| LOCATION | Edinburgh, NL Scotland |
| MANUSCRIPT | Edinburgh, NL Scotland, Adv.MS.22.3.4 |
Edinburgh, NL Scotland, Adv.MS.22.3.4
Century: XVII.1
Number of folios: 473
Material: chart.
Height: 305
Width: 195
Region and Place of Production: Britannia
Scribe(s) / Possessor(s):
Cover: saec. XVIII, so tight that text on the inner margins cannot be read. On the upper rim of the first leaf: 'liber est meus Posem...' [= posearum? Written by a hand saec. XVII.</p> <p> Watermark: Main volume: two pillars, slender, between them a broad rectangle with letters IAD, below it a spiral ornament, above it an upside-down bunch of grapes, consisting of 13 grapes, the entire mark being 54 mm high, 30 mm wide: pag. 3, 7, 11, 13, 15, 63, 71 (blank), 79, 83, 85, 153, 203, 209 and 211 (both blank), 235 (verso blank), 243, 353, 367, 389, 401, 415 (verso blank), 417, 459, 587, 589, 601 and 605 (both blank), 683 and 685 (both blank), 703, 705, 707, 733 (verso blank), 735 (blank), 876, 883, 901, 935.</p> <p> Watermark flyleaves: two pillars (but thicker than on pag. 3 ss.), also with an upside-down bunch of grapes above the middle (but it has 15 grapes), also with a broad rectangle with letters (but these letters read ROA), and from its middle hangs a bunch of grapes with only three grapes, and beneath it is a pretzel, and the mark altogether is much more decorated, and larger, 68 mm high, 53 mm wide (flyleaf ii and flyleaves pag. 939-946, all blank).</p> <p> [{i}Flyleaf i, owner's description of the contents of the MS, not fully accurate, saec. XVIII:{/i}] Sinclairs begin at page 73 and ends 235. Lethington begins p. 237 and end page 416, but I think it should end p. 371, notwithstanding that at page 416 it says 'Here ends Lethingtoun'. At either of the above begins Colvil and it ends page 599. Next to that is Haddington, beginning p. 635: 27 Decem. 1592, and ending p. 682, 14 Decem. 1593. At page 693 there is another part of Haddingtown, beginning 3 July 1610 and ending p. 876: 18 Nov. 1624. And to all this added a compleat index of the haill forgoeing sollutions ordine alphabetico.</p> <p> [{i}Flyleaf iii, notice in ink, 19th century:{/i}] Index. Lord Chancellor's Practiques from page 1 to page 72. Sinclair's Practiques from p. 72 to page 235. Maitland's Practiques from ditto(?) page [{i}modern additions in pencil:{/i}] - 416 (or 371). Colvill - 635. Haddington 1610-24, 635-685.</p> <p> Handwriting: Pages 1-876 were written continuously by only one very neat hand, in dark ink, saec. XVII.1, using only one type of paper. The year date 1652 on pag. 368 has been added by a later hand and can thus not be used to date the handwriting. The index on pag. 881 ss. was penned by another scribe, but still on the same type of paper. The contents prove that the main scribe must have worked after 1624, but he still uses old-fashioned forms of letters and maintains old Scottish spelling: 'aucht', 'quhilk', 'micht'. Yet, I noticed one 'which' [in the intermediate heading within Sinclair's item 201 - but this heading might have been added by another hand]. The scribe usually writes 'not' instead of 'nocht', but I have also observed 'nocht'. Errors in Latin grammar show that the scribe had problems with Latin. This applies in particular to quotations from Jus Commune sources.</p> <p> The scribe at times left blank spaces - presumably because he felt unable to transcribe the next text passage from the model MS - either because the text passage was written in Latin which he did not understand, or because it was penned in particularly difficult handwriting. Several of these blank spaces were later filled in with text supplied by another scribe, obviously a more knowledgeable person (e.g. pag. 54-55, and pag. 105 lines 6-9, at the end of item 174 of the provisional edition of Sinclair's Practicks).</p> <p> [{i}Collective title for the entire volume, above page 1:{/i}] 'Certane practiques collected.' [{i}And a later hand added:{/i}] 'Practiqued be my Lord Chancelor.' [{i}The latter words suggest that the person who wrote these words assumed that the Lord Chancellor appreciated and applied the propositions of law here contained.{/i}]
Literature quoting this MS: Dolezalek, Scotland under Jus Commune, vols. 1 and 2
Analyzed by: Dolezalek*