ANCIENT WILLS
“For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out.”
WILL OF ADAM
The Mussulman claims that our forefather, Adam, left a will, and that
seventy legions of angels brought him sheets of paper and quill pens,
nicely nibbed, all the way from Paradise, and that the Archangel Gabriel
set his seal as a witness.
It may be added, however, that the authenticity of this will has not
been established.
WILL OF NOAH
It is claimed that Noah left a will, but of course this is an apocrypha.
It is said that he divided his landed possessions, the globe, into three
shares, one for each son. America was not included in this division for
obvious reasons.
WILL OF JOB
There exists a very curious and ancient testament of Job, which was
discovered and published by Cardinal Mai in 1839; it relates many
details which we may look for in vain in the Canonical Book. In it Job’s
faithful wife, when reduced to the utmost poverty, sold the hair of her
head to procure bread for her husband.
WILL OF JACOB
Jacob, the third of the Hebrew Patriarchs, died in Egypt at the age of
147, but was buried by his sons in the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron, in
Palestine, the traditional burial place of the Prophets and other
Biblical characters of their time.
It can be stated that the very earliest reference to an actual
testamentary disposition is by the words of this Patriarch:
“And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die; but God shall be with you
and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.”
“Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I
took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together,
that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”
In the 48th and 49th chapters of Genesis are these words of the dying
Patriarch; and here is found not only the disposition of a “portion” to
Joseph, but the character of each son is shown, the virtue or fault of
each is described, to each a symbolic emblem is assigned, and to each a
future is prophesied.
Here is a will, in fact, and in prophecy.
WILL OF TELEMACHUS
Homer cites this will, made in favor of Piræus, to whom Telemachus
bequeaths all the presents that had been made to him by Menelaus, lest
they fall into the hands of his enemies; but he adds, “In case I should
slay _them_ and survive, you are then to restore them to me in my
palace, a task as joyous to you to accomplish as to myself to profit
by.” Perhaps, however, this may be objected to as proceeding from
fabulous history. In Biblical tradition, however, we find very early
evidence of oral bequests.
WILL OF EUDAMIDAS
To Lucian we are indebted for the noble, touching, and certainly
eccentric will of Eudamidas of Corinth.
This philosophical individual, who was extremely poor, was on terms of
close and intimate friendship--friendship in the full and true
acceptation of the term--with Arethæus and Charixenes of Sycion. Finding
himself on his deathbed, he made a will, which, while exciting only the
ridicule of the thoughtless or the worldly-wise, calls for respect and
admiration in the breasts of those who know the value of real
cordiality, and can appreciate his simple confidence in its sincerity.
“I bequeath to Arethæus my mother to support; and I pray him to have a
tender care of her declining years.
“I bequeath to Charixenes my daughter to marry, and to give her to that
end the best portion he can afford.
“Should either happen to die I beg the other to undertake both
charges.”
When this will, continues the narrator, was read in the public square
(this being the accepted mode of proceeding at that time), all those who
were aware of the poor circumstances of the testator, but were incapable
of recognizing the ties which linked him to his friends, turned these
unusual clauses into a joke; and there was not one who did not go away
laughing and observing: “Arethæus and Charixenes will be lucky fellows
if they accept their legacies, and he’s no fool to have made himself
their heir, though he be dead and they living.”
But these honest legatees no sooner learned what was expected of them by
their deceased friend than they hastened to put his wishes into
execution.
Charixenes, however, only survived Eudamidas five days; and then
Arethæus, acting in exact conformity with the will he had undertaken to
execute, assumed the share bequeathed to his co-executor. He supported
the mother of Eudamidas; and in due time found a suitable husband for
his daughter. Of five talents of which his fortune consisted, he gave
her two, and two others to his own daughter, and celebrated the two
marriages on the same day.
THE OLDEST WRITTEN WILL
William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the famous English Egyptologist,
unearthed not many years ago at Kahun a will which was forty-five
hundred years old; there seems no reason to question either the
authenticity or antiquity of the document. The will therefore antedates
all other known written wills by nearly two thousand years. That
excellent authority, the _Irish Law Times_, speaks of the will so
entertainingly that its comments are here reproduced:
“The document is so curiously modern in form that it might almost be
granted probate to-day. But, in any case, it may be assumed that it
marks one of the earliest epochs of legal history, and curiously
illustrates the continuity of legal methods. The value, socially,
legally and historically, of a will that dates back to patriarchal times
is evident.
“It consists of a settlement made by one Sekhenren in the year 44,
second month of Pert, day 19,--that is, it is estimated, the 44th of
Amenemhat III., or 2550 B.C., in favor of his brother, a priest of
Osiris, of all his property and goods; and of another document, which
bears date from the time of Amenemhat IV., or 2548 B.C. This latter
instrument is, in form, nothing more nor less than a will, by which, in
phraseology that might well be used to-day, the testator settles upon
his wife, Teta, all the property given him by his brother, for life, but
forbids in categorical terms to pull down the houses ‘which my brother
built for me,’ although it empowers her to give them to any of her
children that she pleases. A ‘lieutenant’ Siou is to act as guardian of
the infant children.
“This remarkable instrument is witnessed by two scribes, with an
attestation clause that might almost have been drafted yesterday. The
papyrus is a valuable contribution to the study of ancient law, and
shows, with a graphic realism, what a pitch of civilization the ancient
Egyptians had reached,--at least from a lawyer’s point of view. It has
hitherto been believed that, in the infancy of the human race, wills
were practically unknown. There probably never was a time when
testaments, in some form or other, did not exist; but, in the earliest
ages, it has so far been assumed that they were never written, but were
nuncupatory, or delivered orally, probably at the deathbed of the
testator. Among the Hindus to this day the law of succession hinges upon
the due solemnization of fixed ceremonies at the dead man’s funeral, not
upon any written will. And it is because early wills were verbal only
that their history is so obscure. It has been asserted that among the
barbarian races the bare conception of a will was unknown; that we must
search for the infancy of testamentary dispositions in the early Roman
law. Indeed, until the ecclesiastical power assumed the prerogative of
intervening at every break in the succession of the family, wills did
not come into vogue in the West. But Mr. Petrie’s papyrus seems to show
that the system of settlement or disposition by deed or will was long
antecedently practised in the East.”
WILL OF SENNACHERIB
(681 B.C.)
The will of the Assyrian monarch is the next earliest written will which
can be cited. It was found in the royal library of Konyunjik, where we
read that to his favorite son, Esarhaddon, not being yet
heir-presumptive, he bequeaths “certain bracelets, coronets, and other
precious objects of gold, ivory, and precious stones, deposited for
safe-keeping in the temple of Nebo.”
Sennacherib was assassinated in the year 681 B.C. by two of his sons; he
was succeeded by Esarhaddon.
THE WILL OF PLATO
(348 B.C.)
We give this will, handed down to us by Diogenes Laertius, being of
interest, not from anything it contains, but curious, whether from its
antiquity or as an illustration of the very simple form employed by the
Greeks three hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. Of its
intrinsic value as coming from the mind and the hand of Plato we need
say nothing.
“These things hath Plato left and bequeathed: The farm of Hephæstiades
bounded, etc. It is forbidden to sell or alienate it; but it shall
belong to my son Adimantes, who shall enjoy the sole proprietorship
thereof. I give him likewise the farm of Hereusiades, situated, etc. It
is the one I acquired by purchase.
