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1585 Elizabethan Bond for Performance of Covenants (English & Latin) - Exton, Lancashire England (James Gerrard)

This beautifully preserved Elizabethan legal bond dates back to the spring of 1585, the twenty-seventh 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 an authoritative Latin obligation binding a yeoman from the prominent Sherington family of Exton to a steep financial penalty. What follows is a linguistic shift into Early Modern English under the bold calligraphic heading "The Condicon," penned in dark iron-gall script.
 
Tasked with the strict performance of covenants, the text links local landed figures directly to James Gerrard of the historic Gerrard dynasty of Ince. Complete with its original archival filing note "No 37" on the reverse, alongside the elegant signatures of the Sherington family, this manuscript remains a pristine piece of living history from the golden age of Elizabeth I. Latin & English | Secretary Hand | Manuscript (9 × 5½ inches | 22.8 × 13.9 cm) | Frame Size (14 × 11 inches | 27.9 x 35.6 cm)

Latin - Starting at Line One (Lines 1-8)
Know all men by these presents that we, John Sherington of Exton in the county of Lancashire, yeoman, and Richard Sherington, son and heir apparent of the said John, are held and firmly bound unto James Gerrard in forty pounds of good and lawful money of England, to be paid to the same James Gerrard, or to his certain attorney, executors, or assigns. To which same payment well and faithfully to be made, we bind ourselves and every one of us by himself, for the whole and in solidarity, our heirs, executors, and administrators, firmly by these presents, sealed with our seals. Given on the tenth day of January in the year of the reign of our Lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, of England, France, and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc. ("...and on earth Supreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland."), the twenty-seventh.
 
Middle English - Starting at Line Nine (Lines 9 - End of document)
The condition of this present obligation is such that if the above-bounden John Sherington and Richard Sherington, their executors, administrators, and assigns, do well and truly observe, perform, fulfill, and keep all and singular the covenants, grants, articles, and agreements comprised, specified, and expressed in a pair of indentures made between the above-named James Gerrard of Ince-in-Makerfield in the county of Lancaster, Esquire, on the one party, and the above-bounden John Sherington of Exton and Richard Sherington, son and heir apparent of the said John, on the other party, which on the part and behalf of the said John and Richard, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, are to be observed, performed, fulfilled, and kept, according to the true intent, purport, and meaning of the same indentures, that then this present obligation to be void, frustrate, and of none effect, or else to stand, remain, and be in full power, strength, and virtue.

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