Author Topic: help with 16th C will  (Read 156 times)

Offline Ontario Oneill

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help with 16th C will
« on: Thursday 25 May 23 16:04 BST (UK) »
I'm working on this 1562 Will of Bartholomew Michell from Ludgvan, Cornwall and I have some questions:
1. I can't make out the words after executer
2. I can't figure out the parish - Sainte ????  Looks like a Ch to me but there's no parish that starts like that in Cornwall
3. I can't figure out the two words that repeat before the names. At first I thought it was £ and a value, but now I think it might be an abbreviation.
4. How come the body of the is written in English and then it suddenly turns to latin and repeats the beneficiaries in latin?
3. What's the fancy stuff on the side of the Will entry? Does it have a name and does it represent anything?
Cornwall Laity, Middlesex Coombes/Coombs, N.Ireland O'Neill/O'Neil

Offline Bookbox

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Re: help with 16th C will
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 25 May 23 16:55 BST (UK) »
1. ... for the helthe of my soulle

2. written Colon (possibly = Colan, or St Colomb?). What you are reading as Ch is just a capital C, hot-cross-bun style.

3. p(er) me (Latin = by me)

4. These are the names of the witnesses – names in formal documents were often Latinised at this date.

5. It’s just a ‘decorated initial’, an elaborate extension of the capital I of In (the opening word).

Offline arthurk

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Re: help with 16th C will
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 25 May 23 17:11 BST (UK) »
I was about to write the same as Bookbox, but I'll just add one more thing, on no.4:

It looks as though the names of the witnesses were written in the body of the will, and then repeated, probably to represent their signatures - hence the 'per me'.

Also, as the whole extract is in the same handwriting, and the names/signatures run straight on from the body of the will rather than being set out separately at the bottom, this seems to be a copy from a will register, rather than a document that the testator himself handled and signed. In the original, the distinction between text and signatures would probably have been a lot clearer.
Researching among others:
Bartle, Bilton, Bingley, Campbell, Craven, Emmott, Harcourt, Hirst, Kellet(t), Kennedy,
Meaburn, Mennile/Meynell, Metcalf(e), Palliser, Robinson, Rutter, Shipley, Stow, Wilkinson

Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Ontario Oneill

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Re: help with 16th C will
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 25 May 23 17:23 BST (UK) »
Super! Thank you for your help!
It totally makes sense about the latin and lack of distinction between main body and signatures.
Cornwall Laity, Middlesex Coombes/Coombs, N.Ireland O'Neill/O'Neil