{"id":12998,"date":"2020-04-07T04:25:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T04:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?p=12998"},"modified":"2020-04-16T01:00:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T01:00:30","slug":"preston-charters-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/preston-charters-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"Preston Charters, Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preston Charters, Continued<\/h2>\n

Charters 6 & 9<\/h2>\n
\"Preston

Preston Charter 7 Seal.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following our 2 previous blogposts on a group of single-sheet charters in Latin on vellum from Preston in Suffolk<\/a>, England, now in a private collection, we advance with further reports about them.<\/p>\n

Those first 2 blogposts, Full Court Preston<\/a> and Preston Take 2<\/a>, focused upon 2 of the group.\u00a0 They considered Charters ‘1’ and ‘2’ (as we first called them), or Charters 7<\/strong> and 5<\/strong> in the present owner’s numbering system entered upon the dorse of each document.\u00a0 Those blogposts provided detailed photographs and descriptions of the documents, transcriptions and translations of their texts, and observations about their characteristics and contexts.<\/p>\n

Here we focus upon Charters 6<\/strong> and 9<\/strong>.\u00a0 (Remember, Charter 8 is lost or mislaid.)<\/p>\n

First we survey the Preston group, which comprises a series with modern numbering from 5<\/strong> to 13<\/strong>.\u00a0 Then we consider these two documents, one by one.<\/p>\n

The Group<\/h3>\n

\"Sign<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/7\/7d\/Church_at_Preston_St_Mary_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1598436.jpg\"

Church at Preston St Mary. Photograph by Andrew Hill via Wikimedia Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The owner purchased the group in a bag, in the 1980s in London, probably \u2014 according to his recollection\u00a0\u2014 in the Portobello Road<\/a>, a renowned location of markets and shops of many kinds, including used goods, curiousities, and antiquities.\u00a0 The group has his consecutive series of modern Arabic numbers, running from 5 to 13.\u00a0 The individual number stands in black ink at the top left corner of the dorse (or back) of each document.<\/p>\n

Of that original group of 9, only 8 documents survive in the group, preserved within a notebook for the English charter materials in the collection.\u00a0 Charter 8 went missing or mislaid after a class some years ago \u2014 considerably before the group came into our view.\u00a0 Consequently, we know only of Charters 5\u20137 and 9\u201313, until Charter 8 might return to view.<\/p>\n

Our survey of the group progresses in pairs, more-or-less chronologically.\u00a0 The first 3 documents (Charters 5, 6, and 7) are undated, so that an assessment of their probable dating depends upon stylistic features of the script, orthographic features, and other evidence both internal and contextual.\u00a0 The others (Charters 9\u201313) carry their dates, to the regnal year and sometimes to the very day.<\/p>\n

The pair under consideration here has one of each, respectively undated and dated.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Group Portrait<\/h3>\n

With the full group set out for examination, we offer their photographs from the back and the front (as in Preston Take 2<\/a>).\u00a0 These group portraits demonstrate at a glance the varied sizes and shapes of the different charters, their styles of presentation, the shapes of their pendant tags, and the presence or otherwise of seals attesting to their authentication.<\/p>\n

Seen from the Dorse<\/h3>\n
\"Preston

Preston Charters Dorses. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Private

Preston Charters: Dorse with Guide. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Seen from the Face<\/h3>\n
\"Preston

Preston Charters Faces. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Private

Private Collection, Group of 8 Preston Charters: Faces Forward. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Features of the Sheets and Their Appendages<\/h3>\n

Each document turns the hair side of the animal skin outward and the flesh side inward, so that the smoother writing surface may take and hold the text.<\/p>\n

Each document has a mostly bare dorse, but for the owner’s modern inventory numbers in black ink and the sparse medieval or later docketing inscriptions.\u00a0 The face of the sheet is filled with the text of the transaction, laid out in a single column of long lines.\u00a0 The numbers of lines vary between 9 (Charter 9), 12 (3 charters), 13 (2 charters), 14 (Charter 11), and 16 (Charter 5) lines.<\/p>\n

The documents in the set exhibit certain differences, including variations in size and shape.\u00a0 All of them are wider than tall.\u00a0 6 of them have more-or-less rectangular shapes, while 2 have rippled upper edges.<\/p>\n

The rippled upper edges of Charters 12 and 13 correspond to the ‘chirographic’ method of producing an interlocking, and thereby identifiably identical, set of charter-plus-copy (or multiple copies), for distribution to the different parties to the transaction in question.\u00a0 For such a Chirograph<\/a>, copied in duplicate (or more) upon a single sheet, the cut between them takes the form of a wavy or jagged edge.\u00a0 Such might allow the copies to be matched physically, as a safeguard against forgery, were their comparison become necessary under challenge.<\/p>\n

