Illustrated manuscript reading
Oral testament [15?] February 1606; death an unread number of days later; confirmation [27?] August 1607
National Records of Scotland, Glasgow Commissary Court, CC9/7/5, images 82-83
Second manuscript pass · 10 September 2026
New readings and unchanged uncertainties are both recorded. A confirmed name or role does not by itself confirm a WikiTree identity or a relationship.
image 82, opening
images 82 and 83, executor and residue clauses
image 82, date/death wording
image 83, first legacy
image 82, inward debts
image 82, inward debts
image 82, outward debts
image 82, legacies
image 82, legacies
image 83, legacy after Marioun
image 83, confirmation/security
Follow the handwriting
Jonet Meik's oral testament gives one secure parent-child statement: Robert Glasgow is repeatedly called her son. Her husband's forename and Marioun Glasgow's relationship word remain qualified readings.
Follow the writing line. Ascenders rise above small letters; descenders fall below them. A neighbouring line can cross the word you are reading.
Count the short strokes. These are called minims. Joined i, m, n and u shapes can be ambiguous; compare a clear repeated word by the same clerk rather than guessing from a modern alphabet.
Separate reading from expansion. A contraction is not a fully written modern word. Square brackets retain doubtful letters or editorial additions. A familiar legal formula is a clue, not permission to fill a gap.
Then assess the relationship. Reading a name securely is not the same as proving kinship. Look for the actual role words and who they refer to.
Learn with the archive: Secretary-hand tutorial · Testament vocabulary.
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The reading desk
Choose a name or relationship below. Compare the original ink, a paper-free view and the same spelling in a secretary-hand teaching font. Open the reasoning only when you need it.
Proposed readingNiniane[?]
The first spouse clause contains a compact forename crossed by ink from neighbouring lines. The traces pick out the opening form and some short body strokes, not a fully resolved sequence of letters. Compare the repeated name in the executor clause elsewhere in the same image.
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Niniane[?]
The white-background view suppresses paper colour; reviewed focus boundaries exclude separable neighbouring fragments where available. It does not restore missing strokes. Colour follows retained source pixels inside proposed letter groups, not a reconstructed pen path. Ambiguous crossings remain neutral where reviewed; other crossing ink may still belong to another line.
The font repeats the proposed spelling, not this clerk's handwriting. Similarity is a teaching aid, not confirmation; uncertainties remain in the reading above.
Expansion: Ninian [?]
Confidence: Probable forename; the spouse role is explicit.
Evidence boundary: Retain Niniane as probable. The separate wording Robert Glasgow hir sone is direct evidence of Jonet's son; the disputed husband's name must not be used to invent additional parentage.
Teaching typeface: Joscelyn by Peter S. Baker, based on a different Renaissance secretary hand. SIL Open Font License. Source images remain separate and unchanged.
NRS CC9/7/5, image 82; Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland.
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
Jonet meik spous to Niniane[?] glasgow ... vpoun the fyftein[?] day of februar 1606 ... Niniane[?] glasgow hir spous and Robert glasgow hir sone
In modern English
Jonet Meik, spouse of Niniane[?] Glasgow ... on the fifteenth[?] day of February 1606 ... Niniane[?] Glasgow her spouse and Robert Glasgow her son
Read the opening across two tightly spaced lines. The kin terms hir spous and hir sone are visible beside their names, so relationship does not depend on appointment language. The husband's forename and the ordinal remain bracketed because their crowded middle strokes can support alternatives; the repeated husband form helps without making it certain.
Robert Glasgow was Jonet Meik's son; the oral testament was made in February 1606.
It does not secure the husband's forename beyond doubt or give Jonet's exact death date; she died an unread number of days later.
high for Robert as son; medium for Niniane and the fifteenth
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Jonet Meik
Reading limits: The woman's name is clear; the file identifier's 'melk' does not override the visible Meik reading.
Phrase 02
spouse of Niniane [?] Glasgow
Compare in this hand: The lower line repeats Niniane[?] glasgow before hir spous, providing a same-hand check.
Reading limits: The spouse role and surname are clear; the husband's exact forename is not fully secure.
Phrase 03
fifteenth [?] day
Reading limits: The day formula is clear, but the ordinal remains only a probable fifteenth.
Phrase 04
of February 1606
Reading limits: Month and written year are secure; calendar normalization is separate from the letter reading.
Phrase 05
Niniane [?] Glasgow, her spouse
Compare in this hand: Compare the first-line husband form immediately above; repetition supports, but does not settle, Niniane.
