Up until the middle of the 18th century, the concept that words had only one spelling hadn't been invented yet.

Spellings in Middle English were very variable - there were no real rules about spelling, so scribes used lots of different ways to spell the same thing. Sometimes the same word appears twice in one line of poetry, spelled in two different ways.

A man named Johnson in 1755 created a dictionary of the english language, and it became widely used, and that is the beginning of the idea that words should be spelled in one way.

What is also interesting is that my immigrant ancestor to the U.S. was born in 1600 in Bideford, England (Devon County), and his name was spelled differently in letters that were written to and by him.

His decendants in the U.S. and England ended up with the same surname spelled three different ways.

One of them is a Nobel prize winner.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".