Each document has a forward-facing fold at the bottom of its face.\u00a0 Each has a pendant tag of vellum.\u00a0 Some tags retain their wax seals, or parts thereof.\u00a0 One has a cloth pouch to protect the seal (however, now lost).\u00a0 At least 1 of the tags comprises a reused strip of already-written, and discarded, vellum.<\/p>\n

Folds, Tags, Seals & More<\/h3>\n

In preparing each document, as customary for such materials, the more-or-less rectangular sheet of vellum was folded horizontally once near the bottom, producing a flap or fold which turns inward to the side of the leaf intended to carry the text \u2014 usually the flesh side of the skin.\u00a0 Sometimes there is writing within that fold, sometimes not.\u00a0 The Fold sometimes partly hides the last line of the document (Charters 5, 6, 9, 10), demonstrating that the folding took place after the document had been written.\u00a0 After all, its purpose principally concerned the actualization of the Tag and the pendant Seal.<\/p>\n

Around the flap, more or less at its center along the bottom edge of the document, a narrow strip of vellum is laced through a pair of horizontal slits (made across the flap and in the foldline) to form a looped or tied tail or tag.\u00a0 Sometimes this strip carries a seal of colored wax impressed or pressed in some way onto its extension from the document.\u00a0 In some cases, the seal survives to some extent (Charters 7, 12, and 13).\u00a0\u00a0 One case (Charter 5) retains the old, and perhaps original, cloth pouch designed to protect the seal, but the seal itself has disappeared following its removal through one or other hole in the cloth at both top and bottom.<\/p>\n

The patterns of fold-lines and stains on each document demonstrate that, after completion with their written and attested texts, the single sheets were folded into smaller, block-like units, in which they were stored for a considerable period or periods of time. Mostly the sheets were folded horizontally once or twice, and then vertically into thirds, forming flaps to be turned over, one after the other, and presenting as the front of the unit the centered block at the base of the document, from which extends the vellum tail, with an optional seal.\u00a0 Brief docketing inscriptions are written in ink on the dorse, within that centered block and\/or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

One by One<\/h3>\n

Our earlier blogposts considered Charters 5 and 7 as a pair:\u00a0 Full Court Preston<\/a> and Preston Take 2<\/a>.\u00a0 This post considers Charters 6 and 9 as a pair.<\/p>\n

Charter 5<\/h3>\n

See Full Court Preston<\/a> and Preston Take 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Charter 6<\/h3>\n

Undated Deed of Sale of Land in Preston
\nby Richard, Son of Galfrid Pecthe
\nto Thomas, son of Symon Purte of Preston<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Probably Last Quarter of the 13th Century (See Below)<\/p>\n

\"Face,<\/a>

Preston Charter 6 Face<\/p><\/div>\n

The single sheet document, plus added tag which laces through its lower flap, turns the hair side of the animal skin outward and the flesh side inward, so that the smoother writing surface may take and hold the text.\u00a0 Various rust-burns mar the sheet; a couple of them have eaten holes through it.<\/p>\n

Written by a single hand, the text records a single transaction for the transfer of “one plot of arable land” in Preston from “Richard, son of Galfrid Pecthe, to Thomas, son of Symon Purte of Preston”.<\/p>\n

Dorse<\/h4>\n

As seen in natural light and incandescent light respectively:<\/p>\n

\"Dorse<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"Preston

Preston Charter 6 Dorse. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Face<\/h4>\n

\"Face,<\/a>Inside the Fold<\/h4>\n

No script is visible within the foldline, although lifting the fold reveals in full the last line of the document, which ends with a series of horizontal flourishes connected by jagged lines.<\/p>\n

\"Preston

Preston Charter 6 Face, with Fold partly lifted. Photograph Mildred Budny.<\/p><\/div>\n

The text begins:<\/p>\n

[Line 1]<\/p>\n

Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Richard, filius Galfridi Pecthe concessi dedi et presens carta mea confirmavi Thomi filius Symoni \/<\/em><\/p>\n

Purte de Prestone pro homagio et servicio suo et pro decem solidi argenti quos mihi dedit permanibus unam peciam terre arabilam cum partem \/<\/em><\/p>\n

suis in prestano . . . <\/em><\/p>\n

That is,<\/p>\n

Let all present and future persons know that I, Richard, son of Galfrid Pecthe<\/strong>, have conceded, given, and confirmed, by this present charter of mine, to Thomas, son of Symon Purte of Preston,<\/strong> for his homage and service and for 10 silver shillings which he has given to me, one parcel of arable land, with its appurtenances, in Preston . .\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a><\/p>\n