Reading limits: The relationship is explicit; the forename remains bracketed.
Phrase 06
Robert Glasgow, her son
Compare in this hand: The residue clause on image 83 repeats Robert glasgow hir sone across a line break.
Reading limits: Robert's sonship is explicit; the clause does not state that the named spouse was his father.
NRS CC9/7/5, image 83; Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland.
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
Item to marioun glasgow hir nycht[?] ane [illegible]
In modern English
Item, to Marioun Glasgow, her nycht[?], one [illegible item]
The enlarged line separates the secure name from the difficult following phrase. Marioun's name is readable, but the next word is retained as nycht[?]: its visible strokes do not justify silently expanding it to niece, daughter, servant, or another kinship. A legacy can be given to any of those roles.
Jonet left a legacy to Marioun Glasgow.
The passage does not yet establish Marioun as Jonet's niece, daughter or other specific relative.
high for the name; low for the relationship word
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Marioun Glasgow
Compare in this hand: The same surname form recurs with Robert later on image 83.
Reading limits: The name is strong; this box begins close to the source's left edge but retains the visible entry stroke.
Phrase 02
her nycht [?]; relationship unresolved
Reading limits: No modern kinship expansion is secure; niece is only one possible hypothesis and is not adopted.
NRS CC9/7/5, image 83; Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland.
Choose a phrase to locate it in the manuscript. Only its outline is shown, so overlapping strokes stay readable.
On the page
the haill[?] rest of the guidis geir & dettis awand to hir to Robert glasgow hir sone
In modern English
the whole[?] remainder of the goods, gear and debts owed to her, to Robert Glasgow her son
Follow the line to Robert at the far right, then return to the far left of the next line for glasgow hir sone. The split samples preserve that wrap. This second occurrence confirms that son in the opening is a relationship statement, not merely part of the executor formula; residue beneficiary and son are separate facts.
Robert Glasgow was Jonet Meik's son and residue beneficiary.
It does not identify every other Glasgow named in the accounts as a relative.
high
Slow reading
Compare the original strokes with the proposed reading. Tall or trailing strokes from neighbouring lines may enter a sample; the notes distinguish what is visible from what remains uncertain.
Phrase 01
Robert
Compare in this hand: The opening crop shows the same Robert form before glasgow hir sone.
Reading limits: The word is complete, but the source leaves almost no right-side breathing margin.
Phrase 02
Glasgow, her son
Compare in this hand: The complete phrase is repeated without a line break in the opening step.
Reading limits: The crop cannot provide left-side breathing margin for glasgow; the visible relationship words remain clear.
Modern interpretation
Jonet Meik was spouse of a Glasgow burgess whose forename is probably Niniane. She made the testament orally in February 1606 and died an unread number of days later.
Robert Glasgow is expressly called her son in both the executor clause and the residue clause. The record does not rely on executorship to prove that relationship.
Marioun Glasgow received a legacy, but the following word remains nycht[?] and cannot safely be expanded to niece or another precise kin term.
The accounts add associates rather than proved relatives: probable debtor Donald Mitchell, debtor John Glasgow, wage creditor Cathrene Boyle, and other partly illegible parties.
A Meik legatee is followed by the probable word broyer (brother), but the forename and the word itself remain too uncertain to create a sibling relationship. Isobell Meik is separately named without a relationship.
James Anderson, a weaver and burgess of Glasgow, appears in the confirmation/security procedure; that administrative role does not establish kinship.
Evidence and limits
Still open
LLM-assisted working transcription
Square brackets mark uncertainty, editorial expansions or missing text. Ellipses mark omitted or unresolved wording. Numbering identifies lines in this working reading, not official manuscript line numbers. This is not a complete diplomatic edition.
High for Jonet, Robert's repeated sonship, spouse wording, Glasgow burgess context, account direction and entry boundaries. Moderate for Niniane, Donald Mitchell, Cathrene Boyle and James Anderson's occupational phrase. Low for Marioun's kin word, the Meik sibling clause, the second Glasgow legatee and witness names.
Reviewed: 2026-09-10. Method: LLM-assisted fresh visual reread from original images.
The full originals remain in the local research archive. Selected unaltered crops are shown above for reading and commentary, with separate switchable highlights. Image credit: Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland / ScotlandsPeople. Duplicate downloads are not independent evidence. Consult the original using the reference above through ScotlandsPeople.