Testament of William Dempster in Nesting, Shetland Sep. 1648
I have a completed PRINTED transcription of that testament made by experts. But there are few things that I don't understand:
he leaves the rest of the BED PLAIDIS to his said spouse. What is a BED PLAIDIS ?
... his new CLAYTHES and his new JOUP? I assume his new clothes but what is the JOUP? Is that a Scottish kilt?
... he hes three, QUHILKIS four CLAFFIS he willis to be devydit betuix... What are QUHILKIS and what are CLAFFIS?
Finally, how big is a MERK of land
Thanks so much.
Comments
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A Joup is a Jacket, I find. Try the Dictionary of the Scots Language on https://dsl.ac.uk/
A Plaid is a length of cloth so I'd guess a Bed Plaidis is like a blanket.
The Claffis line is beyond me but I think that the "Quh" is typically rendered "Wh" in English. Not that helps much...
The only definition of "Merk" I know is a unit of Scots currency - two-thirds of a Scots Pound, I think. So could it be referring to the rent or value?
Hope others can chime in!
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Thanks so much for your answer. That is very helpful.
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