The Personal Names<\/h3>\n

Identifying the named individuals from other sources should proceed with caution.\u00a0 The presence of the same name in more than one record does not necessarily indicate the same person \u2014 given the scattered survival patterns or accessibility of records, the popularity of some names, the use of the same name across generations in a family or across families, and many other factors.<\/p>\n

Where the record is undated, as with Charter 6, a selection among potential candidates for the identification would depend upon the probable or likely date-span of the record, the known or presumed date-span and geographical sphere(s) of the individual’s activity, and related issues.\u00a0 The problem may be compounded when the comparable record(s) themselves are not precisely dated or located.<\/p>\n

See below for an assessment of the date of this Charter based on comparable examples in dated or datable English manuscripts and documents.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, here are some records for names resembling those in the document.<\/p>\n

The list of witnesses to the document begins with Hugh de Batefford<\/em> (line 10).\u00a0 One Hugh de Batesford of Suffolk<\/a> witnessed a grant to William de Valence<\/a> (1225\u20131296), lord of Pembroke (TNA E 40\/3964 = The National Archives<\/a>).\u00a0 Perhaps this is the same witness?<\/p>\n

Next in line is Henrico Gorge<\/em> (lines 10\u201311).\u00a0 This name appears in the list for Vilatta de Lydgate<\/a> in Risbridge Hundred<\/a> among the Subsidy Returns for Suffolk in 1327.\u00a0 Too late in date?<\/p>\n

Third is Galfrid Pechte<\/em> (line 11), presumably the same person named as the father of the buyer in the opening of the text (line 1).\u00a0 There are recorded 2 individuals named Galfrid Peche, father and son<\/a>; the former (second son of Hamon Peche the elder) is remembered as a donor to Barnwell Priory<\/a> in Cambridgeshire.\u00a0 Depending upon the date(?) of that record, maybe one or other is “our” Galfrid?<\/p>\n

Among the names are Roger Aleyn<\/em> (line 11). A record (TNA C 241\/126\/83<\/a>), dated 13 October 1349, names as debtor a William, son of Roger Aleyn, of Stokesby, in the East-Flegg Hundred, Norfolk.\u00a0 If the date-range is right, could this William be a son of “our” Roger Aleyn?<\/p>\n

Following Roger is Thomas Fabro<\/em> (line 11). Might he be the same individual listed in the Northamptonshire Tax Assessment for 1301 for Fawlsley Hundred<\/a>, in the Villata de Stavertone<\/em> (Staverton<\/a>)?\u00a0 Tempting.<\/p>\n

As more medieval records for England become transcribed and available for viewing online, perhaps these and the other names might become identified more clearly through the patterns of their attestations, travels, spheres of activity, and interconnections.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, let’s look at the probable date-range of the script of the document.<\/p>\n

Docketing<\/h4>\n

Written apparently by the same hand as the document within, this inscription identifies the object as the Carta Ricardi Pecthe scti’ <\/em>Thome \/ Purte<\/em>.\u00a0 Between the names, the abbreviation s<\/em>[an<\/em>]cti<\/em> (“Saint”), if such it is, seems to be a mistake.\u00a0 Ain’t no Saint.<\/p>\n

\"879<\/a><\/p>\n

Preston, Pure & Simple<\/h3>\n

Sideways at the right-hand side of the dorse, there stands the inscription in lighter brown ink by a different, rapid hand:\u00a0 Preston<\/em>.\u00a0 A horizontal flourish extends from the raised ‘tail’ of the final –n<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Single-word<\/a><\/p>\n

The Script of the Document and Its Probable Date<\/h3>\n

The cursive script of the document is Anglicana Formata<\/em>, developed mainly for documents and employed also for rapid book-hands.\u00a0 The classic textbook is M. B. Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands, 1250\u20131500<\/em> (Oxford, 1969).\u00a0 Distinctive features of the script, which \u201chad emerged by the middle of the thirteenth century\u201d, with some calligraphic refinements as the century progressed, include these:<\/p>\n

Two-compartment a<\/strong>, with a large upper lobe extending about the general level of the other letters; d<\/strong> with a looped ascender; f<\/strong> and long-s<\/strong> in which the stem descends below the line of writing, curves to the left at the foot, and is frequently followed by a connecting stroke rising to the head of the letter; \u20188\u2019-shaped two-compartment g<\/strong>; long-tailed r<\/strong>; and a cursive version of short-s<\/strong> based upon the capital form.\u00a0 (Parkes, pages xiv\u2014xv).<\/p>\n

Specimens similar to Preston Charter 6 appear in:<\/p>\n