Bilingual, Bitextual Bellewe: A Case Study of Paleographical Code-Switching in Late Medieval English-Controlled Ireland

• Published in: Speculum Vol. 99; no. 3; p. 744
• Main Author: O'Byrne, Theresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Medieval Academy of America 01.07.2024
• Subjects: 15th century; Authorship; Bellewe, Nicholas (fl 1423-1474); Careers; Clerical personnel; Handwriting analysis; Legal documents; Legal history; Medieval literature; Medieval period; Paleography; Dublin Ireland; Ireland
• ISSN: 0038-7134; 2040-8072
• DOI: 10.1086/730678

This paper examines the case of Nicholas Bellewe (fl. 1423–74), an Anglo-Irish scribe who penned three manuscripts (Wiltshire, Longleat House, MS 29, Oxford, Bodleian Library MS e Musaeo 232, and a portion of Dublin, City Archives, Chain Book of Dublin) as well as over seventy extant legal documents. Bellewe signed the e Musaeo manuscript and nine of his extant legal documents, providing proof of his involvement in both legal and literary endeavors. The legal deeds also reveal details of Bellewe's varied career, which included work for private individuals and families, the offices of the City of Dublin, and the Guild of Saint Anne. Bellewe's career is analogous to the contemporary London Guildhall scribes of Geoffrey Chaucer that Linne Mooney and others have discussed. Close examination of Bellewe's documentary and manuscript hands reveals that the scribe made changes, both small and large, to some letterforms and to the level of decoration he used when writing legal deeds and manuscripts. Moreover, between his literary and legal documents, small yet significant differences exist in Bellewe's system of punctuation and use of Latin abbreviations. While Bellewe's Dublin represents a different environment from scribe B/Adam Pinkhurst's London, investigation of Bellewe's career and behavior can help us better understand what sort of career and scribal behavior we might expect from Bellewe's London contemporaries, including Pinkhurst.