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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Davedrave on Saturday 22 December 18 16:26 GMT (UK)
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I have come across another C16th will which I would very much appreciate some help with. It seems that it is from 1534. The forename name looks to my untrained eye to end “tt” but it seems that the name is “William”.
Dave :)
(1534 will of William Ley in the Record Office for Leics., Leicester and Rutland)
p.s. I thought that I had cropped out and posted only the first three lines, but I seem to have managed to inadvertently post the whole will. I hope that this is O.K., but if anyone happy to transcribe it wants to just suggest where William is from, I would be grateful and could then suggest whether it might be worth transcribing more.
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Although I don't have time to do a full transcription at present, I can see that William Ley is of the parish of newboll (as written).
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Although I don't have time to do a full transcription at present, I can see that William Ley is of the parish of newboll (as written).
Many thanks, Bookbox. I would be surprised if “newboll” is not the same place as the Newbold which is mentioned in two other early C16th wills which have been transcribed for me recently and would therefore be very interested in a fuller transcription whenever convenient. Newbold (Verdon) seems to hold the key somehow to these Leas at this time.
Best wishes,
Dave :)
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I’ve had a go at the first few lines -- all I have time for today.
I'm afraid I can’t yet decipher the place of burial (interlineated). Anything here ... ?
https://www.genuki.org.uk/gazetteer/nearby?place=LEINewboldVerdon&distance=5&unit=miles
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In name of [of deleted] god ame(n) the yere of ow(er) lord god m ccccc xxxiiij & the viij day
of october that I W(i)ll(ia)m Ley of the parechyn[?] of newboll make my wyll
& testame(n)t aft(er) forme & maner as here aft(er) foloyt fyrst I be qweyth
my soll to all myghty god to ^ow(er)^ lady sanct mary & to all the sancts In hewyn
my body to be bereth In chyrch yord of ^[...tte?]^ I be qweyth to ow(er) lady lynton vjd
I be qweyth to newboll chyrch owe & lame I be to kerbe chyrch xijd ...
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foloyt = followeth
be qweyth = bequeath
hewyn = heaven
bereth = buried
owe & lame = ewe and lamb ?
kerbe = Kirby ?
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Thank you Bookbox, this is very interesting. I think that Kirby is almost certainly Kirkby Mallory. Am I correct in thinking that the place of intended burial begins with a “b”? I wonder whether the William Ley who wrote this will was maybe the son of Robert Lee of Naneby who mentioned a William in his 1508 will as well as a bequest to Newbold (Verdon) church. The 26 year gap between the wills could fit my theory. I’m fairly confident from what I know of the later records of the family, that they would be related, and the geography of these wills is very persuasive. Robert asked to be buried in (Market) Bosworth churchyard, despite his bequest to Newbold and despite the fact that where he was living was as close to Newbold as to Bosworth, but I may be clutching at straws in thinking that this could be the churchyard William Ley refers to.
Dave :)
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...I be qweyth to Joh(a)n(ne) my wyff the farme of v yerdes land of hows of [grestn?]
It(em) w(i)ll(ia)m odam a owe & lame I be qweyth to [?] robert odam ^ij^ owe & ^ij^ lam[damaged]
& hever It(em) kateryn stalay a hever / the resydwe of all my gudes my dettes
& my wyll p(er)forme I be ^qweyth^ to [?] Joh(a)n(ne) my wyff sche to have ij p(ar)tes & pet(e)r ley my [damaged]
the therd p(ar)t(e) they ij to be my full executores to dyspose for the helth
of my soll & th(o)m(a)s ley to my sup(er)visor of my last wyll wettenes there of
s(ir) pet(e)r west th(o)m(a)s ley w(i)ll(ia)m [barres?] w(i)t(h) mo(re)
NOTES:
...the farme of v yerdes land of hows... = the farm of five yard lands & a house
The difficult last word - grestn? - could be a place?
In relation the surname odam, it's not clear whether the rising line at the end signifies a contraction or not. Having already changed my mind three times, I will leave it as odam in the text.
hever = heifer
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Many thanks horsleydown86, this is very helpful and interesting. I will check in Nichols’s vast history of Leicestershire to see whether the name of the priest (?) corresponds to anything. I wonder whether the Thomas Lea, supervisor of this will, could be the Thomas Lea of Bagworth who left his 1545 will. I think it likely.
Best wishes,
Dave :)
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I will check in Nichols’s vast history of Leicestershire to see whether the name of the priest (?) corresponds to anything.
Yes, Sir Peter West is likely to be the parson of one of the testator's nearby churches.
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I wonder if it might be possible to have a suggestion for the first letter of the interlineated word after “church yard”. I note with the will of 1508 that the testator simply refers to his “children” without naming them. I suspect that this is simply because the testator and his offspring would have been known to everyone in his locality. I suspect that the same sort of thing may possibly have been behind William Ley of 1534 initially leaving out the name of his chosen burial place, i.e. that it seemed obvious to him because it would be where his forbears were already interred. Maybe the place was clarified (!) at someone else’s suggestion because he mentioned more than one church in the will.
By the way, I checked the names of priests in Nichols for the churches mentioned, but nothing matched. The lists seemed to be continuous from some time in 1534, oddly enough (or not? - maybe linked to Henry VIII’s activity?).
Dave :)
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I wonder if it might be possible to have a suggestion for the first letter of the interlineated word after “church yard”.
As I see it, the first letter could be b or l, with some lesser chance of t.
The line to the left of the main vertical should belong to the f of of.
Like Bookbox I think it ends tte. The fourth last letter is either o or e.
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Many thanks horsleydown86, I thought it looked like a “b”, but I am glad that my thoughts have been confirmed by an expert. I think that the place that is meant is “Bosworth”, though presumably it is either mis-spelled (like “newboll”) or something else odd is going on. I think it likely that the writer of this will was related to Robert Lee of Naneby, in fact the geography puts William Ley (the William of Robert’s will) in much the same geographical location - somewhere close to both Newbold Verdon and Kirkby Mallory is pretty close to Naneby. Nowhere else in the area seems to fit as well as “Bosworth” does, and Bosworth was where Robert Lee was buried, and it was also the only town of any size (though very small) near to Newbold. (I know the geography very well because it takes me not a lot over an hour to cycle here).
Best wishes,
Dave :)