There are several excellent online self-study resources for learning how to read old handwriting (which is one aspect of palaeography).

There is a shortage, though, of readily available practice material for people wanting to develop their skills. This page aims to fill something of that gap by matching images of documents and manuscripts with good quality editions or transcriptions. Open the document in one window, the edition in another, arrange the windows, and you are ready to go!

The emphasis is currently on later medieval English documentary materials.

Date Title Language(s) Document Edition
1162 Bull of Pope Alexander III Latin British Library Add Ch 54148 Early Yorkshire Charters, ed. W. Farrer, I (1914), pp. 340-41 (no. 438)
1192 (c.) Charter to Finchale Priory Latin Durham Cathedral Muniments, DCD 4.1.Finc.33 J. Raine (ed.), The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, of the priory of Finchale, in the county of Durham (1837), pp. 11-12
1220 (before) Charter to Finchale Priory Latin Durham Cathedral Muniments, DCD 4.1.Finc.33 J. Raine (ed.), The charters of endowment, inventories, and account rolls, of the priory of Finchale, in the county of Durham (1837), p. 54
1250-1300 (c.) Custumal of four Lacock Abbey manors Latin British Library Add MS 88973 (Cartulary of Lacock abbey), ff. 47r-56r W. G. Clark-Maxwell, ‘The Customs of Four Manors of the Abbey of Lacock’, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 32 (1901-02), 311-46 (text 320-333; translation, 333-42; notes, 343-6)
1256 Pipe Roll Latin London, The National Archives, E372/60 r. 4 m. 1 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XV, pp. 143-50
1270-80 (c.) Charter relating to Exley, Yorkshire Latin Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, BANC MS UCB 127 box 1:06 W. Brown et al., eds., Yorkshire Deeds, V. p. 50 (no. 114) (calendar only)
1292 Eyre Roll Latin London, The National Archives, JUST1/373 m. 7d C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XVIIIB, pp. 158-60
1303 Exchequer Memoranda Roll Latin French London, The National Archives, E368/73 m. 49 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XXB, pp. 164ff
1305 Appropriation of the church of Walkhampton to the abbot and convent of Buckland Latin Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS Lat 10, item 2 George Oliver, Additional Supplement to the Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis (Exeter, 1854), 34-35
1307 Common Pleas Plea Roll Latin London, The National Archives, CP40/170 m. 135 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XXIA, pp. 167-9
1314-49 (c.) Harley Lyrics (extract) English London, British Library, Harley MS 2253, fol. 128r K. Boeddeker, Altenglische dichtungen des ms. Harl. 2253 : Mit grammatik und glossar (1878), p. 231
1339 King’s Bench Controlment Roll Latin London, The National Archives, KB29/4 m. 20 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), pp. 184-8
1344 Will of William Perchay, lord of Ryton (register copy) Latin York, Borthwick Institute for Archives, Abp. Reg. 10 (Register of William Zouche), fol. 305v J. Raine (ed.), Testamenta Eboracensia, I (1836) 6-7
1346 Will of Peter del Hay of Spaldington (register copy) Latin York, Borthwick Institute for Archives, Abp. Reg. 10 (Register of William Zouche), fol. 319v J. Raine (ed.), Testamenta Eboracensia, I (1836).12
1346 Pipe Roll Latin London, The National Archives, E372/191 m. 14 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XXVI, pp. 193-6
1356 Charter of Simon Bonde citizen of London Latin University of Victoria, Doc.Brown.6 Transcription by Alanna Blackall, University of Victoria
1360 Common Pleas Plea Roll (attorneys) Latin London, The National Archives, CP40/401 m. 169 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), pp. 188-90
1379 King’s Bench Plea Roll Latin London, The National Archives, KB27/475, m. 63 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XXIXA, pp. 201-3
1392 Exchequer Foreign Account Roll Latin London, The National Archives, E364/25 m. C C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XXXII, pp. 209-13
1450-1500 (c.) Geoffrey Chaucer, Legend of Good Women English Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. R.3.19, fols. 114r-150v F. Furnivall, A parallel-text edition of Chaucer’s minor poems (Chaucer Society 58), pp. 245ff
1452-1454 Chancery proceeding (Broun vs. earl of Say) English London, The National Archives, C1/1/67 Calendar of the Proceedings in Chancery in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, I, p. xlvii
1466 Will of Agnes Paston (draft) English London, British Library Add MS 27745 fol. 20 N. Davis (ed.), Paston Letters and Papers, I (1971), 44-5
1466 (?) Will of Agnes Paston (?) (Draft (?)) English London, British Library Add MS 27745 fol. 7 N. Davis (ed.), Paston Letters and Papers, I (1971), 45-7
1475-1500 (c.) Charters (formulary with English translations) Latin English Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS. 365, fols. 68ff A Common-Place Book of the Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Toulmin Smith (London, 1888), pp. 133ff
1475-1500 (c.) Manorial Court, articles of enquiry English Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS. 365, fols. 51ff A Common-Place Book of the Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Toulmin Smith (London, 1888), pp. 154ff
1475-1500 (c.) Court Leet, articles of enquiry English Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS. 365, fols. 55v ff A Common-Place Book of the Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Toulmin Smith (London, 1888), pp. 160ff
1477 Will of John Paston II (copy, mutilated) English London, British Library, Add MS 27746, fol. 4 N. Davis (ed.), Paston Letters and Papers, I (1971), 507-8
1478 Final concord (foot of fine) Latin London, The National Archives, CP25/1/79/94/45 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XLIIB, pp. 242-4
1479 Will of Walter Paston (copy) Latin London, British Library, Add MS 27746, fol. 26 N. Davis (ed.), Paston Letters and Papers, I (1971), 647
1479 Prohibition of worship at the statue of Henry VI in York Minster Latin York, Borthwick Institute for Archives, Abp. Reg. 22 (Register of George Neville and Laurence Booth), fol. 334v-335r J. Raine, Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, III, 336-7
1499-1503 (c.) Accounts English Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS. 365, fols. 62v ff A Common-Place Book of the Fifteenth Century, ed. L. Toulmin Smith (London, 1888), pp. 167ff
1500-1525 (c.) Recipes English Oxford, Balliol College, MS 354, p. 14 transcript at Balliol College, p. 14
1500-24 (c.) Catalogue of Syon Abbey Library (extract) Latin Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 141, fol. 44v M. Bateson, Catalogue of the Library of Syon Monastery (1898), pp. 99ff
1501 Exchequer Foreign Account Roll Latin London, The National Archives, E364/119 m. 46 C. Johnson & H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand A.D. 1066-1500 (Oxford, 1915), no. XLIV, pp. 248-50
1525 (c.) Digby Play of Mary Magdalene English Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 133, fol. 95r F. Furnivall (ed.), The Digby plays, with an incomplete ‘morality’ of Wisdom, who is Christ, Early English Text Society (1896), p. 55