The following is a guest post by Taru Spiegel, Reference Specialist in the European Division.
A lawyer I know who does legal drafting says that there is no need to use archaic terms such as “aforethought,” “forthwith,” “wherefore,” or “to wit.” Legal language should be clear, concise, and unambiguous. Everybody should be able to understand what is being said. This is probably true – I once heard another lawyer refer to his baby daughter as acting “sua sponte!” A romantic at heart, I nonetheless have a secret fondness for obscure terms in Gothic writing.
Imagine my delight when I came across some proclamations by Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689) among the printed ephemera of the Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections. They have beautiful script, deckled edges, and sound almost like something by the fictional “Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, etc.” in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Never mind that these 17th-century documents in the Library prosaically deal with trade and money owed to the Crown.
The particular broadside depicted here has to do with taxing tobacco imports. Sweden had established a colony in the Delaware Valley in 1638 called “New Sweden,” and as a consequence, lucrative trade, especially in the increasingly popular tobacco, was anticipated. After revoking the Söderländske Company’s monopoly rights, the Swedish Crown wanted to make sure its right to share in the revenue from all tobacco trade was still understood by all concerned.
Translation:
We Christina, by the Grace of God, elected Queen of Sweden, the Goths and the Wends, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Finland, Duchess of Estonia and Karelia, Mistress of Ingria. Make it known that Our order a few years ago endowed the Söderländske Company with special privileges concerning the tobacco trade and by public announcements forbade all Our other subjects and operators in our Kingdom to introduce tobacco or be penalize