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  1. #1
    Bowkerfan
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    Default Reading Manorial Rolls / Translating Latin

    Hello, this is a two part questions:
    1. In the Manorial Rolls of Madresfield there is an entry about a woman named Agnes Taylor daughter of John Taylor. Is it possible that she could be married, surname Perkins, at the time this was written? Or, would she have been described as Agnes Perkins, wife of Peter?

    2. In a genealogy drawn up in 1623 during a Heraldic Visitation, a man is described as "servius" to Lord Hugh Despenser. What did "servius" mean at that time. I think it translates to servant or slave today, but did it have a different meaning then (1300's)
    Thank you for your help,
    Jeanie

  2. #2
    Coromandel
    Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bowkerfan View Post
    In a genealogy drawn up in 1623 during a Heraldic Visitation, a man is described as "servius" to Lord Hugh Despenser. What did "servius" mean at that time. I think it translates to servant or slave today, but did it have a different meaning then (1300's)
    Does the word definitely have an 'i' in it? Lewis & Short's Latin dictionary only has Servius as a proper noun, a Roman name. This transcript of the 1665-6 visitation of Berkshire has 'servus' without an i:

    https://
    freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scperkins/PeterMorleyaliasPerkins.html

    I don't think it is possible to deduce from the single word 'servus' (if that is what is says) what exactly 'Petrus Morley alias Perkins' did for Lord Hugh. Like the English word 'servant', 'servus' could have many different interpretations. I have seen quite well-to-do young men being described as servants of people to whom they were apprenticed, for example.

    Have a look in the Oxford English Dictionary for some examples of the usage of the word 'servant' in medieval times.

    One sense of the word is 'One who is under the obligation to render certain services to, and to obey the orders of, a person or a body of persons, esp. in return for wages or salary.' An example of the usage in this sense, from 1433, refers to someone sending to Britain one 'Wauter Trenchervyle, his Servant, Factour and Attournay, to Marchandise ther'

    OED notes that 'servant' was once also 'used for SERGEANT n., in various senses' as in the phrases 'seruauntes of armes' and 'Servent of the Pastry'.

  3. #3
    Bowkerfan
    Guest

    Default

    You're right, there is no "i" it is "servus". Thank you for that great answer.
    Jeanie

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