Poser 305 - Porteous Roll for Edinburgh, 1679

This week's poser is an excerpt from the Porteous Roll for Edinburgh, contained in the High Court of Justiciary process papers, dates to 1679 (National Records of Scotland, JC26/51/5 page 3) and deals with the accusation of witchcraft against Janet Hill. A Porteous Roll was a precursor of a criminal indictment; a list of accused persons to be tried before the High Court of Justiciary, with information about the offence and the location of the accused.

Compared to last week's, this week's hand is fairly typical secretary hand; though a rushed example with words crossed out and descending strokes interfering with letters in the line below. Watch particularly out for the letter thorn, abbreviations and phonetic spellings.

Excerpt from the Porteous Roll for Edinburgh, contained in the High Court of Justiciary process papers, 1679 (National Records of Scotland, JC26/51/5 page 3).

Download a printable version of this week's poser, PDF, 108KB, new window

This week's question: What allegedly happened to John Gray due to Janet's action?

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Letter thorn
Abbreviations
Phonetic spelling

Answer to this week's poser