“Further, I give to my son Adimantes, three mines in cash, a silver vase
weighing one hundred and sixty-five drachmæ, a cup of the same metal
weighing sixty-five, a ring and pendant in gold weighing together four
drachmæ, with three mines due to me from Euclid the gem-engraver.
“I free from slavery, Diana; but for Tychon, Bietas, Dionysius, and
Apolloniades, I will they continue the slaves of my son Adimantes, to
whom I bequeath also all my chattels as specified in an inventory held
and possessed by Demetrius.
“I have no debts; and I appoint as executors and administrators of these
bequests Speusippus, Demetrius, Hegias, Eurymedon, Callimachus, and
Thrasippus.”
Such is the will of the grand old philosopher; and we may suppose that
by those simpler minds, even the date was considered unnecessary, as we
find none appended to this document.
WILL OF ARISTOTLE
(322 B.C.)
The will of this famous Peripatetic philosopher is like that of Plato,
more remarkable for its antiquity and the interest attaching to the
testator than for its contents. He was sixty-eight years of age at the
time of his death, and according to his biographer, Timotheus of Athens,
he cannot have been very attractive in his personal appearance. He had
small eyes, a cracked voice, and thin limbs; but he was always well
dressed and wore rings on his fingers; we are also told that he shaved
his chin. The document in question begins thus:
“Greeting. Aristotle disposes as follows of what belongs to him. In case
death should surprise me, Antipater will undertake to execute generally
my last wishes and is to have the administration of everything.
“Until Nicanor can take the management of my affairs, Aristomenes,
Timarchas, Hipparchus, and Theophrastus will, with his consent, assist
him to take care of my property, as much on behalf of my children, as on
behalf of Herpylis. As soon as my daughter shall be marriageable she is
to be given Nicanor; and in case, which I do not think likely, she
should die before her marriage or before she has children, Nicanor is to
inherit all that I possess, and to dispose of my slaves and all the rest
as he pleases.
“Nicanor will then take charge of my son Nicomachus, and of my daughter,
so that they may want nothing; and he will act towards them as a father
and a brother.
“Should Nicanor die before marrying my daughter, or having married her
should he leave no children, he must decide what is to be done after his
death.
“If, then, Theophrastus should wish to take my daughter to his home, he
will enter into all the rights I give to Nicanor; or if not, the
curators will dispose of my children as they shall consider for the
best.
“I recommend to their guardians, and to Nicanor, to remember for my sake
the affection Herpylis has always borne me, taking care of me and of my
affairs. If after my death she should wish to marry, they will see that
she does not marry any one below my condition. In that case, besides the
presents she has already received, she is to have a talent of silver,
three slaves besides the one she has, and the youth Pyrrhæus. If she
wishes to live at Calchis, she can have the suite of rooms communicating
with the garden; if at Stagyra, she can occupy the house of my fathers,
and the curators will suitably furnish whichever of these residences she
may select.
“Nicanor will take care that Myrex is sent back to his parents in a
respectable and suitable way, with all that I have belonging to him.
“I give Ambracis her liberty, and assign to her, as a marriage portion,
500 drachmæ or five mines and a slave.
“I bequeath to Thala, besides the bought slave she has, a young female
slave and 1000 drachmæ.
“As regards Simo, besides the money already given him to buy another
slave, let one more be bought for him or let him have the value in
money.
“Tacho is to have his freedom when my daughter marries. Philo, and
Olympias with his son, shall also be made free at the same period. The
children of my slaves shall pass into the service of my heirs, and, when
they become adults, they shall be freed if they have deserved it.
“Let the statues I have ordered be finished and placed as I have
instructed Gryllo, viz. those of Nicanor, Proxenes, and the mother of
Nicanor; also that of Arimnestes to serve as a monument for him as he
left no children.
“Also let the Ceres, belonging to my mother, be placed in the Nemea. Let
the bones of my wife, Pythias, be placed in my tomb, even as she
desired. I further wish the four stone animals, promised by me as votive
offerings for the preservation of Nicanor, to be placed at Stagyra to
Jupiter and Minerva. They are to be four cubits high.”
WILL OF VIRGIL
(10 B.C.)
A singular trait in the character of this great poet was that which
appeared by the clause in his will which ordered the Æneid to be burnt:
“Ut rem emendatam imperfectamque.” Tucca and Varus, however, his
executors and friends, and, we may add also, the friends of literature
and of the civilized world, assured him Augustus would never consent to
this barbarous behest. On this he bequeathed to them his Mss., but on
the express condition that if he should die before he had time to revise
and finish them, and they should think proper to publish them, they
should change nothing and should leave the imperfect and incomplete
verses just as they were.
He ordered his body to be “carried to Naples, and there interred near
the road to Puzzuoli, by the second milestone.” The epitaph which was
engraved on it was written by himself:
Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope: cecini pascua, rura, duces.
He divided his property, which was considerable, between Valerius
Proculus, his half-brother, to whom he left half; Augustus, to whom he
gave a quarter; Mecænas, who got a twelfth; and the rest to Varus.
WILL OF AUGUSTUS
(13 A.D.)
Augustus Cæsar made his will under the consulate of Silius and Plancus
in the year A.D. 13, and one year and four months before his death.
It is much to be regretted that this important and interesting document
should not have reached our times in its entirety; nevertheless, by
collating the passages relating to it by several historians, we arrive
at a considerable portion of it.
When Augustus had made his will, he deposited it, according to custom
and the example of his uncle Julius Cæsar, in the sacred Temple of
Vesta, under the care of the most ancient of the priestesses. The act
was in two parts, and was written, partly by his own hand and partly
under dictation to his two freedmen, Polybius and Hilarion. It was
accompanied by four other portions sealed with the same seal.
As soon as Augustus was dead, Tiberius commanded that the first day of
the meeting of the Senate should be consecrated to his memory; whereon
the Vestals solemnly brought the will and the four appendices belonging
to it, which were opened, and they then proceeded to the verification of
the will; then Polybius, the freedman before mentioned, was charged to
read it aloud.
The first lines were thus conceived:
“Since Heaven has taken from me my two grandchildren, Caïus and
Lucilius, I declare Tiberius my successor, and I transmit to him all my
rights....”
He then passes to the disposal of his goods; he appoints as his heirs
the above-named Tiberius and Livia, the former to receive two-thirds,
the latter one-third; he then desires they should bear his name, or
rather, as says Tacitus, he desires Livia to assume the title of
Augusta.
In case of the death of Tiberius and Livia he replaces them by
appointing one-third to Drusus, son of Tiberius, and the rest to
Germanicus and his three sons.
In short, he substitutes to these, as a third arrangement, his
relatives; that is to say, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
and they defaulting, his friends, _amicos complures_.
He leaves “to the Roman people,” _quadringentos sestertium_.
Item: to the Latin tribes, _tricies quinquies sestertium_.
Item: to the soldiers of his body-guards, per head, _i.e._ to each
pretorian soldier, _millia nummorum_.
Item: to those of the municipal guard, the urban cohorts, _quingenos
nummos_.
Item: to the soldiers of the legion, _trecentos nummos_.
But he orders all these military legacies to be paid at once, having
taken the precaution to put by the sums required for this object.
As to the other legacies to different private individuals, and of which
the majority of the amounts exceeded twenty sesterces, he allows a
period of a year after his death for the payment of them, and he excuses
himself for their smallness on the plea of the moderate amount of his
fortune.
