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Paleography
Exercises |
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Letter
to John Paston III from William Paston III, c.1478 (British Library, add.
ms. 27,446, f.18). All
images by permission of the British Library.
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The
above is one of the famous Paston letters, a uniquely comprehensive selection
of personal family letters from the late medieval period. The Pastons
were an upwardly mobile Norfolk family living in times of great social
change and unrest. The collection of their letters of the 15th century
has proved a rich lode for historians to mine, showing, as they do, aspects
of life outside the officially recorded doings of kings and courts. This
letter is from William Paston III to his brother John Paston III. (The
Pastons were not especially creative with Christian names.) He refers
to being a student at Eton, and his needs are not so different to those
of students 500 years or so down the track. He needs money, new clothes
and would like a jolly little holiday in London at his brother's expense.
The
letter is addressed on the back in the writer's own hand: To
hys worchepful brodyr John Paston be thys delyvered in hast which
shows two things; first that he was anxious for his needs to be fulfilled,
and second that with the Post Office several hundred years away from being
invented, it was obviously entrusted to a messenger who knew where to
find the recipient. |
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In
terms of paleography,
this represents the personal handwriting of an individual rather than
a professional category. It was not dictated to a scribe,
but writen in the author's own hand.
With this collection of letters, it is possible to identify the handwriting
of individuals, not just generic styles. It is a form of cursive,
and displays the idiosyncrasies of a non-professional piece of work. There
are crossings out and blobby bits. In fact, it looks as if he might have
been having a bit of trouble with his pen. There is a blob of sealing
wax on the left hand side. |
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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 this example |
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