and stands for th e conv ention al horizon talstroke usually employed to indicate such an omission. No rules can begiven in this connection. Ea ch transcribe r m ust trus t to his owncommon sense and reasoning powers.

T he words which I have transcribed as McKarstounc and McCarsfounc,are of course the ancient forms of the name of the village of Makerston,near Kelso.Note also the contraction for letters in the third, seventh andfourteenth lines. This form was almost invariably employed, andfurther examples will be found in the facsimiles which follow.


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Facsimiles


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F a c s i m i l e s 5 1MCBREK . Item the xi i i j day of Apr/le to Sir Andro Makbrek to dispone

be the king/5 command xl s.Item ye samyn day be the king /5 command to ye frem of the

fery. xiiij 5Item ye xvj day of Apr/le in Eestalryg giffin to ye king /5

offerand x i i i j S.Item ye XXij day of Apr/le in Kyrkcudbricht giffin to ye

preist/5 yair be the king/5 command s.Item to ye frem of Kyrkcudbricht be the k in g /5 command toby yamz ane Eucharist vi i j "Bxancli Cxowm's Smna v&xij ?.

MAKBREK. Item ye samyn day in Quhithirii to Sir Andro Makbrek bethe king /5 command to dispone amaug preis t/5 v $ ^ f

Item yot nyr//t quhe/z the king com to Quhithirn to hisoffcraud at the towne and at the Reliques x v i i j s .

Item ye xx i i j day of Apr/le in Quhithirn giffin to ye king/5oflrraud/5 at ye towne, Reliques, the hie altar, the Rudealtar and the chapel 011 the hill v Vratich Ciowm's Stnna

MAKBREK. Item ye xx i i i j day of Apr/le in Aire giffin to Sir AndroMakbrek to dispone yarc to preist /5 ijj j

Item ye samyn day to ye frem of Air be the k in g /5command x iii i S.

Item ye samyn nyc/rt in Glasgo giffin to preist /5 in Glasgo bethe king/5 command \ j jj

St/ma latms * X V i j / " * i j 5.


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52 F a c s i m i l e sTh is page from the Treasurer 's Accounts of the Kin gdo m of Scotlandis chiefly intere sting on account of th e nu m erals, the c ontrac tions andhan dw rit ing being practically identical with those in the previousfacsimile. T he only contractions to wh ich special attentio n need bedrawn are the conventional abbreviations for Franch Crownis and Stcma.These occur from this time onward with little variation.W hat I said in my notes to Facsimile N o. IV . rega rdin g th enumerals , is entirely borne out by the present i l lustration as well .

Rom an num erals are at this period employed thr ou gho ut. In the seventhfacsimile, written sixty years later, the Arabian figures will be seen,however, gradually com ing into use, bein g employed there , to indicatethe elate of the year, while the day of the m on th is still given in theRom an characters. Other and st i ll mo re frequent ex amp les will a lso befound in the eighth reproduction, of date 120 years later, where we havesuch mixtures as VLLL C X

In connection with the Roman numeration, the following notes mayprove useful :

(a ) Instead of IDT, HH or i i i j was always w rit ten, and I X ,was invariably V l i i j . We also occasionally find or overwrit ten above the i \ i j , being the terminal let ters of quahwr.Analogously we have X for decern.

(b) 80 was often writ ten t i n , and 90, l l ff x . T hu s, 92 would bem i x I I .

(V) 100 was usu ally C, bu t occasio nally y (d ) 1,000 was genera lly the uncia l -M , CD, bu t 500 was frequently

0 > the explanation being that it was half of CD.


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Facsimiles 53(e) The M, signifying 1,000, was also frequently indicated by the

horizontal stroke written above the preceding figure or figures,that being, as we know, the sign for an omitted M. ThusX X X would stand for 30,000.

(/) S (semi) was frequently placed after the numeral toa half, as L S = 50

When the Arabian numerals came into use, they underwent a widevariety of shapes from age to age. A fairly complete list of these, aswell as of the curious combinations which the Roman figures frequentlytook, may be found in Cappelli's Dizionario, to which reference has beenmade in the text, and to which those interested should refer.

Great care must be exercised in respect of the Cursive form of X.As will be seen from the present facsimile, it is frequently very similarto the small Cursive p, and appearing, as it sometimes does, in the textof a document, it is frequently mistaken for that latter, with the usualresulting confusion and error.


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54 FacsimilesV I .

REGISTER OF D E E D S. V o l. I ., 1 5 5 4 ^ S 6 -


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Facsimiles 55Vigesimo quiwto Augusti Annoquiquagesimo s e x t o .