“I leave, in all, to my heirs, no more than one hundred and fifty
million sesterces, although I have received by testamentary donations
more than five milliards of sesterces, but I have employed the whole of
this in the service of the State, as well as my two paternal patrimonies
(that of Caïus Octavius, his own father, and that of Julius Cæsar, his
adoptive father), and my other family inheritances.”
By another clause of his testament Augustus leaves a small legacy to his
daughter Julia, but he does not recall her from exile; he even forbids
that her ashes, and those of the second Julia, his granddaughter, as
debauched as her mother, should be placed in the tomb of the Cæsars.
Augustus also ordered that if there were any children living of those
who had left him their money, such money should be restored to those
children, but only on their attaining their majority, and together with
the arrears of revenue; and he was accustomed to say that a father of a
family only deprived his children of the inheritance they were entitled
to when the prince was a tyrant.
When the Senate had verified and confirmed this will by a _senatus
consultum_, they presented to the conscript-fathers the four rolls above
mentioned; they were partly written by the emperor’s own hand. It was
Drusus who made the Senate acquainted with their contents.
In the first, Augustus prescribed the order that was to be observed at
his interment.
The second was a journal of his most memorable actions, destined to be
engraved on bronze and placed on the façade of his mausoleum. An ancient
marble, found in the excavations of the city of Ancyra in the sixteenth
century, has preserved to us a portion of this journal; and this
monument, mutilated as it is, becomes precious from the certainty it
gives us as to the dates of certain events in the history of Augustus.
The third contained a statement of the forces of the empire, of the
troops then constituting the standing army, of the sums contained in the
public treasury and in that of the emperor, of the tributes and imposts
still due, and of the expenses required in times of peace and in times
of war.
The fourth was a collection of instructions, addressed equally to
Tiberius and to the republic, to maintain both the splendor and the
tranquillity of the empire. Among other counsels he advised them to
choose only wise, discreet, and virtuous men for the administration of
every department of the state; he added at the same time that it was
dangerous to confide to any single individual the entire authority, for
then it might be feared that the power of the monarch might degenerate
into tyranny, and that its ruin might involve that of the state and
precipitate the Romans into irretrievable misfortunes. He recommended,
above all, to those who should follow him in the cares of the
government, not to preoccupy themselves about extending the limits of
the empire by new conquests, but rather to apply themselves to the
maintenance and good government of what they already held.
The remainder of these councils was simply the summary of the policy he
had himself pursued during his reign.
These books as well as his will were approved and indorsed by the
Senate. They then decreed him a costly and magnificent funeral; his
corpse, or rather its image in wax, was laid upon an ivory bed,
incrusted with massive gold and draped with a tissue of purple silk
woven with gold; the procession, of the same extent as a triumphal
progress, traversed the streets of Rome with great pomp. It halted
twice; on the first occasion Drusus pronounced the funeral oration over
the body; on the second Tiberius spoke another, which has been
preserved, and may be considered a model of eloquence.
When the procession arrived at the Campus Martius the body was enclosed
in a bier, and placed on a funeral pile to which the centurions set
fire; while the clouds of smoke and flame were ascending to the sky an
eagle suddenly appeared in the midst of them and took its flight to
heaven, in the midst of the acclamations of the assembled people, who
declared that the bird sacred to Jupiter was carrying the emperor’s
soul aloft to the bosom of the king of the gods.
WILL OF A PIG
This is a very ancient document. Mr. S. Baring-Gould in his unique work
“Curiosities of Olden Times,” says of it:
“S. Jerome speaks of it, saying, that in his time (fourth century)
children were wont to sing it at school amidst shouts of laughter.
Alexander Brassicanus, who died in 1539, was the first to publish it. He
found it in a Ms. at Mayence. Later, G. Fabricius gave a corrected
edition of it from another Ms. found at Memel and since then it has been
in the hands of the learned.”
With slight modifications, the will runs as follows:
“I, M. Grunnius Corcotta Porcellus, have made my testament, which, as I
can’t write myself, I have dictated.”
Says Magirus, the cook: “Come along, thou who turnest the house
topsy-turvy, spoiler of the pavement, O fugitive Porcellus! I am
resolved to slaughter thee to-day.”
Says Corcotta Porcellus: “If ever I have done thee any wrong, if I have
sinned in any way, if I have smashed any wee pots with my feet, O Master
Cook, grant pardon to thy suppliant!”
Says the cook Magirus: “Halloo, boy! go bring me a carving-knife out of
the kitchen, that I may make a bloody Porcellus of him.”
Porcellus is caught by the servants, and brought out to execution on the
xvi before the Lucernine Kalends, just when young colewort sprouts are
in plenty, Clybaratus and Piperatus being Consuls.
Now when he saw that he was about to die, he begged hard of the cook an
hour’s grace, just to write his will. He called together his relations,
that he might leave them some of his victuals; and he said:
“I will and bequeath to my papa, Verrinus Lardinus, 30 bush. of acorns.
“I will and bequeath to my mamma, Veturina Scrofa, 40 bush. of Laconian
corn.
“I will and bequeath to my sister, Quirona, at whose nuptials I may not
be present, 30 bush. of barley.
“Of my mortal remains, I will and bequeath my bristles to the cobblers,
my teeth to squabblers, my ears to the deaf, my tongue to lawyers and
chatterboxes, my entrails to tripemen, my hams to gluttons, my stomach
to little boys, my tail to little girls, my muscles to effeminate
parties, my heels to runners and hunters, my claws to thieves; and, to a
certain cook, whom I won’t mention by name, I bequeath the cord and
stick which I brought with me from my oak grove to the sty, in hopes
that he may take the cord and hang himself with it.
“I will that a monument be erected to me, inscribed with this, in golden
letters:
“M. GRUNNIUS CORCOTTA PORCELLUS, who lived 999 years,--six months more,
and he would have been 1000 years old.
“Friends dear to me whilst I lived, I pray you to have a kindness
towards my body, and embalm it well with good condiments, such as
almonds, pepper and honey, that my name may be named through ages to
come.
“O my masters and my comrades, who have assisted at the drawing up of
this testament, order it to be signed.
(Signed) LUCANICUS.
PERGILLUS.
MYSTIALICUS.
CELSANUS.
LARDIO.
OFFELLICUS.
CYMATUS.”
WILLS OF THE EARL OF MELLENT AND OTHERS
(1118)
Robert, the famous Earl of Mellent and Leicester, one of the early
crusaders in the Holy Land, died in 1118, in the abbey of Preaux, where
his body was buried; but his heart, by his own order, was conveyed to
the hospital at Brackley, to be there preserved in salt. Isabella,
daughter of William E. Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, who died at
Berkhampstead in 1239, ordered her heart to be sent in a silver cup to
her brother, then Abbot of Tewkesbury, to be there buried before the
high altar. The heart of John Baliol, Lord of Barnard Castle, who died
in 1269, was, by his widow’s desire, enclosed in an ivory casket, richly
enamelled with silver. There are many bequests of hearts on record other
than the above.
WILL OF SALADIN
(1193)
Interesting to record is the last will and testament of the celebrated
Saladin, born in 1136; he died in 1193, after filling the two continents
of Europe and Asia with his fame.
Sultan of Egypt, he conquered Syria, Arabia, Persia, Mesopotamia, and
took possession of Jerusalem in 1187. His conquests suffice to enable us
to judge of the extent of his power and wealth; at his death, however,
he showed that no one was more intimately convinced of the utter
hollowness of the riches and greatness of the world and the vanity of
its disputes.
