| Click on button beside each word to indicate how it is abbreviated in the text. | |
| This document is heavily abbreviated. The above examples are just a selection which show the general system and the different forms of abbreviation marks. Many of the abbreviations occur in a similar way in different words, such as a horizontal superscript slash over u when the following m is omitted, or a slash through the descender of p to indicate the prefix per-. This document employs the abbreviation mark known as the papal knot, a superscript figure of eight which derives originally from papal documents and was adopted by German imperial document scribes. It sometimes appears in less weighty ecclesiastical documents at around this time. To check out all the abbreviations, go to the full text page and work through it with the transcript. | |
| Charter of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, early 13th century (British Library, Egerton Charter 2180). All images by permission of the British Library. | |
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| overview | seal | text | alphabet | abbreviations | structure | exercises | | transcript | translation | |
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| Click on each of the above to walk your way through the text. The transcript will appear in a separate window so that you can use it for reference at any time. These exercises are designed to guide you through the text, not test you, so you can cheat as much as you like. | |
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 Script sample for this example |
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Index
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Index
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