Ill presence of ye lordis of Counsale comperit Maister DauidBorthwik procuratoL specalie eonstitat for ane venerabill lady Elezabethprzbres of Hadingtouu, Patrik Congiltouu of yat ilk, Patrik Cokbtirn ofNewbiggin his tutor, Elezabeth Hepburn and Williame Chirnsyid h irspous . And siclik comperit ptvsonalie Henry Congiltoun, AudroCongiltoun, James Cougiltoun and Patrik Congiltouu and gaif in yisdeclaratioun of will efter following, subscryvit wL yair handis as is efterspecifyt, and desyrit ye samm to be insert and regz>/rat in ye buikis ofCouusale, and to haif ye strenth of ane act and decreit of ye lordis yairoiin tyme to cnm, and yai to int


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F a c s i m i l e sselfis and ye said Henry takand ye burding vpoun him for ye remanentof his saidis brey


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F a c s i m i l e s 57V I I .Le tter (Autograph ) from Mary, Queen of Scots, and he r consort, Lo rdDarnley, inserted in Registrum Secreti Sigilli Rcgum Scottorum,Vol . 3 3 .

/I

P^FJJT"' fhGfaj 4 b

1

i t 'I* f t - r ^ - k v * f^lP^^f %tf W R

R E X E T R E G I N A .Keip ar of oure priue seile and youre dep utis. Ze sail pas \ettcresvn de r o?/r


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F a c s i m i l e sfor zoure warrand. Subscriuit wl oure handw at Halyrud hous. T hex xv day of August, 1565.

M A R I E R . H E N R Y R .Th is most interesting let ter of Mary Stuart and her husband Darnley,is pasted into a volume of Registrum Secreti Sigilli Re gum Scottorum,part of the ordinary text of which executed in the same handwriting asthat of the letter, has come into the plate. I have not transcr ibed thi ssurrounding matter, and the learner will find it excellent practice to do

so on his own accou nt. I will be glad to clear u p an y difficulties tha tmay arise, though there appear to be none on the face of the document.This is quite a different hand from that employed in the lastexam ple, and the tendency is fast se tting tow ards th e ridiculous andcorrupt forms which became fixed and known as the Court and ChanceryH an ds . Still , it is plain and easy to read, and pre sent s n o difficultieswh atever in the m atter of contractions. It will hav e been observed inthis and the th ree preceding reprodu ctions, tha t u and v are now constantly interchangeable, and, as a general rule, where we should write av a u appears in these writings, and vice-versa. He re we have also several

notable examples of the employment of z for y. In the first line theword ze is clearly our ye . In the third line, also, we have the same wordwith failze imm ediately following, and in the second last line zoure iswritte n for youre. T he word anal in the third Hue, and at in the fifth,might have given trouble to a beginner, but these are merely peculiarities of the writer.The s ignatures have quite a modern aspect compared with the documen t itself. It was. jus t abo ut thi s p eriod tha t the Italia n or m ode rnstyle of wr iting was com ing into use, and it was in no small degree du eto Queen Mary, who learned it, with so many other arts and accomplish

ments during her sojourn in France, that it latterly became the customaryand standard hand writin g in this coun try. Som e of the Que en's priva teletters are written iu this style throughout, and might be taken, so far asthe caligraphy is concerned, for the efforts of a boy in the fourth or fifthstandard of an average board school at the present day.


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Facsimiles 59VI I I .

REGISTER OP TESTAMENTS. EDINBURGH COMMISSARIOT.

J i i i l ^ ' u . I ...... N"< - Ji KU a. '.t .R '111*

1 V3TIRFR7 t|-SI -.... .TV" " " ^ * * ^ ^ ^ * ^ ^


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6o F a c s i m i l e s

A g n e s N e m ox x x N o r 1621.

A p u d Edinburgh pr i m oJuly 1624,E i k e vnde r wr i t te n m ai dto yis testamewJ' as fol-l owi s , T o wi t t , yair w a sawi n to ye said v m q w M eAgne s Ne m o be Ar thor .S tr atonne , wr i te r foursc o i r pundw m one y con-forme to his obligntione,

Chalmeris, W itnes . Jon Fochar t , W itnes . W eMasfeit's Jon Arth our &c. and gives and comitt is theintrom issioune w* ye samy n to ye said E liza bethHaddine onlie execo/rix, testamentar nominat be yesaid vmqu/iile Matho Leslie reservand compt &c.WL power &c. and fand.

