Essex/Suffolk scribes and their language in fifteenth-century London

The goal of this essay is to emphasise the prominence within the writing communities of late fifteenth-century London of certain highly productive, professional users of language who were immigrants from East Anglia, particularly Essex and south Suffolk. The forms used by six scribes from this area will be studied. Their spelling systems were clearly current and acceptable types of written language within the metropolis, and an analysis of them provides further useful evidence for the study of the genesis, development, adoption, and dissemination of standard written English.