My relative Thomas Swetland vs Drake 1591 Court of Star Chamber... Please help?

[emjsw]

Hi,
I was wondering if it were possible for someone to help me to translate a document that I ordered from the National Archives please?

I thought it would be OK but I really can't understand alot of it.
It is from the Court of Star Chamber Proceedings, Elizabeth I D. Plaintiffs - Drake vs Sweetlande, Date - 17th Nov 1591 to 16th Nov 1592 (Mich 34/35 Eliz). STAC 5/D1/33 Subject - Litigation

I am wondering if the Drake mentioned is Sir Francis Drake who owned land where my family are from. I also would like to know if Elizabeth I was present as my ancestor would have been in the same room as her!!!!

The only problem is that each jpg sent is 4mb, it is edge to edge writing so I can't crop to shrink it and I have tried to reduce pixels but the definition of some of the words is reduced. I don't really know how I can show it to anyone.

If you are able to help then thank you so much.

Best wishes Emma

[philipsearching]

Hi,
I was wondering if it were possible for someone to help me to translate a document that I ordered from the National Archives please?

Translate or transcribe?  What language is it written in (Latin or English)?

Philip

[Maiden Stone]

I also would like to know if Elizabeth I was present as my ancestor would have been in the same room as her!!!!

No, HM wouldn't have been present. There's an article about the Court of Star Chamber in Encyclopaedia Britannica online. (I was reading it when a message popped up congratulating me on becoming a lucky winner of something so I lost the article.)

[emjsw]

Hello Philip,

I think probably transcribe in order to have a legible copy.
It is in old English but some of the words are unrecognisable to me.

Best wishes
Emma

[emjsw]

I also would like to know if Elizabeth I was present as my ancestor would have been in the same room as her!!!!

No, HM wouldn't have been present. There's an article about the Court of Star Chamber in Encyclopaedia Britannica online. (I was reading it when a message popped up congratulating me on becoming a lucky winner of something so I lost the article.)
[/quote

Ah OK thank you very much, I will take a look

[goldie61]

Sorry to burst your bubble! but it was a Robert Drake.
'STAC 5/D1/33 - B A - Mich 34/35 Eliz - - Robert Drake v Thomas Sweetlande, Martin Sweetlande see STAC Drake'

This is from the WAALT website. (University of Houston).
http://www.uh.edu/waalt/index.php/Main_Page
If you scroll down to 'WAALT for Archival Lists and Projects', you'll see 'Elizabethan Star chamber Project'.

Sometimes you can actually see images of documents on here from other Courts, but it doesn't look like you can from Court of Star Chamber.

Also this if you click on 'STAC Drake' at the end of that first piece, you get
Drake, Robert
STAC 5/D1/33 - B A - Mich 34/35 Eliz - Robert Drake v Thomas Sweetlande, Martin Sweetlande
STAC 5/D19/12 - I D - 35 Eliz - Robert Drake v Thomas Swutland et al

So it look as if there's another document related to this case.
Interesting alternative spelling for 'Sweetland'. 

As to trying to post an image here on Rootchat. I don't know what sort of computer you're using, but do you have a program that let's you crop an image? (I usually use my photo software for this). If so, can you crop, say, just the top few lines from the first image you have, and then save it in a file size as near to 500 MBs as possible - that's the maximum allowed on Rootschat. You should be able to move the 'crop' lines to fit in all the width, and just reduce the height of the image. Failing that, if it's very, very wide, crop it in half widthways as well, with a bit of an overlap in the middle so the lines can be matched up when reading it. This is quite commonly done on here, and seems to work well. You should get a good enough definition to be able to zoom in without it all pixelating.

[philipsearching]

Hello Philip,

I think probably transcribe in order to have a legible copy.
It is in old English but some of the words are unrecognisable to me.

Best wishes
Emma

pm sent

[emjsw]

Sorry to burst your bubble! but it was a Robert Drake.
'STAC 5/D1/33 - B A - Mich 34/35 Eliz - - Robert Drake v Thomas Sweetlande, Martin Sweetlande see STAC Drake'

This is from the WAALT website. (University of Houston).
http://www.uh.edu/waalt/index.php/Main_Page
If you scroll down to 'WAALT for Archival Lists and Projects', you'll see 'Elizabethan Star chamber Project'.

Sometimes you can actually see images of documents on here from other Courts, but it doesn't look like you can from Court of Star Chamber.

Also this if you click on 'STAC Drake' at the end of that first piece, you get
Drake, Robert
STAC 5/D1/33 - B A - Mich 34/35 Eliz - Robert Drake v Thomas Sweetlande, Martin Sweetlande
STAC 5/D19/12 - I D - 35 Eliz - Robert Drake v Thomas Swutland et al

So it look as if there's another document related to this case.
Interesting alternative spelling for 'Sweetland'. 

As to trying to post an image here on Rootchat. I don't know what sort of computer you're using, but do you have a program that let's you crop an image? (I usually use my photo software for this). If so, can you crop, say, just the top few lines from the first image you have, and then save it in a file size as near to 500 MBs as possible - that's the maximum allowed on Rootschat. You should be able to move the 'crop' lines to fit in all the width, and just reduce the height of the image. Failing that, if it's very, very wide, crop it in half widthways as well, with a bit of an overlap in the middle so the lines can be matched up when reading it. This is quite commonly done on here, and seems to work well. You should get a good enough definition to be able to zoom in without it all pixelating.

Dear Goldie 61,

Thanks very much for all of this information, the link and for looking up the document details, much appreciated.

Shame about it not being Francis Drake, as he was born in Tavistock and my Sweetlands are also from Devon/Somerset I thought there could be a connection as it had got to the Star Chamber although still interesting.

I hadn't seen the second document STAC 5/D19/12 - I D - 35 Eliz - Robert Drake v Thomas Swutland et Al, thanks for that. I will order it from the National Archives.

It is an interesting alternative spelling of the surname. More recent interesting alternatives have come up for me, I have had 2 official letters addressed to me, one under miss sweetcorn and the other, miss Sweatgland!!!!

Thank you also for your advice as to how to post large image files.

Best wishes Emma

[emjsw]

I also would like to know if Elizabeth I was present as my ancestor would have been in the same room as her!!!!

No, HM wouldn't have been present. There's an article about the Court of Star Chamber in Encyclopaedia Britannica online. (I was reading it when a message popped up congratulating me on becoming a lucky winner of something so I lost the article.)

Thanks very much for clearing that up, I will read up on the Star Chamber.
Those pop up messages are so annoying aren't they?!!