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1573 Elizabethan Land Deed Bond (English & Latin) - Ince-in-Makerfield, Lancashire England (James Gerrard)

This beautifully preserved Elizabethan legal bond dates back to the spring of 1569, the eleventh year of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. Written on a single sheet of heavy vellum, it offers a fascinating look into the everyday business dealings of Tudor England.

The document opens with a formal Latin clause binding a Gloucestershire gentleman named Henry Thorne to a fifty-pound penalty, a small fortune at the time, if he fails to meet his obligations to a buyer identified on the back as "Potelfilde."
 
The text then shifts into Early Modern English, written in a clear, dark iron-gall Secretary Hand. It brings 16th-century Gloucestershire to life by naming specific local fields, including Toddington Field and Gretton Field. It also contains a highly unusual clause: the seller cannot be forced to travel more than five miles to finalize the legalities. It is a remarkable, tangible piece of history from the Elizabethan era. Latin & English | Secretary Hand | Manuscript (12 × 10 inches | 30.5 x 25.4 cm) | Frame Size (14 × 11 inches | 35.6 x 27.9 cm)

Latin - Starting at Line One (Lines 1-5)
Be it known to all men by these presents that I, Henry Thorne of Toddington in the County of Gloucester, gentleman, am held and firmly bound to Potelfilde in fifty pounds of good and lawful money of England, to be paid to the same Potelfilde, his certain attorney, executors, administrators, or assigns. To which payment well and faithfully to be made, I bind myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators firmly by these presents. Sealed with my seal. Dated on the fourth day of April in the eleventh year of the reign of our Lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God of England, France, and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc. [April 4, 1569].
 
Middle English - Starting at Line Six (Lines 6-end of document)
The Condicion of this obligacion is such that If the above bounden Henry Thorne by his dede indented bering equall date with the date and yere of the date of the obligacion above written hath bargained sold enfeoffed & and made stedfast to the above named Potelfilde two parcells of land being the premisses lying and being in the Lordshipp of Toddington in the said countie of Glouc[ester] whereof one parcell is called Toddington Field and conteyneth by estimacion thretene acres of land whether there be more or les and the other is Gretton Field and conteyneth by estimacion seven acres or there abouts And the sayd Potelfilde his heires and assignes for ever as by the same dede indented more at large it doth and maye appeere that the Henry Thorne in the daye of the makyng of the said dede was lawfully seased of and in the said two parcells of land and of every part thereof of a lawfull estate of inheritance in fee simple without condicion exception or lease of the same before made and also if the said Potelfilde his heires and assignes and every of them may alwayes hereafter lawfully have hold and enjoye the said two parcells of land and every part thereof without any interupcion stopp or troble of the ladies grace next heyres of the said Henry Thorne and also of the said Henry Thorne in convenient tyme at the request to be made by the said Potelfilde his heires & or assignes doo knowledge and suffer all and every further assurance of and in the premisses to the said Potelfilde and his heires as shall be reasonably devised or advised by the learned councell of the said Potelfilde so that it be done next after the date hereof so that the same assurance to be made nor any Warantie but only against the said Henry and his heires And by the agrement to except all suche leases as be above made of the premisses or of any part thereof And also that the same Henry Thorne be not compelled to travell above v miles from the place where he shall be at the tyme of such request to be made And that he shall not be compelled to assure in any other court but the court of Assurance to be at the costs and charges in the lawes of the said Potelfilde his heires or assignes that then this present obligacion to be voide or else to remayne in all his full strength and effecte.

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