From the Return of Thomas Astle, Esq., Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London[1]
"The Characters which were introduced into this country by King William I. were at that time called Lombardic, but soon afterwards they acquired the appellation of Norman Characters, which were generally used in Grants, Charters, Public Instruments, and Law Proceedings, with very little alteration from that period until the Reign of King- Edward III. In that of King Richard II. variations took place in Hand- Writings of Records and Law Proceedings; the Characters used from that Time to the Reign of King Henry VIII. are composed partly of Characters called Set Chancer)' and Common Chancery, and of some of the Letters called Court-Hand. The Chancery Letters were used for all Records which passed the Great Seal ; the Court-Hand in the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, for Fines, Placita, Ad judicata, &c. These latter Characters came into general Use about the middle of the 16th Century, and were continued until the beginning of the late Reign, when they were entirely disused ; they were originally the Lombardic or Norman, but corrupted and deformed to so great a degree, that they bore very little resemblance to their proto- types. In the 16th Century the English Lawyers engrossed their Convey- ances and Legal Instruments in Characters called Secretary, which are still in use.
"Many Grants and Charters, especially those written by the Monks, were in Letters called Modern Gothic, which took place in England in the 12th Century.
"From the latter End of the 13th to the 17th Century, our Lawyers, when they wrote in the English Language, made use of Characters which were derived from the modern Gothic ; these were generally used by them for Conveyances, Wills, &c. until about the Middle of the 17th Century. I think the Set Chancery the most durable, and therefore the most proper to be used in future for Patents, Charters, &c."
- ↑ Reports from the Select Committee, appointed to inquire into the state of the Public Records of the Kingdom (1800), p. 496.
