Wills,1384-1858

[warncoort]

Folks,
I am hoping some clever person here is able to transcribe wills from this period.
Thanks,
Eric

[Pam Downes]

How many wills are you talking about, and which precise years?
The style of writing - and the language used - varied a lot in those (almost) five hundred years.
You might find that you have to employ a professional person.

[Lesley Robertson]

Also, which country? As Pam says, there's a lot of variation.

If you want to try and make a start yourself (it can be done), I find that it helps to print them and then do it word by word with a red pen. The free-to-use section of Scotlands People has help with handwriting, terms, etc HERE. Of course these are not identical to those for the rest of the UK, but the older ones have a lot in common, especially with legal abbreviations..

[Pam Downes]

Lesley's post has reminded me that The National Archives have a beginner's guide to old writing (only covers 1500-1808 though).
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...hy/default.htm
Also, once you get started, it's surprising how much you can pick out (up? ) in a short space of time. Our local FHS group had guy come to talk about the old writing and after a fairly short talk he then gave us 'do-it-yourself' exercises to 'translate'. I think we all went home feeling quite pleased at how well we managed to do.

[warncoort]

Apologies,it is England in 1841.I will follow your suggestions.
Eric

[Pam Downes]

I would have thought that a will in 1841 would have been written in English, and it should be fairly legible. What you might have trouble with are certain words/terms (e.g, messuage) which more easily answerable, and is actually a different question to 'hoping some clever person here is able to transcribe wills from this period'.