Counting sheep - 1537 will inventory

[prmt86]

I'm struggling with both the transcription and the meaning of the highlighted words on these five lines of a 1537 inventory. I have:

Item a cawe [=cow?] . . . xij s

Item a caple [or caphe? =calf?] . . . v s

Item xx^t [=20 plus how many?] shepe . . . xxvi s viii d

Item in redy money . . . x d

Item xv pece [=pieces?] of pewter . . . v s


The will is from 1537.

Many thanks

[Vance Mead]

a cawe is a cow
a caple is a horse. From Spanish caballo
xxt I think must just be twenty. A shilling each is about the right price for sheep at that time.
and pieces of pewter

[horselydown86]

Regarding the last question, it should be transcribed as pec(es).

See the es brevigraph as described on this page:

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tex/ 

I'm puzzled by the number in the entry for the sheep.  Normally we might see a superscript o in that location, indicating the last letter of vicesimo.

Could this apparent t possibly be from vingt?

[BillieJeanSiddoway]

I think "pote" is pot.

I've seen references in my ancestors' wills to "my best brasse pote" among other household items such as "silver cup". Also, the surname Pot was sometimes spelled Pote. So, I think it is a pot.

[Bookbox]

I'm puzzled by the number in the entry for the sheep.  Normally we might see a superscript o in that location, indicating the last letter of vicesimo.

Could this apparent t possibly be from vingt?

Vicesimo means 'twentieth'. Isn't it just xx^t for viginti, meaning 'twenty', with the penultimate t superscript?

[horselydown86]

Isn't it just xx^t for viginti, meaning 'twenty', with the penultimate t superscript?

Yes, you are right, of course.  I must have been recalling the usage from dates, where it is "twentieth day".

[prmt86]

Thank you to everyone who replied.

I’m going with xx^t = viginti as it makes the most sense. I have never seen that kind of “thinking in Latin” before on an inventory.

I now know what a caple is.

The last line is definitely pec(es) although it does look like pote! The key was the es brevigraph which was new to me, thanks for the link for that one.

[Bookbox]

I’m going with xx^t = viginti as it makes the most sense. I have never seen that kind of “thinking in Latin” before on an inventory.

It's quite commonly found with roman numerals - e.g. iv^or = quattuor = four.