Legal document on vellum handwritten in 1661. The item opens with ' This Indenture made the fifth day of November in the thirteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord Charles the Second by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith'
Measuring 270mm x 595mm, this item would look great framed with a portrait of King Charles II.
The document relates to a mortgage between Thomas Horseman and William Chambers who have made their marks on the reverse of the document which was signed some five years before the Great Fire of London.
The scalloped effect at the top of the document shows that a duplicate document was made and to prove they were the same document, they were placed together and cut with scissors in a scalloped effect. Another interesting fact that arises from this type of legal document is the issue of payment for writing the document was made by the word, so if a sentence could be strung out using what we now call 'legal language' - wherefore and whyfore etc etc, the writer would get paid more.
