HOW TO DECIP HER AND STUDY OLD D M E OCU NTS. TH E KE Y TO TH E FA M IL Y D EED CH E S T HOW TO DECIPHER AN D STUDY O LD DO CUMENTS B EING A G UIDE TO TH E READING OF ANCIENT M AN USCRIP TS T T . H Y S E . E O M R H A TENVI LLE ( S. J OHN U COPE) WITH AN INTROD UCTION B Y R E M ART IN C . T I C A Sb ISTA NT K EEP ER O F H M . RE CO R DS SECOND EDITION LONDON I T 6 2 PATERN STER R OW ELL OT S OCK, , O l 9 0 3 P REFAC E TO T H E S ECO ND E D IT I N O . UST ten years ago this little volume made its bo o ks J first appearance . Although many on similar subjects have been written in that time , none have exactly given the same informa tion , and this sec ond edition has been decided n upon . Additions and corrections to bri g the book up to date have been made , but much still an d remains , must remain , imperfect in so small a work on so large a subject, and the present pages only profess to help beginners over some of f the initial di ficulties they will meet with . It has been urged that handwriting and its characteristics have nothing to do with old deeds, but careful study of every line and letter is useful , especially with regard to private letters , or when any question arises as to whether the manuscripts are genuine or forgeries . That is why the second chapter, on handwriting and descriptions of old ink, paper, and paper marks and seals , was written , are for all such items of great importance . [ V ] ’ ’ ‘ e z Me S econ E dz lz on P refac o d . A recent celebrated trial (the Shipway case , in which an old register was altered) shows that care ful attention to minute details is necessary . Parish registers have not , and are not , at the present moment protected against frauds of this kind , which are far less common than might be sup p osed . Old deeds are now bought and sold ; it is a trade quite as much as that in old books . Some Edin bur h a years ago , in g , number of clever for eri es g were sold as genuine , which if they had been so would have cleared up a historical question of great importance . Many friends who helped me when I first wrote & the book are, alas dead ; only their letters remain , and from these I have used extracts in revising this edition . Mr . Trice Martin has most kindly read it through t en and criticised it , as he did years ago , and if I mistakes still remain , trust my readers will be b a I lenient . It must , however, be remem ered th t am writing on ly about the class of deeds which are usually met with in old houses , and not attempting to describe every description of charter or deed . & EMMA ELI ABETH COPE . 1 0 H YDE PARK A NS O NS W . 3 , M I , Se tember 1 p , 903 . A UT HO R ’S P REFAC E TO T H E R E IT I N FI ST D O . N the following pages I have tried to describe I the things which puzzled me when , as a beginner , I first essayed to read and understand the old records of bygone times . Written in a w n o language I kne not , relating to customs longer existing, all was strange and unfamiliar . I toiled on ; by degrees light dawned and the difficulties melted away . The knowledge thus gained I have endeavoured , in all humility , to write down as a possible guide an d help to others who may , like myself, prefer to follow antiquarian research by means of old deeds and other manuscripts, as being the original source n- and most trustworthy fountai head of knowledge , and by this means to avoid as much as possible repeating the assertions and mistakes of previous writers . ’ e A ” M or s P reface . In the chapter on Paleography I have named w m the books hich were y guides , and in these pages I have tried to supply information supple w mentary to hat is already printed on the subject , rather than repeat what h as previously been n o f explai n ed . The growing fashion for all ki ds antiquarianism creates a desire for books treating n upon such subjects , and this has i duced me to write this book . TH Y T . O S . E E . S UL H A M ST EA D , 1 893 . C O N T E N T S C H AP T E R P A G E INTRODU CTION I . HINTS TO THE BEGINNER A B Y A W II . CH RACTER H ND RITING & - AND LAW A III . SA ON , NORMAN FRENCH L TIN IV . OLD DEEDS LAW V . TECHNICALITIES AND U VI . MANOR CO RT ROLLS VII . MONASTIC CHARTERS VIII . PARISH REGISTERS A AN D A U K I & . P RISH OFFICERS THEIR CCO NT BOO S K N Y & . BOO S O PALEOGRAPH LD & I . O LETTERS & I I . ABBREVIATIONS , ETC LIST OF I LLUSTRATION S . P A G E SIGNATURE E& TRACT FROM DOMESDA Y NORMAN - FRENCH DEED FORM OF FINE ’ SHERIFF S ROLL (NEVILLE M SS . ) COU RT ROLL ARABIC N u M ER ALs R EADING ABBEY CHARTER READING ABBEY CHARTU LARY ’ PAPER - MAKERS INITIALS SOME Q UAINT LETTERS FRO M OLD PARISH REGISTERS I 37 INT RO D UCT IO N . OOKS written to teach any branch of n i n huma knowledge are , most cases , written by persons who have long known and used the knowledge which they impart , and , perhaps for that reason , have more or less for gotten the steps o f the ladder up which they have climbed ; but in this case the process has been so recent that the difficulties and dangers of each step have been remembered , and the reader accordingly warned against them . The meaning of the various kinds of documents which are likely to be found among the title - deeds o r of an estate, or among the archives of a parish a corporation , are described without needless tech n ic aliti es t o , in a practical way , which will appeal those who begin to work among such material with out previous knowledge . o f . The first step, course , is to learn to read [ xi ] x ii I n trodu ction . This wants perseverance and a quick eye , but regular practice will soon enable the student to read any ordinary documents , which at first seemed utterly unintelligible , and gradually the power of understanding really difficult and o b scure M SS . will be acquired . But this first step must be thoroughly mastered , for to attempt to get information from old writings without thoroughly knowing the forms of the letters , and the different systems of abbreviations and con tractions , would be like trying to keep accounts without knowing how to add up a column of figures . And indeed paleography i s the foundation of all history . There may be historians , like the late M r . Freeman , who have but little knowledge o f h i s i n of the science (he , I believe , boasted ability to read a manuscript), but then such writers rely o n the paleographic knowledge of others , who have edited the manuscripts which u s e they desire to , and they have , or ought to have , sufficient scholarship to j udge which are the best editions, and even occasionally to detect ’ editors mistakes . But an acquaintance with this bran ch of know ledge i s often o f the greatest use to biographers and historians . It is much better, for instance , to be able to j udge whether a certain doc u ment i s of the age which it professes , or in whose hand xiii a draft of a treaty is , than to have to accept the opinion of someone else . The mistakes made through want o f this know ledge are common , and sometimes very amusing . Familiar enough is the old story o f the parish i n priest in the time of King H enry VI I I . , who the canon of the Mass , in the prayer after taking ‘ ’ ’ s am s z mas m u m the wine , read the word p as p ' s z nz n s - , because he had a thirteenth century missal 3 m u i n which and are much alike , and ref sed to alter his mistake when it was pointed out to him . was hi s It referred to by King Henry VI I I . in 1 speech to the Parliament in 5 45 , and , in fact , this ‘ ignorant priest h as made himself an everlasting fo r name conservative stupidity . o n e o f I n more recent times , the historian of our beautiful north - country abbeys talks of a gift of a silver chest by th e founder in the eleventh century . The reader wonders what this chest — could have been was it a native work or i m ported ? was it some ecclesiastical ornament o r merely a strong box ? But on turning to the w document on hich the account is based , the i s meaning clear .