He ordered, by his will, first, that considerable sums should be
distributed to Mussulmans, Jews, and Christians, in order that the
priests of the three religions might implore the mercy of God for him;
next he commanded that the shirt or tunic he should be wearing at the
time of his death should be carried on the end of a spear throughout the
whole camp, and at the head of his army, and that the soldier who bore
it should pause at intervals and say aloud, “Behold all that remains of
the Emperor Saladin! Of all the states he had conquered; of all the
provinces he had subdued; of the boundless treasures he had amassed; of
the countless wealth he possessed, he retained in dying, nothing but
this shroud!” To this we may add:
“ ... Behold his origin and end!
Milk and a swathe at first, his whole demand;
His whole domain, at last, a turf or stone,
To whom, between, a world had seemed too small.”
WILL OF WILLIAM DE BEAUCHAMP
(1268)
“Will of William de Beauchamp, dated at Wauberge, upon the morrow after
the Epiphany, anno 1268, 53 Henry III. My body to be buried in the
Church of the Friars-Minors at Worcester. I Will that a horse,
completely harnessed with all military caparisons, precede my corpse; to
a priest to sing mass daily in my Chapel without the city of Worcester,
near unto that house of Friars which I gave for the health of my soul,
and for the souls of Isabel my wife, Isabel de Mortimer, and all the
faithful deceased, all my rent of the fee of Richard Bruli, in Wiche and
Winchester, with supply of what should be too short out of my own proper
goods; to Walter, my son, signed with the cross, for a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land on my behalf and of Isabel, his mother, two hundred marks; to
Joane, my daughter, a canopy, some time belonging to St. Wolstan, and a
book of Lancelot, which I have lent them; to Isabel, my daughter, a
silver cup; to Sibill, my daughter, all the money due to me from my son
William, towards her marriage, and XL marks more, with the land which I
bought in Britlamton, to enjoy it until she be married, and no longer;
to Sarah, my daughter, one hundred marks for her marriage; to William,
my eldest son, the cup and horns of St. Hugh; to my daughter the
Countess, his wife, a ring with a ruby in it; to Sir Roger de Mortimer
and Sir Bartholomew de Suley a ring each; to the Friars-Minors of
Worcester forty shillings; to the Friars-Minors of Gloucester one mark;
to the Friars-Carmelites there one mark; to the Hospital of St. Wolstan
at Worcester one mark; to the Hospital of St. Oswald there ten
shillings; to the Canons of Doddeford one mark; to the Church and Nuns
of Cokehill x marks; to Isabel, my wife, ten marks; to the Church and
Nuns of Westwood one mark; to the Church and Nuns without Worcester one
mark; to every Anchorite in Worcester and the parts adjacent four
shillings; to the Church of Salewarp, a house and garden near the
parsonage, to find a lamp to burn continually therein to the honor of
God, the Blessed Virgin, St. Katherine, and Saint Margaret; and I
appoint my eldest son William Earl of Warwick, Sir Roger Mortimer, Sir
Bartholomew de Sudley, and the Abbots of Evesham and of Great Malverne,
my executors.”
WILL OF WILLIAM DE BEAUCHAMP, EARL OF WARWICK
(1296)
“Will of William De Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, dated Holy Rood Day,
1296, 25 Edward I. being in perfect health. My body to be buried in the
quire of the Friars-Minors, commonly called the Gray-friars at
Worcester, if I die within the compass of the four English Seas;
otherwise, then in the house of the Friars-Minors nearest to the place
in which I may happen to die, and my heart to be buried wheresoever the
Countess, my dear consort, may herself resolve to be interred; to the
place where I may be buried two great horses, viz., those to the which
shall carry my armour at my funeral, for the solemnizing of which I
bequeath two hundred pounds; to the maintenance of two soldiers in the
Holy Land, one hundred pounds; to Maud my wife, all my silver vessels,
_with the cross, wherein is contained part of the wood of the very cross
whereon our Saviour died_; likewise the vestments of my Chapel, to make
use of during her life; but afterwards the best suit to belong to Guy,
my eldest son; the second best to my Chapel of Hanslape; and the third
best to my Chapel at Hanley; to Guy, my son, a gold ring with a ruby in
it, together with my blesing; to my said wife a cup, which the Bishop of
Worcester gave me, and all my other cups, with my lesser sort of jewels
and rings, to distribute for the health of my soul, where she may think
best; to my two daughters, nuns at Shouldham, fifty marks.”
WILL OF EDWARD I
(1307)
This will seems entitled to find a place among those which may be
regarded as abnormal, and when we come to the record of it in the simple
and _naïf_ style of that matchless old chronicler Froissard, we are
irresistibly tempted to make a transcript of the few lines which in
describing it carry us back to the days of that turbulent and brilliant
monarch.
“Le bon roy,” he writes, “trépassa en la cité de Warvich. Et quend il
mourut il fit appeler son aisné fils (Edouard II. qui après luy fust
roy) pardeuant ses barons, et luy fit iurer sur les saincts,
qu’aussitost qu’il seroit trespassé il le feroit bouilleir dans une
chaudière, tant que la chair se departiroit des os: et après ferait
mettre la chair en terre et garderoit les os: et toutes les fois que les
Escoçois de rebelleroient contre luy, il semondroit ses gens et
porteroit avesques luy les os de son père. Car il tenoit fermement que
tant qu’il auroit ses os avesques luy les Escoçois n’auraient poinct de
victoire contre luy. Lequel n’accomplit mie ce qu’il auait iuré: ains
fit rapporter son père à Londres et là enseuelir; dont luy meschent.”
WILL OF GUY DE BEAUCHAMP, EARL OF WARWICK
(1315)
“Will of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, dated at Warwick Castle,
Monday next after the Feast of St. James the Apostle, 1315. My body to
be buried in the Abbey of Bordsley, without any funeral pomp; to Alice,
my wife, a proportion of plate, with a crystal cup and half my bedding,
and also all the vestments and books belonging to my Chapel; the other
half of my beds, rings, and jewels, I bequeath to my two daughters; to
Maud, my daughter, a crystal cup; to Elizabeth, my daughter, the
marriage of Astley’s heir; to Thomas, my son, my best coat of mail,
helmet, and suit of harness, with all that belongs thereto; to John, my
son, my second coat of mail, helmet, and harness; and I Will that all
the rest of my armour, bows, and other warlike implements, shall remain
in Warwick Castle for my heir.”
DUKES OF LANCASTER
(1360)
Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who died in 1360, thus begins the second
clause of his will: “Item: we will _that our body be not buried_ for
three weeks after the departure of our soul.”
(1399)
John, Duke of Lancaster, better known as John of Gaunt, directs as
follows in his will: “If I die out of London I desire that, the night my
body arrives there, it be carried direct to the Friars Carmelites, in
Fleet Street, and the next day be taken straight to St. Paul’s, and
_that it be not buried for forty days_, during which I charge my
executors that there be no embalming of my corpse.”
WILL OF SIR ROBERT LAUNDE
(1367)
“Will of Sir Robert Launde, alias Atte Launde, Knt., Citizen of London,
on our Lady’s Eve, 1367. My body to be buried in the quire of St.
