These two charters make an interesting contrast. Both are legal documents written by officials, and follow set forms. The overall shape of the documents is similar: they are wider than they are high, with a broad left-hand margin and a narrower righthand one. The writing has been carefully calculated to fit the space, or perhaps the parchment was later cut to fit the writing. Coincidentally, both have eight lines of writing.

The parchment has been folded over at the bottom in order to provide a solid base for the seals. These are appended to a strip of parchment which is then slotted through a slit in the reinforced portion of the charter.

Charter A

Charter A (Saffron Walden, Essex, 1401) is 28cm wide x 11 cm high - 2½ times as wide as it is high - and the written area is roughly 24cm x 4.6cm, excluding flourishes. The lefthand margin is twice as wide as the righthand one.

It is a deed poll: poll means 'cropped', from the word for a close haircut. A deed poll is a legal document executed by a single party (one person or group of people, as here). Thomas Warwick, Thomas Heyne, Thomas West, and John Draper are transferring a piece of property to Sir William Bolton, Sir Robert Margery, John Hunt, Roger Hunt, John Howlot, Nicholas Cook, and John Adam outright, without asking for rent of any kind. The deed with their seals attached will be given to William Bolton et al. as evidence of ownership, as the deeds of a house are nowadays. Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, and John do not retain a copy. If they were hiring it in exchange for rent, there would be two indented copies, like Charter B below. As it is, the deed is cropped straight across the top.

The one undamaged seal belongs to one of the Thomases: which one we shall probably never know. It shows a crowned T in a border of leaves, perhaps a wreath.

The charter is written in Latin in a stylish upright Secretary hand, narrow and even, with a row of flourished capitals soaring up from the names in the first line into the top margin.

Lines are evenly spaced, though not always absolutely dead straight (there is no sign of any ruling):

The spaces between them are 1½ times the height of the written space between headline and base line. Ascenders and descenders are so protracted that descenders can even extend into the written line below.

The charter also starts with a large initial letter, taking the space of about two lines.

Use of Capitals
	Capital letters are used as initial letters in personal and placenames, much as nowadays.
There is no punctuation as such, but capitals are used to mark the begining of important clauses in the document. The one on the left is the habendum et tenendum 'to have and to hold' clause, and the one on the right De capitalibus dominis gives the traditional feudal dues.
Here the one on the left gives the date (datum actually means 'given' and refers to the deed recorded in the document) and place of issue, and the one on the right Hiis testibus 'these being witnesses', gives the names of the witnesses. Note the small loops of the 'dotted' is.

Return to Charter A.

Charter B (Staffordshire, near Uttoxeter, 1499) is 35cm wide x 12 cm high - just under 3 times as wide as it is high - and the written area is 31.3cm x 6.5cm. It looks much more modest than its fellow. To begin with, it is written in English, in a competent but casual-looking Secretary, with no particular pretensions to elegance. The spelling is distinctly local - odur for 'other', parosche for 'parish', though this is perfectly normal for the period before Standard English.

It is an indenture: the top edge is cut in a zigzag pattern. Indented means 'cut like a row of teeth'. This is an agreement between two parties, Richard Hynd and Thomas Chedilton, in which Richard hires out land to Thomas for a specified term in exchange for rent.

The agreement is written out twice, head to head, on one piece of parchment. The parchment is then cut in half along a serrated line. Each party to the agreement affixes his seal to one half, and they then exchange halves, so that Richard has the part with Thomas' seal, and Thomas the part with Richard's. The zigzag cut is proof that the two halves belong together, as a safeguard against forgery or falsification. Sometimes the cut goes through a word or words written as added insurance: often the word is chirograph, 'charter', literally 'handwriting'. There does not seem to be any writing on this edge, however.

The seal actually appears to have an I as a device.

Lines are fairly evenly spaced, though they look untidy because of the somewhat irregular hand. There is no ruling, but the clerk actually has his hand/eye coordination fairly well under control:

The spaces between them are over twice the height of the written space between headline and base line, roughly 7:3. Descenders on s, f, and þ run down into the line below, but usually there is enough space for ascenders and the rest of the descenders between the lines.

The scribe attempts a decorative opening initial. It is not very elegant, but in a fashionable style for the period.

Names
	Personal names are capitalised in almost a modern way, though occasionally this does not happen.
	So are placenames.

Numerals
	Roman numerals are used. Notice how the is are dotted to help the reader count the number of minims.

This scribe does use punctuation, though not quite as we know it: full stops are used to punctuate important clauses.

Insertions
	The scribe is in a hurry, or overconfident, and has to insert some omissions above the line. When transcribing these you should place the superscript words between two upwards-facing slashes, like this: of the \Reyne/ of kyng.

Return to Charter B.

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© MEG TWYCROSS 2000