Chris, I have had a look again. I agree the "Nichus" was a bit optimistic, and having looked carefuly at it, it looks more like "Arthuro". However there does seem to be a stray mark at the side of the first letter which led me to believe it was originally an N. If that still holds good, then the name would appear to be "Nathuro". However, is this an abbreviation of a known forename? As regards the mystery word I totally agree with your suggestion as this would make sense. It would appear to be "effum" with a mark above signifying the abbreviation and omission of letters. Martyn Chris Phillips <cgp@medievalgenealogy.org.uk> wrote: Martyn Loveys wrote: << Appears to be - mense decembris 1619 undecimo die emanavit comissio Nichus Lindley nepoti &c fre dicti def Ad ami'strand bona iura et Cred dic def iuxta tenorem et [? ----] pred testi per domina[m] Jeromima[m] Lyndley def non plene admi'strate de bene &c Iurat >> I must say you've deciphered a lot more than I could manage. I wonder if the mystery word could be an abbreviated form of "effectum", "effictum", or something similar. I think the relationship to the deceased must be "nepoti ex f[rat]re" - nephew through the brother. The only problem is that I can't read the name as Nicholas, no matter how hard I try. It should be in the dative case, so I think the final letter is clearly an 'o'. The last few letters look more like "guro" than anything else. And is the first letter really 'N'? Looking at it closely, could it be an 'A' followed by a strange sort of flourish? I wonder if this could be a rare Christian name perhaps coined from a surname, in which case it will probably have to be tracked down in other records. I did try searching the PRO catalogue for "L*ndl*y", with the limits 1580-1670. It turned up quite a lot that could be relevant, including an inquisition post mortem described as follows: C 142/317/96 Lindley, Henry, knight: York 8 James I. If this is the right man, it would name his heir (presumably the same nephew, unless Henry had children under age). It would also be in Latin, though. Chris Phillips ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== To contact the list administrator: OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com