Mary’s, of the Charterhouse in London; to Christian, my wife; to Ada
Launde, my mother; to Robert Watfield, late my servant, c _l._; to Rose
Pomfret, my sister, of Berdfield, CXL _l._; to Richard, her son, and
William, her brother; to Margaret Biernes, their sister; to Margaret,
her sister, married to Aksted; to Agnes, my niece, at Hallewell; to the
high altar of Hempsted, in Essex; to the poor there, by gift of Robert
Watfield; to Joane Launde, of Cambridgeshire; to my noble Lady the
Countess of Norfolk; to John Southcot, to find him at school; to the
building of the cross in Cheapside; and I appoint Sir John Philpot,
Knt., overseer of this my Will.”
WILL OF LADY JOAN DE COBHAM
(1369)
“Will of Joan De Cobham, of Starburghe. August 13, 1369. My body to be
buried in the church-yard of St. Mary Overhere, in Southwark, before the
church door, where the image of the blessed Virgin sitteth on high over
that door: and I Will that a plain marble stone be laid over my body.
“I Will that VII thousand masses be said for my soul by the Canons of
Tunbrugge and Tanfugge, and the four Orders of Friars in London, viz.,
the Friars-Preachers, Minors, Augustines, and Carmelites, who for so
doing shall have xxix _l._ iii _s._ iv _d._ Also I Will that on my
funeral day twelve poor persons, clothed in black gowns and hoods, shall
carry twelve torches; I bequeath to the Church of Lyngefeld a frontore
with the arms of Berkeley and Cobham standing on white and purple; to
Reginald, my son, a ring with a diamond; to Sir Henry Grey and Dame
Joan, his wife, and to that Joane my daughter; to Joane, daughter to
that Joane. I Will that my house in Southwark be sold to pay my Lord’s
debts, and to found prayers in the parish church of Langele-Borell for
the souls of Sir John de la Mare, Knt., some time lord there, Sir
Reginald Cobham, Sir Thomas Berkeley, and for the souls of my
benefactors. If Reginald, my son, or any other of my heirs, shall
appropriate that church for the maintenance of two priests to celebrate
divine service there for ever, as it was intended and conditioned by the
said Sir John de la Mare when he sold that lordship of Langele, with
that of Lye, to my husband, in the presence of the Lord Berkeley, my
father, then I Will that my Executors shall enfeoffe the said Reginald,
or his heirs, in my water-mill at Edulme Bridge, and in my house at
Southwark, for ever; to Sir John Cobham; to John de Cobham, of
Devonshire.”
THE WILL OF PETRARCH
(1370)
To the cultivated reader everything relating to a man who may be
considered the phenomenon of his age must be interesting. The document
we subjoin is especially valuable as supplying the key to a mind which
has drawn to itself our warmest sympathies, and whose written thoughts
are among the most attaching bequests of poetry.
The will of the poet-philosopher of Vaucluse is dated “pridiè nonas
Aprilis, 1370,” four years before his death, when he was sixty-six years
of age, having been born at Arezzo, 20th of July, 1304.
He prefaces it with moral reflections on the certainty of death, but the
uncertainty of its summons, and the necessity of putting one’s affairs
in order. He then proceeds to state that what he possesses is of so
little value that he is in some sort ashamed to make a will; “sed,” adds
he, “divitum atque inopium curæ, de rebus licet imparibus, pares sunt.”
After recommending his soul to Jesus Christ and imploring the succor of
Mary, of St. Michael, and all the Saints, he orders very expressly that
he may be buried without any sort of pomp,--“absque omni pompa et cum
summa humilitate et abjectione, quanta esse potest, ...” and renders his
heir and his friends responsible for the execution of this clause. He
claims no tears, as useless to the departed, but begs the prayers of the
survivors, of which he has need.
Not knowing where he may be at the time of his death, he designates in
different cities the spot he would choose for his burial, naming Padua,
Venice, Milan, Rome, and Parma, and leaves a legacy of 200 gold ducats
to the church at Padua, and 20 to the church in which he shall be
interred.
Among special bequests is one to the Governor of Padua, of a very fine
picture of the Virgin Mary--“opus Joctii, pictoris egregii”--which had
sent been him from Florence by his friend Michael Navis. “In beholding
this painting,” he says, “pulchritudinem ignorantes, non intelligunt;
magistri autem, artis, stupent.”
He desires that all the horses he may possess at the time of his decease
may be divided between his two friends, Bonzanello and Lorbardo, and
acknowledges a debt to the latter of 334 gold ducats and 16 sous, which
he nevertheless hopes to pay before his death.
He bequeaths to the same Lorbardo his small round goblet of silver-gilt
that he may drink as much water as he likes, knowing that he prefers
water to wine.
To the Sacristan, Giovanni Bocheta, he gives his large breviary, which
cost him 100 livres at Venice; but desires that after the death of the
Sacristan the volume may be deposited in the sacristy of the church for
the use of all priests attached to that church and who will pray for him
to God and the Virgin Mary.
He leaves to Giovanni di Certaldo, otherwise Boccaccio,--(_verecundi
admodùm tanto viro, tam modicum_, says he),--200 gold florins of
Florence, to purchase him a winter robe suitable for his studious
vigils. The words “_tanto viro_” are significant of the great esteem in
which he held the genius of Boccaccio.
To Tomaso Bambasia, of Ferrara, he leaves his lute, which he describes
as “good”--_leutum meum bonum_--but for singing the praises of the Lord,
and by no means _pro vanitate seculi fugacis_.
To Johannes _de Horologio_--to whom he gives the title of
“_physicum_”--he bequeaths 50 gold ducats to buy a ring which he will
wear on his finger in memory of the testator.
As for his servants, he gives first to Bartolomeo di Siena, surnamed
Pancaldus, a sum of 20 ducats, but on condition that he will not gamble
with it. To Litius, he gives the same, etc.
In fine, he institutes as his heir and residuary legatee, Francesco di
Borsano, residing at Milan. He names “a small property he has near
Vaucluse” of which he desires to make a hospital for the poor, and if
this could not be done he devises it to the son of Raymond de Clermont,
surnamed Moneto. There are other unimportant clauses, after which comes
the date, signature, and names of witnesses; he adds to it, however, a
request to his heir to write as soon as possible after his death to his
brother--a Carthusian in a convent at Marseilles (_in conventu de
Materino_)--and to propose to either pay down to him a sum of 100 gold
florins or an annuity of ten, as he might please. The whole terminates
with these words: _Ego Franciscus Petrarca scripsi, qui testamentum
aliud fecissem, si essem dives, ut vulgus insanum putat_.
Curious and suggestive as is this relic, the illustrious reformer of
philosophy, eloquence, poetry, and--shall we not even add--of love, has
left a yet more engaging clew to his grand character, not only in his
simple and almost _naïf_ “Epistle to Posterity,” but in a third paper
consisting of the private memorandum written in the fly-leaf of his
Virgil, evidently the outpouring of his heart and intended for no human
eye. The concluding lines are touching in the extreme. What, indeed, can
be more sublime than the lifelong devotedness of such a soul as
Petrarch’s to the noblest and most beautiful, because the most
disinterested, of sentiments--an all-absorbing and unaltered, yet pure
and passionless, affection, and though surviving its object, losing none
of its intensity!
“ ... This loss,” he says, writing of the death of Laura, “always
present to my memory, will continually remind me that there is no state
here below worthy to be called happy, and that it is time I should
renounce the world since the dearest tie that linked me to it is
snapped. I hope, by the help of Heaven, this resignation may become
possible. My mind, in reverting to the past, will find that the
solicitudes which occupied it were vain; the hope it cherished
delusive; that the plans it formed were never to be realized, and could
only lead to disappointment and distress.”
