In this week’s poser, taken from the testament dative of a servant girl, recorded in the Commissary Court of St Andrews in 1597 (National Archives of Scotland, CC20/4/3/198), we asked you who the executor was, what her relationship to the deceased was and what is odd about the way the date has been written in line 5?

Answer

The executor was Mirabill Broun and she was the sister of Issobel Broun. As for the date: two things are worth commenting on. The day has been rendered as the last day of January ‘96 (Lxxxxvj yeiris). At this point the start of the year was usually taken to be 25 March. Scotland adopted the 1 January as the start of the year in 1600. So, in modern terms, the date was 31 January 1597.

Transcription
The Inventarie and testament datiue of the guid[is] & geir of umq[uhi]ll Issobell
Broun  Sh[e]rvand las in Saint androis quha decessit intestat the xv
day of Januar instant faithfullie gevin vp be Mirabill broun
hir lautfull sist[er] & executrix dative decernit to hir be decreit
the last day of Januar  Lxxxxvj yeir[is]
Item the said defunct being bot ane s[e]rvand las had na guid[is] nor geir
except hir small abulzement estimeit to xx sh[illingis]

Last week’s poser