Th e Tes tament Tes tam entar & Inv entar of yeguidis, geir, sowmes of money & debtis pertening tovmquktle Agnes Nemo sumetyme spous to Jon. Ros,Tailzor, burges of Edinburgh ye tym e of hir deceisquha deceest in ye moneth of Januar ye Zeir of God1621 Zeiris faithfullie m aid and gevin vp be ye saidJon Ros hir spous quhome scho nominatis hir onlietxecutex in hir laffat will vn derw rit t in as ye samyneof ye dait at Edinburgh ye x i day of Jan ua r ye Zeirof God forsaid. Su bl w* hi r awne ha nd in presensof ye witnesses vnderwritteu at length proportts.

In ye ffirst ye said vmqukile Agnes Nemo hadye guidz>, geir, sow me s of m on ey and debtzly of yeaw ailks & pryees efter following, perte nin g to yameye*|tym e of hir dececs foirsaid, viz .: Item , invteneeillis & dom iceilh i w^ ye abulz em entis of hirbodie by the airschipe estimat.

T o x l titSum a of ye InventarFollowis ye debtzly awin to ye dead.Item , yair was aw in to y e said vm ^z^zle Ag nes

Nemo and hir said spous, Be James Aikman and hiscaum conforme to yair obligatioune J M Merkis .Item, be Alexr. Moubray of Duwmany and his caurw


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F a c s i m i l e s 61be devy dit n tua

pairtjfr deidzj \>at'rt is)^ .2^ and geiwesan d commhiis & c.

v u i c l x v ^& 6 /

^ - C X i Merkis. I tem be Patr ik Nem o X j j i ^ f eI tem be Dauid V aus x xSuma of ye debta's awin to ye deid,

USum a of ye Inv enta r wi ye debtzj \ x C Y / f t ^ y Followis ye debtz> awin be ye deid.

Item, yair was awin be ye said vmqu/u'le A gne sNemo and hir said spous to Alexr. Mauchane,Merchand for half ane Zeiris maile of his house andbuith e oceupyit be ye defunc and hi r said spousx l v / / j >rx". I tem to Jam es Rea, Merchand inEdinburgh for silk x x v j ^ t . I tem to Robert Keithe,Merchand yair for Merchandrice xl^&. I tem, toJames Cuny^ghame of bor roui t money xx iiij ffi.I tem, to Johne.

He re we have a particularly flagrant exam ple of the co rrupt Ch anc eryHa nd of the period, and this facsimile m ust be carefully studied and th eforms thoro ugh ly mastered. T he capitals are especially tro ubleso me,and almost every scribe exercised his inge nuity in an app aren t effort toma ke them as illegible as possible. T he W in the second line, and the /scattered throu gho ut the document are cases in point. T h e wordproportis, at the end of l ine 1 7, should be noted. T he curious hieroglyphic cf stands, of course, for the contraction for fro, and thedow nward stroke at th e end of the word, with which we are now perfectly familiar, is the conventional contraction for is . Here also we have


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62 F a c s i m i l e sfurther examples of y standing for fk , and z for y. Observe also the Ao f Agnes in the m argin . T h e cross stroke bein g absent mak es it sometimes liable to be taken for an N or other letter.

I t will be noticed in this pho tograp h tha t faint m arks of wri tingappear upon th e blan k spaces. Th is has apparently been caused by thevolum e ha vin g been closed while the opposite page was sti ll wet, bu t i tmay be well here to point out that such ma rks, especially on vellum, donot always indicate this as a probable cause. Freq uen tly, when vellumwas scarce and expensive, scribes took older M SS ., and after partia llyor wholly obliterating the former text, executed the new deed upon theparch me nt thu s cleaned. Th ese were called palimpsests, and howeverwell the obliterating process had been accomplished, traces of the formerwrit ing , mo re or less faint, were generally left; or, thr ou gh th e action ofthe atmo sphere or from other causes, again made their appearance. Someof the most rema rkab le discoveries of portio ns of works wh ich were sup posedto have been irretr ievably lost, have been made by means of palimpsests,and it is in fact to such discoveries tha t we owe our possession of t heDe Republiea of Cicero, the Institutes of Gains, and many other inv aluable fragments of Classical and Juris tic writin gs. Genealogists shouldalways be on th e look out for such d ocu me nts, and if it should be sus pected that any particular writing has been made on a palimpsest, s tepsshould at once be taken to have the suspicion definitely confirmed orrefuted. I t is always well to have such docum ents photo graph ed in thefirst instance, an d the application of hy dro-su lphu ret of A mm onia as are-agent to the document might safely be made.

In conclusion, a word or two here regarding the Court and ChanceryHa nd s, which are peculiar to Britain, may not be out of place. T heformer persisted from the time of the early Tudors till the reign ofGeorge II . A t f irst i t was rather elegant thou gh corrupt, but, astime we nt on, the strokes became thicke r and coarser, and bythe end of the seventeenth century

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