Petrarch was found dead in his library, his head resting on an open
book, on the 18th July, 1374. He was within two days of seventy.
WILL OF SIR WALTER MANNEY
(1371)
“Will of Sir Walter, Lord of Manney, Knight, London, St. Andrew’s Day,
1371. My body to be buried at God’s pleasure, but if it may be in the
midst of the Quire of the Carthusians, called Our Lady, near West
Smithfield, in the suburbs of London, of my foundation, but without any
great pomp; and I Will that my Executors cause twenty masses to be said
for my soul, and that every poor person coming to my funeral shall have
a penny, to pray for me and the remission of my sins; to Mary, my sister
a nun, x pounds; to my two bastard daughters, nuns, viz., to Mialosel
and Malplesant, the one cc franks, the other c franks; to Cishbert, my
cousin; to Margaret Mareschall, my dear wife, my plate which I bought of
Robert Francis; also a girdle of gold, and a hook for a mantle, and
likewise a garter of gold, with all my girdles and knives, all my beds
and dossers in my wardrobe, excepting my folding bed, paly of blue and
red, which I bequeath to my daughter of Pembroke; and I Will also that
my said wife have all the goods which I purchased of Lord Segrave and
the Countess Marshal. Also I Will that a tomb of alabaster, with my
image as a knight, and my arms thereon, shall be made for me, like unto
that of Sir John Beauchamp in Paul’s, in London. I Will that prayers be
said for me, and for Alice de Henalt, Countess Marshal. And whereas the
King oweth me an old debt of a thousand pounds, by bills of his
wardrobe, I Will that, if it can be obtained, it shall be given to the
Prior and Monks of the Charter-house. And whereas there is due to me
from the Prince, from the time he had been Prince of Wales, the sum of c
marks per annum, for my salary as Governor of Hardelagh Castle, I
bequeath one half thereof to the said Prior and Monks of the
Charter-house before mentioned, and the other half to the executors of
my Will. To my wife, and my daughter Pembroke, fifteen M florins of
gold, and five ‘vesseux estutes ph,’ which Duke Albert oweth me by
obligation; to Sir Guy Bryan, Knt., my best chains, whom I also appoint
my Executor.”
WILL OF EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES
(1376)
“In the name, &c., We, Edward, eldest son of the King of England and
France, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, the 7th
June, 1376, in our apartment in the Palace of our Lord and Father the
King at Westminster, being of good and sound memory, &c. We bequeath to
the altar of Our Lady’s chapel at Canterbury two basons with our arms,
and a large gilt chalice enamelled with the arms of Warren. To our son
Richard the bed which the King our father gave us. To Sir Roger de
Clarendon a silk bed. To Sir Robert de Walsham, our Confessor, a large
bed of red camora, with our arms embroidered at each corner; also
embroidered with the arms of Hereford. To Mons. Alayne Cheyne our bed of
camora powdered with blue eagles. And we bequeath all our goods and
chattels, jewels, &c., for the payment of our funeral and debts; after
which we Will that our executors pay certain legacies to our poor
servants. All annuities which we have given to our Knights, Esquires,
and other our followers, in reward for their services, we desire to be
fully paid. And we charge our son Richard, on our blessing, that he
fulfil our bequests to them. And we appoint our very dear and beloved
brother of Spain, Duke of Lancaster; the Reverend Fathers in God,
William Bishop of Winchester, John Bishop of Bath; William Bishop of
Asaph; our Confessor, Sir Robert de Walsham; Hugh de Segrave, Steward of
our Lands; Aleyn Stokes; and John Fordham, our executors. In testimony
of which we have put to this our last Will our privy seal, &c.”
“Published by John Ormesheved, Clerk, in the year 1376, in the presence
of John Bishop of Hereford, Domini Lewis Clifford, Nicholas Bonde, and
Nicholas de Scharnesford, Knights, and William de Walsham, Clerk; and of
many other Knights, Clerks, and Esquires. Proved 4 idus June, 1376.”
WILL OF LADY ALICE WEST
(1395)
Some wills, although they cannot be called curious, are highly
interesting, and excite great curiosity in the reader. For instance,
Lady Alice West, widow of Sir Thomas West who fought at the Battle of
Crecy, and an ancestress of the De la Warr family, by her will, dated
July 15, 1395, and proved on September 1 following, bequeaths to
“Johane my doughter, my sone is wyf, a masse book, and alle the bokes
that I have of latyn, englisch, and frencsh, out take the forsayd matyns
book that is bequeth to Thomas my sone.” Who can help wondering what
books, and particularly what English books, this good old lady had at a
period five years before the death of Chaucer, and nearly eighty years
before the first book was printed in England? Perhaps two of them were
Robert of Gloucester’s “Rhyming Chronicles of England,” and Robert
Langland’s “The Vision of Piers Ploughman.”
WILL OF LADY ALICE WYNDSORE
(1400)
“Will of Alice, widow of William Wyndsore, Knight, at Upmynster, on the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary, August 15th, 1400, 1 Henry IV. My body to
be buried in the parish Church of Upmynster on the north side before the
altar of our Lady the Virgin; to the said Church one of my best oxen for
a mortuary; for wax to burn about my body forty shillings; for ornaments
to the said Church ten marks; for repairing the highways near the town
forty shillings; I Will that ten marks be distributed to the poor on the
day of my sepulture; to the Chaplain six marks; to John Pelham, Sacrist
of that Church, three shillings and four pence; to Joane, my younger
daughter, my manor of Gaynes, in Upmynster; to Jane and Joane, my
daughters, all my other manors and advowsons which John Wyndsore, or
others, have, by his consent, usurped, the which I desire my heirs and
executors to recover and see them parted between my daughters, for that
I say, on the pain of my soul, he hath no right there nor never had; my
manor of Compton Murdac; to the poor of Upminster xx shillings. And I
appoint Joane, my youngest daughter; John Kent, Mercer of London, my
Executors; and Sir John Cusson, Knight, and Robert de Litton, Esquire,
Overseers of this my Will.”
WILL OF LADY JOANE HUNGERFORD
(1411)
“Will of Joane Lady Hungerford, February 1, 1411. My body to be buried
in the Chapel of St. Anne, in the Parish Church of Farleigh, Hungerford,
next to the grave of my husband. I Will that, with all possible speed
after my decease, my executors cause three thousand masses to be said
for my soul, and for the souls of all the faithful deceased. Also I
desire on my burial day that twelve torches and two tapers burn about my
body, and that twelve poor women, holding the said torches, be cloathed
in russet, with linen hoods, and having stockings and shoes suitable. I
Will that ten pounds be bestowed to buy black cloth for the cloathing of
my sons and daughters, as likewise for the sons and daughters of all my
domestic servants. I Will that the two hundred marks now in the hands of
my son, Sir Walter Hungerford, be given to found a perpetual chantry of
one chaplain, to celebrate divine service in the Chapel of St. Anne, in
the north part of the said Church of Farleigh, for the health of my
soul, and the soul of my husband, and for the souls of all our ancestors
forever; to Katherine, the wife of my said son Walter, my black mantle
furred with minever, and to Thomas his son a green bed, embroidered with
one greyhound.”
