 |
|
| This is the Latin text of the charter, although many Old English words are to be found in it. Lines 3 and 4 are full of them, these being terms for various forms of legal privilege. There is also the word thegenes in the second half of line 5, referring to thegns, the Anglo-Saxon term for free born gentry. The letter forms are those of an English Caroline minuscule, with wedged ascenders on such letters as b, h or l, but with some tendency to become angular in anticipation of the Gothic style. | |
| To investigate what the Old English legal terms mean, you can try the ORB Guide to Medieval Terms. | |
| Charter of Henry I to Christ Church, Canterbury, of 1123 (British Library, Campbell Chart. xxi 6). All images by permission of the British Library. | |
|
| overview | seal | text | Latin alphabet | Old English alphabet | | Latin abbreviations | Old English abbreviations | structure | exercises | |
|
| 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. | |
 |
|
 Script sample for Latin text |
|
| Script sample for English text |
|
|
Index
of Exercises |
|
|
Index
of Scripts |
|
|
If you are looking at this page without frames, there is more information about medieval writing to be found by going to the home page (framed) or the site map (no frames). |
|
 |
|
