Paleography

Paleography might teach men to read documents, diplomatics to date them and to test their authenticity; but the full significance of an ancient deed might easily escape the most exact paleographer and the most accomplished diplomatist, for the want of that finished sense for legal technicality which is the natural fruit of a conveyancing practice.

This book is the culmination of a six-year detective hunt among local records, archives, and private collections in England and in Massachusetts. I do not recommend a similar study to any student who has a faint heart, lack of patience, inability to travel, or poor eyesight. Such a study demands the development of various specialized skills. A knowledge of the mysteries of genealogy is essential, and these can be both complex and frustrating. One must also learn about paleography and know how to decipher the different court hands, the shorthand Latin used by clerks, and seventeenth-century handwriting in general. A note of warning: many of the church documents make the formal manorial court rolls look like works of art, as they are. Single pages, or paragraphs of entries, in Church Court Deposition Books or Churchwardens’ Accounts have cost me many hours of exasperation, to say nothing of long weeks at the typewriter. Another important ability which must be cultivated is the use of a portable photostat machine, such as the Contura, under every kind of difficulty, including the differences in types of electric current in foreign countries and the caution of archivists who fear any damage to their documents. In addition to the skill of handling a photostat machine, one should know about photographic processes in general and a certain amount about cartography, particularly for the period studied. Naturally, the technical legal language used by court clerks must be mastered.