French Influence on the English Legal Language of the Chancery in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century

我将讨论的主要研究问题是：15世纪政府英语的法语词汇基础是什么？在这些15世纪的文本中，我们还能在多大程度上看到盎格鲁撒克逊法律术语的贡献？政府是否有特别倾向于借用或保留传统术语的特定领域？如果是这样，这能告诉我们关于政府机制的什么？15世纪的大法官文书如何帮助我们理解中世纪晚期英格兰的多语言，反之亦然？我将使用关键的词典编纂资源，即：牛津英语词典（OED）、中古英语词典（MED）和盎格鲁-诺曼词典（and），分析和仔细审查国家档案馆保存的15世纪大法官文件系列。我还将使用费舍尔1977年研究衡平法院与标准英语之间关系的衡平法院记录中发现的英语术语列表。我将研究法语和英语语言实践之间的相互作用，这种方法在文学文本中使用是成功的（参见Jefferson和Putter， 2013）。人们希望这个项目能有更广阔的视野，而不仅仅是简单的历史分析，因为编辑菲利普·德金博士和希瑟·帕甘博士表示有兴趣将这个博士项目的发现纳入《牛津英语词典》和《and》的修订版。我们也希望这个博士学位能鼓励对国家档案馆（以下简称TNA）的一些馆藏进行进一步的研究。我希望阐明法律语言的发展及其影响，因为法律技术从法语转移到英语，主要是在1362年的《诉状法》（Statute of Pleadings）之后，该法要求在法律案件中使用英语进行辩护，以及衡平法的发展衡平法管辖权。为此，我将创建一个15世纪项目时间框架内的相关文本语料库，我将对其进行转录和分析，以确定早期文本是否显示出更高比例的法语借词，并检查这些词的使用模式。要审查的文件语料库将从国家档案馆保存的以下一系列记录中形成：C1早期大法官记录；C81国玺衡平法令；E28国库收货理事会和私印章记录；私人助理秘书（私印章处）纪录；SC8特别收藏古代请愿书。在攻读博士学位的过程中，可能会发现更多有用的记录或孤本文件。我进一步建议详细研究我的语料库中的文本，以确定是否可以将特定的抄写员确定为各种文本的作者。古文字工作将与进一步的分析和研究相结合，研究他们作品中的习语或词汇的异同（例如，某些外来词或短语的使用频率），以分析已知抄写员的作品，并命名以前未知的抄写员。根据已知文士的传记信息，我将根据语言、单词和短语的常用用法，寻求更多地了解未知文士的培训和教育。我打算对构成语料库的文本进行准确的转录，因为大多数文本仍未编辑。我将把这些转录免费提供给TNA和其他研究人员。对于目前未编目的记录，例如E28和一些PSO记录，我也可以为TNA编目这些记录，从而开放对目前难以识别的记录的访问。我希望最终能促进新一代的研究人员、历史学家和档案保管员对中世纪政府秘书处记录的兴趣和理解，并传授中世纪法语、拉丁语和英语的口译和翻译技能。

The main research questions I will address are: What is the French lexical basis of fifteenth century governmental English? To what extent can we still see the contribution of Anglo-Saxon legal terminology in these fifteenth century texts? Are there specific areas of government that are particularly prone to borrowing or retention of traditional terminology? If so, what can this tell us about the mechanics of government? How can fifteenth century Chancery documents help us understand the multilingualism of late Medieval England and vice versa? I will analyse and scrutinise the series of fifteenth century Chancery documents held at the National Archives using key lexicographical resources, namely: the Oxford Dictionary of English (OED), the Middle English Dictionary (MED) and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND). I will also use lists of English terms found in Chancery records from Fisher's 1977 study on the relationship between Chancery and Standard English. I will examine the interplay between French and English linguistic practices, an approach which has been successful when used on literary texts (cf. Jefferson and Putter, 2013). It is hoped the project will have a broader view than simply a historical analysis by contributing to revised versions of the OED and AND as the editors Dr Philip Durkin and Dr Heather Pagan have expressed an interest in incorporating findings from this PhD project. It is also hoped this PhD will encourage further work on some of the holdings at the National Archives (hereafter TNA). I hope to shed light on the development of, and influences on, legal language as the legal technolect moved from French to English, principally after the Statute of Pleadings in 1362, which mandated pleading in English in legal cases, and the development of the equity jurisdiction of Chancery. To do this I will create a corpus of relevant texts from within the 15th century timeframe of the project which I will transcribe and analyse in order to determine whether earlier texts demonstrate a higher proportion of French loan words, and examine patterns in the use of these words. The corpus of documents to be examined will be formed from the following series of records held at the National Archives: C1 early Chancery records; C81 Chancery Warrants for the Great Seal; E28 Exchequer Treasury of the Receipt Council and Privy Seal Records; PSO1 Privy Seal Office records; SC8 Special Collections Ancient Petitions. There may be further series of records or orphan documents which will prove useful, which may be uncovered during the course of this PhD. I further propose to study in detail the texts in my corpus to determine whether specific scribes can be identified as the authors of various texts. Palaeographical work will be combined with further analysis and research into the idiolect or lexical differences and similarities in their work (frequency of use of certain loan words or phrases, for example) both to analyse the work of known scribes and name previously unknown scribes. Based on biographical information of known scribes, I will seek to understand more about the training and education of unknown scribes based on common use of language, words and phrases. I intend to produce accurate transcriptions of the texts which form the corpus, as most are still unedited. I will make these transcriptions freely available to TNA and other researchers. Where records are currently uncatalogued, e.g. E28 and some PSO records, I may also catalogue these records for TNA, opening up access to records which are currently hard to identify. I hope eventually to promote an interest in and understanding of medieval government secretariat records to new generations of researchers, historians and archivists, and pass on skills in interpreting and translating Medieval French, Latin and English.