WILL OF RICHARD BERNE
(1461)
“Will of Richard Berne, of Canterbury, 28th April, 1461. My body to be
buried in the aisle before the cross, in the south part of St. Paul’s,
at Canterbury. To the rebuilding of the bell tower of the monastery of
St. Augustine ix _l._ to be paid as soon as the said work shall be
begun; to the prisoners of the Castle of Canterbury and of Westgate vi
_s._ viii _d._ each; to the Prioress of the Church of St. Sepulchre,
towards the works of her Church, xiii _s._ iv _d._; to the repair of the
highway leading towards Sandwich, by St. Martin’s Hill and the
Fishpoole, x _l._; towards the repair of the highway in the Winecheape,
between Bircholle’s Place and St. James’s Hospital, x _l._; to Joan, my
wife, my furniture and my best cart, and my five horses fit to draw it,
with all their harness; to the building of the new bell tower of
Tenterden vi _s._ viii _d._”
THE WILL OF THOMAS WINDSOR, ESQ.
(1479)
“Item. I Will that I have brennying (burning) at my burying and funeral
service four tapers and twenty-two torches of wax, every taper to
contain the weight of ten pounds and every torch sixteen pounds, which I
Will that twenty-four very poor men and well disposed shall hold, as
well at the time of my burying as at my _monethe’s minde_ (month’s
remembrance).
“Item. I Will that after my _monethe’s minde_ done, the said four tapers
be delivered to the church-wardens, &c.
“And that there be 100 children within the age of 16 years, to be at my
_monethe’s minde_ to pray for my soul ... that against my _monethe’s
minde_ the candles bren (burn) before the rude in the Parish Church.
“Also that at my _monethe’s minde_ my executors provide 20 priests to
sing _plucebo dirige_, &c.”
THE WILL OF SIR RICHARD HAMERTON, KNT.
(1480)
This will be found interesting from the characteristic style and quaint
orthography in which it is penned; the detail, too, is eminently
suggestive of a simplicity in the individual mind of the testator as
well as of the social tone of the times, much at variance with the more
complicated habits of our own day. Sir Richard, it must be remarked, was
“the head of one of the most ancient and illustrious of the Craven
families, the representatives of which still flourish and count up to
more than twenty generations of Hamerton’s.”
“Richard Hamerton, knyghte, in my hole mynde and witt. To be beryed in
the kirke of Preston in Craven, in the chapell of Our Ladye and Seignt
Anne, in the southe syde of the saide kirke, wherein a chauntery is
founded for a prest in perpetuite to syng for Lawrence Hamerton,
esquier, and me, the said Richard Hamerton, knyghte, our wyffes, our
childre, and all our ancestres.
“Item: I gyff in the name of my mortuary my beste hors, with my sadell,
bridell, and othre thingis pertenying to the same.
“Item: I bequeth to the abbot and convent of the monastery of Sallay a
standing maser covered and gilted, to pray for me.
“Item: I bequeth to my son William my best whyte cupp of sylver
standing.
“Item: To my son Sir Stephen my salet gilted, ij basyns, ij lavers, ij
chafours, ij pottes, vj doublers, xij dysshes, and vj sausers, according
to my fader will, as apperith folowyng: _i.e._ to the saide Sir Stephen
and to the heires male of his body; and for defaute, then to Raner
Hamerton, son of John Hamerton, broder to the saide Sir Stephen; then to
Roger Hamerton, broder to the saide Raner; then to William Hamerton,
broder to the saide Sir Stephen; and for defaute I wille that the saide
sylver plate shalle remayne to the abbot and convente of the monastery
of Sallay for evermore; for which the saide abbot and convente and ther
successoures shall praye for the saules of the said Lawrence Hamerton
and Isabell his wyffe, and me, the saide Richarde and Dame Elizabeth my
wyffe, our childre saules, and all our auncestres, and for those saules
whose bodyes we wer most behalden unto in ther lyffes, and for all
Cristen saules.
“Item: I bequeth to my saide son, Sr. Stephen, the tabel in the chapell,
wt. all thingis belongyng the same, a ladell, ij brasse pottes of the
grettest, ij garingsshe of pewder vessell, a chargiom, a handreth of
yern iiij fete, iiij lange spyttes of yren. To my nevewe, John Hamerton,
my grete countour in the hall. To my nese, his wyffe, a standing cuppe
of sylver dim gilt.
“To my broder James ij oxen, and also my wyffe hath given to hym ij
whyes.
“To Raner Hamerton a horse of ij yeres olde ambulyng, another of the
same age that ambulys to Roger Hamerton.
“To Cristofer Jakson, a stot and xiij _s._ iiij _d._ of money. To
Richard Clerk a don hors and xiij _s._ iiij _d._
“To John Rayngill, a stot and whye. To Thomas Kay a stot of ij yeres
olde. To William Iveson a styrk.
“To William Fisshe a whye styrk. To Robert Coke a styrk and a whye. To
Majory Stowte a whye of age. To William Standen an oxe.
“Item: I bequeth to a priest xij mark to syng ij yeres for my saule, and
my wyffe, and all Cristen saules. To iiij orders of Freres iiij _l._ To
the Prior and Convent of the Monastery of Bolton xl _s._ I bekueth x
marke to be distribute emonge my pore tennantes and neghtburs. I bequeth
x marc to be distribute emonge pore falkes at the daye of my burying. I
ordene and mak my wyffe, Dame Elizabeth, my sones, Sir Stephen and
William Hamerton, myn executors. I bequeth ij stottes to William
Scarburgh. To Richard Hamerton, my broder James son, a fylle of iij
yere. To my wyffe a wayne wt. vj oxen. To my son William an othir wayne
and vj oxen. To John Ellis the yonger a mair.
“Testibus Ricardo Parisshe, Ablate de Sallay, et Willelmo Scarburgh
generoso.”
WILL OF “ARLOTTO, THE PARSON”
(1483)
“Arlotto, the Parson,” who is described as an Italian priest of
“infinite jest and most excellent fancy,” who died in 1483, left among
his testamentary documents a wish that the following words should be
placed upon his tomb: “This sepulchre was made by the parson Arlotto,
for himself and for any other man who may desire to enter therein.”
These words remained upon his tomb until they were obliterated by time.
WILL OF JOHN TURVYLE
(1500)
In a will written about the year 1500, that of John Turvyle, of Newhall,
Leicestershire, “Squyer,” there is a bequest to William, his “son and
heire apparant,” of “a bason and an ewer of silver, warnyng and chargyng
him, on my blessyng, and as he will answere afore God at the day of
dome, that he shall bequeith them after his decesse to his son and heire
apparant, and so under this manner and condicion the forsayd basyn and
ewer of silver to go from heire to heire while the world endureth.”
Which seems to show that the modern system of making particular articles
heirlooms to go with the estates, so that they should be kept in the
family, had not then been invented.
WILL OF ALICE LOVE
(1506)
A specimen of a lady’s will gives some idea of the costumes and fashions
of the day, and the store placed upon their wardrobes, which were not so
easily replenished as they are now:
“In the name of God, amen--the 6th daye of the moneth of Octobre in the
yere of our Lord God a thousand fyve hundred and sixe, I, Alice Love,
the wife of Gyles Love of Rye, by the speciall license of my said
husband, asked and opteyned [_What does the modern woman think of
this?_], bequeath my parapharnalle--that is to seye, myn apparaill to my
body belonging. First, I bequeith my sowle unto Almighty God, to our
blessed Lady and to alle Saynts, my body to be buried in the chirch
yarde of Rye nigh my husband’s Thomas Oxenbridge. [_It will be seen that
Gyles Love was this Lady’s second husband._] Item, to my moder my graye
furred gowne with a long trayne; also a gowne clothe of russet, not
made. Item, to my suster Mercy my best violet gowne furred with shanks.
