Aougst 20 [1620]
[crossed out]Jeanne relicte de feu Pierre Michod
residant a Moudon, Et Fran[çois] Borrel
bourgeois de Moudon.
M[aistre?] Fran[çois] Borrel, bourg[eois] de Moudon Et
Jeanne relicte de feu Pierre Michod
en son vivant habitant dudit Lieu.
Octobre 20
Jaques Tardy bourg[eois] de Moudon. Et
Agathe fille de feu Michel d'Estraz,
notaire et bourgeois d'Oron.
Benoit fils de George Braillard de
Sottens, bourg[eois] de Moudon, Et Marguerite
fille de feu Michel Thomas, de Berchier.
August 20 [1620]
[crossed out]Jeanne widow of the late Pierre Michod
resident of Moudon, And François Borrel
citizen of Moudon.
Mister François Borrel, citizen of Moudon And
Jeanne widow of the late Pierre Michod
in his lifetime inhabitant of the said Place.
October 20
Jaques Tardy citizen of Moudon. And
Agathe daughter of the late Michel d'Estraz,
notary and citizen of Oron.
Benoit son of George Braillard of
Sottens, citizen of Moudon, And Marguerite
daughter of the late Michel Thomas, of Berchier.
The handwriting is very similar to that of the 16th Century, but a little more flowery.
There are a number of abbreviations here, very common in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The name François is reduced to "Fran" with a stroke over the end indicating that it is an abbreviation. The "M" could be either Monsieur or Maistre, it would be unwise to put too much importance on this! Sometimes it requires some imagination to decode the abbreviations. I once encountered "M.d.S.E.X.", which turned out to be something like "Ministre de la Sainte Eglise Chrétienne" (Minister of the Holy Christian Church). There is no standard list of abbreviations for this period, the clerks and notaries seem to have been free to invent their own short forms. The descending stroke at the end of "bourg" in the 4th line of the example tells us we are looking at a shortened word, and comparison with the previous line makes it clear what is meant.
There are at least three words used to indicate widows in records of this period. The one used here, "relicte", also appears in English with the same meaning. More commonly, we find "relaissée" (literally, "released"), or "veuve" (widow). Sometimes a man wandered off, or perhaps went on a journey and did not return; after suitable deliberations, a woman might be granted a divorce, and was then referred to as "delaissée" (literally, abandoned). In this example, we see that Jeanne is the widow of the late Pierre Michod, who lived at Moudon but was probably not a citizen there. We might look for Pierre Michod's first marriage in the earlier records of Moudon to find Jeanne's maiden name, or we might find a clue in the earlier records that would indicate where Pierre Michod came from, and we could search for his marriage there.
The wording can be ambiguous. When we see something like "Agathe daughter of the late Michel d'Estraz, notary and citizen of Oron", we can be sure it is Michel and not his daughter who was a notary. But a construction such as "Pierre son of the late Michel d'Estraz, notary and citizen of Oron" is more likely to mean that Pierre is a notary. When the phrase "en son vivant" appears, we can be sure what follows pertains to the dead person. In the absence of clarifying details, one has to keep in mind the different possible interpretations! The matter can frequently be resolved by studying the church records in more detail, looking for a place where, for example, the son in mentioned with his occupation but without his father.