[ANSTHRLD] Precedence in period

[Diane Rudin]

Daniel wrote:

> What I wonder about is the exact meaning of "borne": does it include
> "to be styled"?  It can't mean "is", because then

>     2 Item.-- A Dukes eldiste son is borne a Marquis, savinge he
> shall goo beneath all Marquisses

> would make no sense.

"Borne" = born.  'Tis a paryode spellyng.

OED (Compact), 1971 ed., p. 251-2, under "born", there are 15 source
citations in period, of the which 4 are spelled "borne", 3 "borun", and
1 "boren".  "Borne" in the sense of "carried, sustained, endured, etc."
is a separate entry, and the first citation of that meaning is in 1600.

> > As to your list of examples of persons with titles whose titles
> > don't seem at first glance to match their land-holdings, I believe
> I
> > mentioned that nobles had lesser titles and lands, but only used
> > their highest title.

> That wasn't my point.  I was addressing the assertion that a person's
> title came from where his lands were.

(1) Earlier on, they did, and there's a whole lot of period before the
Wars of the Roses.

(2)  Most people's titles probably still did derive from their
land-holdings.

(3) I don't recall that any of your examples included one in which the
Baron of Nonny-nonny held absolutely no lands in Nonny-nonny, in which
all of the Baron of Nonny-nonny's lands were in North Zulch.

(4)  I was stating the general rule, of interest to the layman.
Exceptions are legion, and of interest to the specialist.

(5)  Personae built on exceptions are legion, and annoying.

> OK, but I thought I was addressing points you'd raised.

I was giving general answers to general questions.

William Blackstone's *Commentaries on the Laws of England* was
criticized by some when it was published, because it was a general text
with the stated intent of providing a broad sketch of English law, so
as to facilitate the education of the average Englishman in the basic
legal foundations of his country.  Before it, gaining an education in
the law meant slogging through tens of thousands of pages of law books
and reports stretching back over five hundred years, much of which was
in law-French, which *Blackstone* called a "barbarous dialect".
Blackstone believed that more people "of quality" would become
interested in studying law if the initial course weren't so daunting.
He was right.  Among many, many other people, a certain Abraham Lincoln
became interested in studying the law when he chanced upon a copy of
Blackstone's *Commentaries*.

--Serena

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com