Illustrated manuscript reading
Death January 1603; confirmation 9 May 1605
NRS CC9/7/4, images 6-7
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 6 opening
images 6-7 executors
image 7 debts out
image 7 confirmation
image 7 confirmation date
Follow the handwriting
Three manuscript details separate what Katherine Glasgow's testament states from what later family reconstruction might infer. The record explicitly names her husband and three minor estate representatives, but it does not call those representatives her children.
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.
Select a name to jump to its manuscript evidence.
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 readingspous
The existing reading is ‘Katherine glasgow spous to thomas wir’; the word supplies the explicit husband relationship.
Open the original above if this browser cannot process the image.
spous
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: spouse
Confidence: high
Evidence boundary: The trace supports the existing explicit spouse reading only; it does not turn the named minor representatives into stated children.
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 CC9/7/4, image 6; 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
vmqle Katherine glasgow spous to thomas wir ... vp be the said thomas wir hir spous In name ... of William James and Jonet[?] wir
In modern English
the late Katherine Glasgow, spouse of Thomas Weir ... given up by Thomas Weir, her spouse, in the name of William, James and Jonet[?] Weir
The repeated word spous directly identifies Thomas Weir as Katherine's husband. In the enlarged samples, follow the tall capital strokes and the long descenders even when they overlap the neighbouring line. The three Weirs are named after In name of, not after a child term: estate representation is compatible with children, other relatives, or another legal interest unless a kin word survives.
Katherine Glasgow was the spouse of Thomas Weir, who presented the estate in the names of William, James and Jonet[?] Weir.
It does not state that William, James and Jonet[?] were Katherine and Thomas's children.
high for Katherine and Thomas; medium for Jonet's forename
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
Katherine Glasgow
Reading limits: The name is secure; the large upper flourish is retained even though it crosses neighbouring writing.
Phrase 02
spouse of Thomas Weir
Compare in this hand: A second 'thomas wir hir spous' occurs later in the same opening crop and repeats the legal relationship formula.
Reading limits: The husband relationship is explicit; spelling is preserved as wir in the manuscript.
Phrase 03
William, James and Jonet [?] Weir
Reading limits: The three representatives are named, but no visible sone, dochter or bairnes term defines their relationship.
NRS CC9/7/4, image 7; 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
At glasgow the nynt day of may 1605 zeiris
In modern English
At Glasgow, the ninth day of May 1605
Read the phrase continuously from At glasgow to the dark 1605 numerals. The word before day is nynt, the Scots ordinal for ninth: its final tall t is a letter, not part of a two-digit date. This supersedes the earlier tentative reading of 26 May.
The testament was confirmed on 9 May 1605.
This is not Katherine's death date; the opening places her death in January 1603.
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
At Glasgow, the ninth day of May 1605
Reading limits: The confirmation date is secure; it is not a death date.
NRS CC9/7/4, image 7; 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
executouris dativis minori-tie [illegible]
In modern English
executors dative, [during] minority [remainder illegible]
The visible administrative words identify dative executors and minority. The enlarged sample shows the line-end hyphen after minori-, warning that the word continues beyond the line or damaged area. Neither sone, dochter nor bairnes appears in this surviving clause, so minority supports age/status but cannot choose between children, other young relatives, or wards.
The named representatives were minors for purposes of the estate administration.
Minority and executorship alone do not prove that all three were Katherine's children.
high for the administrative terms; low for the washed continuation
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
dative [executors], minori- [minority continues]
Reading limits: The administrative terms are legible; washed-out continuation prevents reconstruction of the full clause or any kin term.
Modern interpretation
Katherine Glasgow is identified as the spouse of Thomas Weir in Stevenston parish. The opening gives her death in January 1603, not on the subsequent probate date. Thomas supplied the account on behalf of William, James and probably Jonet Weir; the confirmation refers to the executors’ minority. This does not by itself explicitly state their parentage.
The estate inventory includes horses, cattle, oats and household or personal belongings. There are no debts owing into the estate. Outgoing obligations include rent, a payment connected with the minister at Stevenston and servants’ fees. The debts exceed the assets. Unread sums and creditor names must not be treated as a completed financial or kinship reconstruction.
The confirmation states “the nynt day of may 1605”: 9 May 1605. This fresh reading resolves the previous apparent disagreement with the printed calendar and Findmypast index.
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.
