“The list of spellings which you send me is most interesting, but it is not easy to explain it. I can remember a time when I should have drawn the conclusion that they are very much against connecting the word with the Old Mercian _ald_, which we now spell _old_. But my recent investigations tell the other way; not only were perfectly common words persistently (but regularly) mis-spelt in Domesday and early charters, from the time of the Conquest till about 1350, but in many instances (as would likely be the case in official documents) such habits became stereotyped. The early scribes were nearly all Norman, and they brought in Norman spelling to that extent that the whole of modern English is pervaded by it; indeed, no one who does not know the phonetic laws of Anglo-French can explain why the word _house_ is spelt with _ou_, or the word _build_ with _ui_.... The explanation of the spelling Ald in 1270 is probably simply this: that this particular charter (contrary to practice) was entrusted to an English scribe. It is a simple supposition—English spellings began to prevail in these matters in the period from 1350-1400, and it is just here that we get two instances. The Normans learnt Latin easily: to an English scribe it was a foreign language. This is why the French scribes were preferred for writing Latin documents. After 1400 such French spellings as affect the true sound are rare; this is why, after that the E. form prevails. But we must remember that many Englishmen do not fully pronounce the _d_ in _Aldgate_ even now, but slur it over; and in days of phonetic spelling such things were reproduced. I should say the evidence can only be explained, on the _whole_, from the supposition that the English word was _Ald_, preserved in composition instead of being turned into _old_ (as it did when standing alone); and this will explain _eald_ also, as _eald_ is the Wessex form of _Ald_, adopted in 1598 as a mere bit of pedantry, but at the same time showing that the belief then prevailed. This is all I have to say about Aldgate.” The gate was rebuilt by Norman, first Prior of Holy Trinity. The weigh-house for weighing corn was in the gateway. After the Fire, Aldgate was used for the prisoners who had been confined in the Poultry Compter. In 1374 the gate was let on lease to Geoffrey Chaucer. Here followeth the lease itself: