TY - JOUR

T1 - Scratching the surface

T2 - the use of sheepskin parchment to deter textual erasure in early modern legal deeds

AU - Doherty, Sean Paul

AU - Henderson, Stuart

AU - Fiddyment, Sarah

AU - Finch, Jonathan

AU - Collins, Matthew J.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Historic legal deeds are one of the most abundant resources in British archives, but also one of the most neglected. Despite the millions that survive, we know remarkably little about their manufacture, including the species of animal on which they were written. Here we present the species identification of 645 sixteenth–twentieth century skins via peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS), demonstrating the preferential use of sheepskin parchment. We argue that alongside their abundance and low cost, the use of sheepskins over those of other species was motivated by the increased visibility of fraudulent text erasure and modification afforded by the unique structure of their skin.

AB - Historic legal deeds are one of the most abundant resources in British archives, but also one of the most neglected. Despite the millions that survive, we know remarkably little about their manufacture, including the species of animal on which they were written. Here we present the species identification of 645 sixteenth–twentieth century skins via peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS), demonstrating the preferential use of sheepskin parchment. We argue that alongside their abundance and low cost, the use of sheepskins over those of other species was motivated by the increased visibility of fraudulent text erasure and modification afforded by the unique structure of their skin.

KW - Biocodicology

KW - Legal deeds

KW - Manuscripts

KW - Parchment

KW - Proteomics

KW - Sheepskin

U2 - 10.1186/s40494-021-00503-6

DO - 10.1186/s40494-021-00503-6

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34721877

AN - SCOPUS:85103354903

VL - 9

JO - Heritage Science

JF - Heritage Science

SN - 2050-7445

IS - 1

M1 - 29

ER -