Original group of three related early-17th-century English parchment legal manuscripts concerning property transactions involving members of the Butler family. The archive includes formal Final Concord / Feet of Fines material from the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, together with associated property documentation and historic endorsements.
Names appearing across the group include William Butler, John Butler, and Elizabeth Butler. The transactions concern freehold property including at least one messuage (dwelling house), lands, pastures, and appurtenances, with one concord recording a consideration of £20 sterling.
The documents appear to date from the early Stuart period, probably the reign of Charles I, c.1625–1630s, although the precise regnal year and locality remain subjects for further research.
Offered here is an exceptional small archive of three related English legal manuscripts on parchment/vellum, dating from the early 17th century and concerning property held or transferred by members of the Butler family.
These are not later copies or decorative manuscripts. They are original working legal documents, written in heavily abbreviated Latin court hand and Secretary Hand, folded for archival storage and subsequently docketed so that they could be identified among family title papers.
At least one of the documents is unquestionably a Final Concord, also known as a Foot of Fine, made through the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster.
Its opening follows the familiar formula:
“Hec est finalis concordia facta in Curia domini Regis apud Westmonasterium…”
or:
“This is the final concord made in the Court of the Lord King at Westminster…”
The term is identified as Michaelmas.
The principal concord concerns members of the Butler family and records the formal transfer of real estate.
Names recovered from the manuscript include:
William Butler
John Butler
Elizabeth, wife of John Butler
The property includes at least:
one messuage, meaning a dwelling house together with its associated buildings, yard and immediate appurtenances,
as well as references to lands and pastures.
The stated consideration is approximately:
£20 sterling
The reverse carries a particularly interesting English endorsement reading approximately:
“Deed of gift Willm Butler his wyfe”
This suggests that after the original court transaction the parchment was preserved within the family's title papers as evidence of the conveyance.
The second parchment contains another substantial legal text in extremely abbreviated Latin.
Its names, formulas and property terminology closely relate it to the Butler transaction represented elsewhere in the group.
The unusual arrangement of the writing, including text in differing orientations, reflects the practical manner in which legal membranes and associated title material were prepared and retained.
The document contains further references to the parties and land transaction and appears to form part of the same Butler family conveyancing archive.
The newly photographed third parchment is clearly a separate complete document, rather than simply another page of the first instrument.
The recto contains approximately a dozen lines of densely abbreviated legal Latin extending across most of the parchment.
The reverse is largely blank except for a short docket written across one of the historic folds.
That docket appears to contain language relating to the fine or its discharge/quieting, although the exact expansion of the heavily abbreviated wording remains uncertain.
Its physical appearance, script, legal language and folding pattern are highly consistent with the other Butler material and strongly support the interpretation of the lot as a related group of family title deeds and court conveyancing records.
A Final Concord, or finalis concordia, was one of the most important methods of conveying freehold land in England for centuries.
Despite the modern meaning of the word “fine,” this was not a criminal penalty.
The parties commenced a fictitious lawsuit in the royal Court of Common Pleas. Rather than proceed to trial, they formally reached an agreement concerning ownership of the property.
Because that agreement was entered into the records of the royal court, it provided unusually strong evidence of title.
The document was produced in several corresponding portions. The part retained by the court became known as the “foot”, hence the historical term Feet of Fines.
These documents are especially valuable to historians and genealogists because they frequently preserve:
William Butler appears to have been a principal participant in the property transactions represented by this archive.
Of particular importance is the later English endorsement:
“Deed of gift Willm Butler his wyfe”
This demonstrates that the document remained associated with William Butler and his wife after the original legal proceeding and was understood by later custodians as a family property deed.
His participation in a formal Common Pleas conveyance establishes that he possessed or was acquiring a significant interest in freehold property.
Without identifying the parish or manor, however, it would be premature to connect him with any particular titled or aristocratic Butler lineage.
John Butler appears as another principal party in the conveyancing material.
He is named together with Elizabeth, his wife, suggesting that the property being transferred involved an interest in which Elizabeth possessed, or might potentially possess, legal rights.
Elizabeth is identified as the wife of John Butler.
The appearance of married women by name in Feet of Fines is genealogically important. A wife might have dower, inheritance or other interests that needed to be legally extinguished or transferred before completely secure title could pass.
Her inclusion therefore provides valuable evidence of the Butler family's internal property arrangements.
The manuscripts appear to belong to the early Stuart period and probably to the reign of King Charles I, who ruled from 1625 until 1649.
Charles I's reign ultimately culminated in the English Civil Wars, his defeat by Parliamentary forces, trial for high treason and execution in 1649.
These documents concern the far more everyday legal world operating beneath those national events: ownership of houses and agricultural property, inheritance, marriage rights and the orderly transfer of family land through the King's courts.
Because the exact regnal numeral has not yet been conclusively expanded from the manuscript itself, the Charles I attribution should presently be regarded as the most likely working attribution rather than a fully resolved exact date.
The group is written on parchment/vellum, not ordinary modern paper.
Visible characteristics include the distinctive animal-skin texture, slight translucency, irregular surface, historic fold memory and characteristic edge structure.
The writing is primarily Latin, employing the dense contractions and brevigraphs used by English legal clerks.
The documents preserve excellent examples of Secretary/Court Hand, a specialized professional script that can appear almost cryptographic to modern readers because entire syllables and standard legal words were routinely represented by abbreviations.
All three documents show expected signs of substantial age and archival use.
There are numerous historic folds, generalized toning, scattered staining and surface dirt, variations in ink density, occasional rubbing, edge irregularities and localized wear along the old folding lines.
The newly photographed third parchment is especially attractive, with a large expanse of relatively clean vellum surrounding the manuscript text and a clearly visible docket on the reverse.
No attempt has been made to flatten, clean or restore the documents.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form an integral part of the condition description.
An especially appealing archive for collectors of:
Charles I and Stuart England • English Civil War era history • antique vellum manuscripts • Butler genealogy • Feet of Fines • Final Concords • Court of Common Pleas • English property law • early legal documents • paleography • family title deeds
The survival of three associated parchments together is substantially more interesting than a single isolated legal fine. Taken as a group, they preserve part of the working title archive of an English landholding family approximately four centuries ago.
Approximate date: Early 17th century, probably c.1625–1630s
Origin: England
Court: Court of Common Pleas, Westminster
Term: Michaelmas
Material: Parchment / vellum
Language: Latin with English endorsements
Family: Butler
Names: William Butler; John Butler; Elizabeth Butler
Property: Messuage, lands, pastures and appurtenances
Consideration: £20 sterling on one recorded transaction
Quantity: Three related original parchment legal documents