Wills and testaments

Wills and testaments recorded in Scottish courts are a major source of information on the social and economic history of Scotland, and on Scottish people, places and language from the sixteenth century onwards.

Abbotshall Palaeography provides a transcription service for testaments and teaching services to help you read and understand testaments, but testaments might not be as difficult a source as you think. The following guide can be downloaded (PDF) and gives some help in reading and understanding the contents of Scottish wills and testaments, especially those written in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Download the Abbotshall Guide to Scottish Wills and Testaments PDF download (340 kilobytes)