A Primer on Spanish Colonial Paleography

Historical research into the colonial era of Spanish Florida requires familiarity not just with the Spanish language and archival organization of the 16th-18th centuries, but also with archaic handwriting styles used by colonial notaries. The study of such handwriting, called paleography, is sometimes very difficult and often tedious and frustrating, but permits the researcher to gain access to a wealth of historical texts and data that have rarely, if ever, been examined in detail by modern scholars.

In contrast to English, the Spanish language has changed relatively little since the colonial era, and anyone who reads and understands modern Spanish can probably navigate through Spanish texts dating to the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, bearing in mind that spelling and abbreviations have changed somewhat, and that some vocabulary common in that era is no longer in use. Nevertheless, handwriting styles of the colonial era were strikingly different from modern script, and it is in this area that considerable skills must be acquired and refined over the course of time.

Since Spanish notaries were commonly paid by the line, their lines of notarial script tended to be short, and the letters and words long and extended. Capitalization was used only irregularly and without any rhyme or reason, and punctuation was never used. The pen was only rarely lifted between individual words, and words were cut-off at the end of lines without dashes to indicate truncation. This style of writing, sometimes referred to as “chain writing,” is probably the most difficult to master for the novice. Other difficulties exist, of course, including ink bleed-through from opposite sides of each page, and occasional deterioration of original documents from old age, bookworms, and even exterior charring resulting from a fire in the AGI during the first part of this century.

The best (and virtually the only) way to learn colonial Spanish paleography is by trying and practicing.

The document reproduced on the right is a scanned and recolored photocopy of a microfilm of the original charred page located in the Archive of the Indies in Seville (click on the image to see the full-size document). This page was one of hundreds of pages of testimony that was recorded by notary Francisco de Rueda in the spring of 1660 in St. Augustine, Florida, and recounts the testimony of Adjutant Pedro de la Puerta regarding the initial events of the Timucuan rebellion of 1656. The testimony picks up in the middle of a description of Florida Governor Don Diego de Rebolledo examining a stack of wooden beams for the fort, and recounts the arrival of Sergeant Major Don Juan Menéndez Márquez in St. Augustine after having witnessed several brutal murders in his cattle ranch called La Chua, located just south of present-day Gainesville, Florida on the margin of Payne’s Prairie. If the testimony intrigues you, you can learn much more about the Timucuan rebellion in my most recent book The Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida, which you can order through the link on my Bio page.

In order to provide visitors with an opportunity to test their skills, below I have provided transcriptions and translations of the document above. In the column on the left is a direct transcription of the original Spanish script, separated by the original lines used by the notary for purposes of comparison with the image above. On the right is my literal translation in English of this same Spanish text. I encourage visitors to make a transcription from full-size image (click on the smaller version above), and then compare it with mine (which I made while holding the original, which is of course much easier to read). No cheating, and good luck!

maderas que esta…[page burned]… wood that was [page burned]
das para saber si era pro to find out if it was suitable
pozito para el fuerte y abi for the fort, and having
endo las bisto y estando ya seen them and already
de buelta llego el sargto returning, there arrived Sergeant
mayor don juan melendez Major Don Juan Meléndez,
que de preste esta en nueva espa who at present is in New Spain,
y dixo q benia de una hazi and he said that he came from an
enda q tenia nonbrada la chua hacienda that he had called La Chua
en la probinzia de timuqua in the province of Timucua,
y que estando con su gente una and that being with his people one
noche a prima noche avia lle night at nightfall, there had arrived
gado a la casa q en ella tiene at the house that he has in it
el casique de san martin the cacique of San Martín
con mas de beynte yndios with more than twenty Indians,
y el dho casique le avia coxido and the said cacique had grabbed
por el braso diziendole don him by the arm, telling him “Don
juan ben aca y apartando Juan, come here!” and withdrawing
poco desbiado de la puerta a little outside the door
de dha casa los demas of the said house, the rest of
yndios entraron dentro the Indians entered within
della y mataron quatro it and killed four
o zinco personas q tenia en or five persons that he had in
su servizio la una della ssol his service, one of them a
dado que este avia ydo deste soldier who had gone from this
ziudad con el suso dho y una city with the aforementioned, and one
o dos dellas salieron huyendo or two of them who came out fleeing
los abian muerto fuera they had killed outside

2 thoughts on “A Primer on Spanish Colonial Paleography

  1. […] Georgia] [English Conquest of Georgia] [Dawn of Oglethorpe's Georgia] [Spanish Archival Sources] [Colonial Spanish Paleography] […]

  2. […] (which involves learning to read several different types of handwriting (here's a bit of info): A Primer on Spanish Colonial Paleography and I have also spent an inordinate amount of time hiking and climbing in and around some of the […]