Below are two fifteenth-century documents relating to land and property. They both belong to a private collection in Lancaster.
Document A is Lancaster: Private Collection M.A. Twycross, Charter 2, dated 9 April 1401.
This is in Latin, with the names of the persons involved in English. It is a good example of the
standard form of release of land. Legal documents made heavy use of
abbreviations of the standard formulae, as everyone was expected
to know what they stood for.
For an excellent introduction to these formulae, see :
The date is given by day, month, and regnal year.
The invaluable guide to medieval and post-medieval methods of dating - no historian
should be without it - is:
The script is a formal late-fourteenth-century Secretary hand.
As usual:
1.....Transcribe it, paying particular
attention to the abbreviations. .......I have transcribed the first two lines for you as a starter. .......Go to the following pages for a close-up version in slices. |
2.....Copy out a line, using pen and ink. What do you notice about the mechanics of writing? |
3.....Describe it in terms of |
A. ..Overall aspect; |
B. ..Individual letter forms. |
C. ..Capital letters. |
4....Describe the layout. |
Again:
1.....Transcribe it, paying particular
attention to the abbreviations. .......I have transcribed the first line for you as a starter. .......Go to the following pages for a close-up version in slices. |
2. ....Copy out a line, using pen and ink. What do you notice about the mechanics of writing? |
3..... Describe it in terms of |
A... Overall aspect; |
B...Individual letter forms. |
C... Capital letters. |
4.....Describe the layout. |
© MEG TWYCROSS 2000