All pages of the named two-page PDF were visually examined, including enlarged crops. Full coverage means the supplied entry span was inspected, not that all words have been deciphered. This is an incomplete diplomatic working transcription: [illegible] marks unread text, [?] marks tentative readings, and bracketed descriptions mark excluded neighboring entries or undetermined amounts. Original spelling is retained where readable; punctuation and spacing are editorial. No missing wording has been supplied from an expected legal formula.
Reviewed: 2026-09-10. Method: LLM-assisted fresh image review.
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.
Abbreviations are expanded where reasonably clear and punctuation is supplied. […] marks unresolved text; [word?] marks a tentative reading; [sum] marks a figure not securely read.
The Testament dative and Inventar of the guidis, geir, debtis and sowmes of money quhilkis pertenit to umquhile Cathereine Glasgow, spous to Thomas Weir, in the parochyn of Stevinsoune, quha deceist in the moneth of Januar 1603 ȝeiris, faithfullie maid and gevin up be the said Thomas Weir hir spous, In name [and behalf?] of William, James and [Jonet?] Weiris, executouris dativeis decernit
[Image 7] to hir guidis and geir be decreit of the Commissar of Glasgow […] the […] day of Apryle lastbypast, as the decreit thairupone beiris.
The collective surname Weiris applies to all three forenames. Jonet is the preferred reading of the third, but is less secure than William and James.
Inventar
Item, the said umquhile Cathereine had in hir possessioun the tyme of hir deceis foirsaid the guidis and geir following, of the availl eftermentionat, viz.: Twa gray hors, price thame [sum]. Item, ane auld blak naig, price thairof [sum]. Item, twa kye, the price of the peice [sum], Summa [sum]. Item, ane forrow kow, price [sum]. Item, in beir […] bollis and […] firlotis, price of the boll with the fodder [sum], Summa [sum]. Item, […] aitis, at the boll with the fodder [sum], Summa [sum]. Item, the insicht of hir hous, with the abulȝement of hir body, estimat worth [sum].
Summa of the Inventar foirsaid — [sum].
Na debtis awand In.
The estate contained two grey horses, an old black nag, two cows, a farrow cow, bere or barley, oats and fodder, household contents and Katherine's clothing. A farrow cow was one which had not calved that season; the word does not necessarily mean that it gave no milk. No debts owed to Katherine were recorded.
Debttis awand Out
Item, awand be hir to James erle of Glencairne, hir maister, of mailles the said 1603 ȝeiris, [sum]. Item, to Mr Alex[ande]r Campbel, minister at Stevinsoune, of teynd corne the said ȝeir, vj bollis, price of the boll [sum], Summa [sum]. Item, to [Bryce?] Blair of [Lochwod?], [sum]. Item, to Archebald [Muir?], […] [sum]. Item, to Johnne Weir in nether [place-name unclear], [sum]. Item, to Johnne [Wicht?], hir servand, of fie the said ȝeir, [sum]. Item, to [Jeane Doun?], hir uther servand, the said ȝeir of fie, [sum].
Summa of the debttis Out — [sum].
Et sic debita excedunt bona.
[In the margin:] Quota nulla.
The Latin means, “And thus the debts exceed the assets.” Quota nulla records that no confirmation quota was due. The liabilities place the household within the Glencairn estate and Stevenston parish economy: rent was owed to James, Earl of Glencairn; teind grain to the parish minister; other private debts and two servants' unpaid wages were also recorded. The uncertain personal names should not be used as firm identities.
At Glasgow the nynt day of may 1605 ȝeiris, I Robert Chirnsyde of Over Possill, Commissar of Glasgow, constitut be our Soverane Lord, eftir dew warning maid be edict oppinly as effeirit, Be the tennour heirof ratifeis, approvis and confirmis this present testament and inventar, in sa far as the samyn is dewlie and trewlie gevin up, etc. And gevis and committis full power and intromissioun with the guidis and geir abonewrittin to the saidis executouris dativis abonespecifeit allanerlie, with power to thame to call and persew thairfoir. [Ordanis?] the upgivar to mak faith as use is, in respect of the executouris dativis minori- tie. And hes fund Johnne Craufurd in Glen cautioun that the guidis and geir salbe furthcumand to all […] […] entres as law will. And the upgivar become actit to releif his said cautioun of the premissis.
Robert Chirnsyde of Over Possill approved the administration after public notice and granted the executors authority over the estate. Because the executors were minors, Thomas, as the person submitting the inventory, made the customary oath on their behalf. John Crawford in Glen acted as cautioner or surety; neither man is identified as kin.