Transcribing and translating conventions

Peter Foden, the Archivist who has translated and transcribed the Town Book, provides the following notes on the guidelines he has followed.

Name
I have translated Latin first names into their modern English forms where possible, but left surnames in their original spellings however inconsistent. Egidius becomes Giles for example. I opted to transcribe Ed as Edward throughout, but note that entry 278 suggests that Edmund is more likely in at least one instance, and given Edmund's status as an East Anglian Saint, many more might be more appropriately translated as Edmund.

By-names
Latin descriptions have been translated into modern English, but all Early Modern English orthography has been preserved. I was surprised to find no instances of Þ (thorn), Ƿ (wen) or Ȝ (yogh). Both Cultura and Stadium have been translated as furlong, although there may be subtle differences between the meanings of the two words. Stadium is the word consistently used where a strip of land extended between two furlongs.

Foliation and numbering
I have converted all roman numeral foliation to arabic with the addition of r and d for recto and dorso (front and back respectively). I have not included digital image numbers in the presentation database.Entries have been numbered consecutively, and a couple of times I have reflected divisions by using a, b, c. Most 'entries' are pieces of land, but I have also numbered lines of rubric (such as “now turn towards the east…” etc.) and some cross-referencing.

Headings and marginal headings
Generally the Heading is the name of the township or parish, and the marginal heading a by-name, often the name of a furlong or other locality. As these elements are somewhat inconsistent in the original, so they are in the database.

Location
Often so brief - “next” - that it hardly seems worth transcribing or devoting a field to it, but these are the links from one record to the next and so it seemed justifiable to include this column throughout. I have occasionally added geographical information from later in the entry because there was nowhere else to put it.

Quantity
Rather more than numbers here, but they are the most consistent elements describing a piece of land. I have converted to arabic numerals and abbreviated acres (a), roods ® and perches (p). I have translated the Latin terra as land. It implies arable, as meadow and pasture are differentiated. The Latin vacuus has been translated as 'empty' but might imply a state of recent abandonment. Homestall, pightel, and toft on the other hand might be interpreted as long-abandoned house sites. The word Fossatum occurs sporadically, and has been translated as 'earthwork': it is sometimes associated with the verb 'stands' and sometimes the past participle 'erectus', probably usually a modern boundary. Puteum is another tricky word, since it can mean both pit and well.

Name
If the piece of land is named in the text, I have repeated it here, but the whole text is full of by-names, whether in abbutals or headings.

Tenure
The consistency with which this information is provided suggests that this was the most important information being collected here. The status of each piece of land would determine its profitability for the new owner and perhaps the potential for reorganisation of holdings. It would be more difficult to make changes to Free land, where owners could buy and sell at will and rents, if any, were nominal and fixed by ancient custom. I have left the word Nativa in its Latin form, because it means much more than 'unfree'. Other tenures were linked to other manors: unless these were subordinate to Blofield, it would be difficult to make changes without the cooperation of other lords. The surveyor had a suspicious mind when noting the information provided by some tenants - 'as he says' - but was better prepared to accept the word of the
higher status owners such as Miles Hobart - 'Nativa as is supposed, but enquire of Miles himself' [1722].

Part of
Crucial evidence of tenure was in the link between ancient holdings and status. This makes this document historically dynamic, since it demonstrates how ancient holdings had been broken up and re-allocated. It would be tempting to assume that these changes took place in the 14th century due to plague and depopulation. Equally tempting is the idea that some of the names of former owners are more or less pure OE and ON forms, such as Cutbalde and Aslacke respectively. This same field has been used to indicate which manor had jurisdiction over the land - a typical patchwork.

Boundaries or Abbuttals
Not consistently given, since many plots of land could be identified from the order of the document, but these contain some key landmarks, including roads, and so are broken down by compass points. I have also inferred alignment from the assumption that 'inter' refers to the long sides of a ploughed strip whereas 'abuts' refers to the ends or headlands. I have translated 'via regia' as 'King's Highway'; other public roads and paths are sometimes described as 'common' and in this context does not refer to common pasture. Some boundaries were defined by ploughing, an interesting fact which I have sometimes noted, but this is probably not significant historically or archaeologically.

Reference
The Extent was clearly arranged in a different order, perhaps by holding, whereas the draggum follows much the same order as the Town Book. I would go so far as to suggest that it was a draft of this survey, perhaps containing more detail as the pagination goes up to 97 folios. Some other sources referenced, such as private charters or court rolls, are also included here.

PF, November 2021

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