Latin abbreviations at foot of 1576 will

[arthurk]

Can anyone help with the following, please? It's from the will of William Morse of Littledean, Gloucestershire, proved in 1576 in the Gloucester Consistory Court. The full page is at the following link, but as the handwriting is different it may not help much:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/4294/images/41513_319937__0002-00058?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&pId=146149

The difficult bit is the abbreviated Latin at the start of the first line. It's followed by the names, residence and occupation of two people, I think as follows:

Tho[mas] Tanner ^al[ia]s Morse^ et Joh[an]nes Morse of Deane Parva yeoman

(Some of you might have seen this query posted elsewhere. The original poster there has given me permission to seek opinions here too on their behalf.)

[Watson]

I think I can see the words una cum (= together with), but I can't get what precedes it.

Could we have a note of the text for a couple of lines immediately before, to understand the context? 

[Bookbox]

I agree with una cu(m), as suggested by Watson.

So perhaps ...

Ad(ministra)cio una cum Testam(ento) ...
Administration, together with the will ...

I'm afraid I can’t read it as Thomas Tanner, and I’m unsure what is inserted above the line.
Who was the executor?
Which other Morse people are mentioned in the will?
Was it properly signed and witnessed?
Is there a note of probate?

Sorry for all the questions!

[arthurk]

Thanks for your thoughts. To reply:

I think I can see the words una cum (= together with), but I can't get what precedes it.

I can see una, but the following letter/suspension looks like 'm' with a suspension, the 'm' being identical to the start of 'Morse' on the following line.

Could we have a note of the text for a couple of lines immediately before, to understand the context? 

The text before is the end of the will in which he declares it to be his last will etc, then there are the signatures. This extract is in a different hand, at the very bottom of the page.

So perhaps ...

Ad(ministra)cio una cum Testam(ento) ...
Administration, together with the will ...

I'm afraid I can’t read it as Thomas Tanner, and I’m unsure what is inserted above the line.

However, there does seem to be a clear space between the 'A' and what follows, which looks to me more like 'dca' with contraction/suspension.

I agree it would be an unusual 'Th', but the thing is, there was a Thomas Tanner alias Morse who seemed to be involved in several probates for Littledean. I can't see the inserted words as anything but al[ia]s Morse.

Who was the executor?

The testator's wife Jhoan [sic] Morse.

Which other Morse people are mentioned in the will?

Sons John, George and Thomas
Daughters Elizabeth, Ann and Jhoan

Was it properly signed and witnessed?

There are witness signatures just above this bit, but the testator seems not to have signed it.

Is there a note of probate?

Yes, on page 3. Page 1 is the will itself, followed by the signatures and the extract at the bottom. Page 2 is a list of debts.

I think that's everything...

[Bookbox]

Thanks for all your answers.

I wondered if perhaps the will didn't go to probate because it wasn't signed, in which case administration might have been granted instead, with the will annexed (hence, possibly, Administracio una cum testamento). But your reply about the probate seems not to support that idea.

I see where you are coming from with A d(i)c(t)a, but I can't offer anything sensible to fit that context. Unless perhaps it is '[Proved] by the said [executrix, understood] together with ...'. That seems a bit of a stretch, to say the least.

If it is una cu(m), as suggested, that might explain why Johanne Morse has an ablative ending. It is such a standard phrase, with the suspended m, that it is hard to see it as anything else.

Have you, or has the original enquirer, found a will or administration which shows Thomas Tanner alias Morse written out in that same way?

I'm afraid I don't have any more suggestions at present, sorry.

[Watson]

Arthur, thanks for the further gen.

I'm pretty sure that una cum is correct, as that kind of abbreviation of cum is familiar to me.

Bookbox's idea of an administration with will sounds logical.

Could it say:

Administracio una cum superscripto testamento ...?

But then, you might expect the two recipients of the administration to be in the dative case, and they don't seem to be.

I'll have another think tomorrow ...

[Watson]

Administracio una cum suprascripto testamento

Following this, since Johanne appears to be ablative, an ablative absolute phrase would make sense, e.g.

iuratis Morse et Johanne Morse de Deane Parva yeoman

meaning: Morse and John Morse of Deane Parva, yeoman, having been sworn.

However, that word doesn't look much like iuratis.

I still like the idea that there has been an administration, perhaps resulting from the death of the executrix, or her unwillingness to act.

[arthurk]

Thanks for all your thoughts and observations. I think I've covered them all below, but for the question about other instances of Thomas Tanner alias Morse, if you mean something in similar handwriting, I don't have any myself. If there's anything else that seems useful I'll post it later.

I've posted below an image of the foot of the will with the mystery Latin at the bottom, and the record of probate on the reverse, which may be of some help.

1. While in one sense the estate was to be "administered" (as all are), it was a grant of probate, not of administration.
2. If the 'A' at the start was an abbreviation I would expect to see some kind of contraction or suspension mark, but there isn't one.
3. The inserted 'al[ia]s Morse' would only make sense if it followed immediately after another surname, so I don't think the word before it can be Testamentum.
4. You'll see that the testator didn't sign the will, but four witnesses did. Nevertheless, it seems the court accepted it as a valid will and proceeded to grant probate.

This makes me wonder if the text at the bottom could be related to the lack of the testator's signature, as some kind of corroboration of it all being genuine and correct. The squiggle at the end might be significant - I can't really make it out, but might it mean something like 'sworn'? In other words, is it being treated a bit like a nuncupative will?

Before reading Bookbox's latest post, I'd also been wondering if executrix should be understood following 'dicta', so this is my latest best guess:

A dicta [executrice] una cum Thome Tanner ^alias Morse^ et Johanne
Morse de Deane Parva yeoman

[Sworn?] by the said [executrix] together with Thomas Tanner alias Morse and John Morse of Littledean, yeoman.

[Watson]

I doubt that the lack of the testator's signature is at the heart of this matter.  If it had been a stopper, then, surely, probate would not have been granted, and it was.

The same cannot be said if the executrix had died after the probate grant, or been unwilling or unable to act for some reason.  Then the estate would have needed to be administered by someone else.