My other half advises me that Exonienses is Latin for of, or pertaining to, Exeter. So aedes Exonienses would appear to be Exeter House. Pauline On 19/12/2011 15:53, David Beames wrote: > Hi all > > As some listers know, I co-ordinate the OFHS Wills Library Project. > > A couple of times lately, ploughing through PCC wills to be added to the Library, I have come across an odd phrase in the official note which is added to the will when it is "proved": > This time, it's with the 1670 will of Thomas Allen of Goring. > > "Probatum ... apud aedes Exonienses scituat' in le Strand in Comitatu' Middlesex..." > > That's "Proved ... at aedes Exonienses situated in the Strand in the County of Middlesex..." > > But what's "aedes Exonienses " ?? > > Well, "aedes" is said to be a temple or a house, and an exonium (or essonium) was in English law an excuse for non-appearance at a Court Baron. > While I love the idea of a Temple of Excuses, it doesn't seem to have much to do with granting Probate, which has to be done at a court of some kind, and in this case was at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. > > Where DID the PCC sit? I'd thought maybe at Lambeth, but was it in the Strand, where the Law Courts are today? > > The tube station nearest to the Law Courts is called Temple Bar, which presumably meant something long before the tube was invented. > I'm wondering whether "aedes Exonienses" was the nearest the scribes could think of (in Latin) to "Temple Bar". > > But please does anyone actually KNOW ? > > DaveB