Item, to Margarette Philip my best wolstede kyrtill. Also I gyve to my
suster Mercy my dymysent with peerles and a corse of gold. Item, to
Thomas Oxenbridge my best gilt gyrdell that my husband Thomas Oxenbridge
bought me to my wedding. Item, to Robert Oxenbridge a rede powdred
corse, with a good harness, and to everiche of them a paire of bedys of
rede corall. Item, to Besse Love my best crymsyn gowne, also her moder’s
best girdell and her best bedys. Also to my suster Elizabeth Duke a long
girdell gilt with a golden corse.”
WILL OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
(1506)
There seems to be much confusion as to the will of Columbus, although,
in 1498, he made one, and it is known to have existed in 1530; but it is
asserted that it was unsigned, and, moreover, that it was nullified by a
later will he made in 1502, but which also is not to be found at the
present time.
The only authentic will of his, therefore, that has descended to us is
that preserved at Genoa, but which can only be called a codicil.
It is written on the fly-leaf of a book of “Hours,” richly bound and
adorned, which Columbus had received from Pope Alexander VI., and to
which he attached the greatest value; indeed, this is apparent, from the
fact that it is the first object of which he disposes in this same
codicil:
Codicillus more militari Christopheri Colombi.
Cum SS Alexander, PP. VI., me hoc devatissimo precum libello honoravit,
summum mihi præbente solatium in captivitatibus, præliis et
adversitatibus meis, volo ut post mortem meam pro memoria tradatur
amantissimæ meæ patriæ republicæ Genuensi; et ob beneficia in eadem urbe
recepta volo ex stabilibus in Italia redditibus erigi ibidem novum
hospitale, ac pro pauperum in patria meliori substentatione,
deficientique linea mea masculina in admiraltu meo Indiarum et annexis
juxta privilegiis dicti regis insuccessorem declaro et substituo eamdem
rempublicam Sancti Georgii.
Datum Valledoliti, 4 Maii, 1506.
S.
S. A. S.
X. M. V.
XPOFERENS.
The initial letters which precede the signature of the Christian name of
Columbus (altered, however, into Christo-_ferens_) have never been
explained, any more than the two eagles which also precede it; this
spelling, however, need throw no doubt on its authenticity, as it is
identical with the signatures of two letters, dated respectively 1502
and 1504, addressed to the Ambassador, Nicolas Oderigo.
WILL OF HENRY VII
(1510)
Henry VII. desires in his will that “our executors and supervisors and
executors of our testament have a special respect, in our funeral, to
the laud and praising of God, the health of our soul, and somewhat to
our dignity royal, but avoiding damnable pomp and outrageous
superfluities.”
WILL OF ERASMUS
(1536)
The town of Bâle possesses together with the will of Erasmus, the ring,
seal, sword, knife, pen, and the portrait by Holbein of that great and
celebrated man.
The will was drawn up in Latin, five months prior to his decease, 12th
February, 1536; we subjoin a literal translation of this interesting
document.
“In the name of the Holy Trinity,
“I, Dediderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, honoured with the flattering
diplomas of the Emperor, the Sovereign Pontiff, and renowned magistrate
of the celebrated city of Bâle, declare that this act, written in my own
hand, contains my last wishes; and I desire that they may be ratified
and confirmed in every particular, annulling all previous dispositions
that I may have made.
“Certain as I am that I have no legitimate heir (Erasmus was a natural
son, and was never married), I appoint as my universal heir, the very
honourable Boniface Amerbach; and I name as my testamentary executors
Jerôme Froben and Nicholas Biscop, brother-in-law of Froben.
“I have already sold my library to Jean de Lasco, a Pole, as may be seen
by an act passed between us, and signed by both; but my books are only
to be delivered to him when he shall have handed over two hundred
florins to my heir; and in case he should have destroyed the act above
named, or should die before me, my heir is at liberty to dispose of my
books as he may please.
“I bequeath and give to Louis Ber my gold watch; to Beatus Rhenanus a
golden spoon, and a fork of the same metal; to Pietro Veteri one hundred
and fifty gold crowns; to Philip Montanus the same sum; to my servant
Lambert--should he still be in my service at the time of my death--two
hundred gold florins, unless I should give them to him during my life;
to Jehan de Brisgaw my scent-bottle of silver; to Paul Voltzius one
hundred gold florins; to Sigismund Gelenius five hundred ducats; to
Jehan Erasmus Froben, two rings, of which one has no stone, the other a
green (?) stone called by the French _turquoise_.
“I bequeath and give to Jerôme Froben all my garments and all my
furniture; _i.e._ all that composes it, whether in woollen or linen for
the former, in wood or other material for the latter. I give him
besides, my goblet marked with the arms of the Cardinal de Mayence. I
give to his wife my ring, bearing the effigy of a woman looking behind
her.
“I give to Nicholas Biscop, my cup with its cover, on the foot of which
there are verses engraved; and to Justine, his wife, two gold rings of
which one has a diamond, the other a small turquoise. I give to Conrad
Goclenius my silver cup, surmounted by a figure of Fortune. If one of my
legatees should come to die, I leave the legacy thus lapsed at the
disposition of my heir.
“My said heir is to have, besides the objects already devised to him,
all that shall remain of my _tazzas_, rings, and other similar articles,
including the medals bearing the effigy of the King of Poland, Severin
Boner, etc.; and all the double and quadruple ducats. He is to have the
money I have deposited with Conrad Goclenius that he may dispose of it
in Brabant, as I have recommended to him. If there should be anything of
mine still remaining with Erasmus Schet, he is to demand it of him. He
will employ this money and any other sums remaining over, according to
the advice of the executors, in distributing alms to the poor, whom age
or infirmity has rendered impotent, also for marrying young girls or
assisting young people, who may show an industrious disposition, to
start in the world.
“Such is the act of my last will, written by own proper hand, and sealed
with my own private seal belonging to my ring, and representing the god
Terminus. Let all faith be accorded to it. Given at Bale, in the house
of Jerôme Froben, 12th February, 1536.”
WILL OF KATHERINE OF ARAGON
(1536)
“In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. I,
Katherine, &c. supplicate and desire King Henry VIII. my good Lord, that
it please him of his grace, and in alms, and for the service of God, to
let me have the goods which I do hold, as well in gold and silver as
other things, and also the same that is due to me in money for the time
passed, to the intent that I may pay my debts and recompense my servants
for the good service they have done unto me, and the same I desire as
effectuously as I may, for the necessity wherein I am ready to die and
to yield my soul unto God.
“First, I supplicate that my body be buried in a Convent of Observant
Friars. Item, that for my soul may be said c masses. Item, that some
personage go to our Lady of Walsingham, in pilgrimage, and in going by
the way dole xx nobles. Item, I appoint to Mistress Darell xx £ for her
marriage. Item, I ordain that the collar of gold which I brought out of
Spain be to my daughter. I ordain to Mistress Blanche x £ sterling.
Item, I ordain to Mistress Margery, and to Mistress Whiller, to each of
them x £ sterling. Item, I ordain to Mistress Mary, my physician’s wife,
and to Mistress Isabel, daughter of Mistress Margery, to each of them xl
£ sterling. Item, I ordain to my physician the year’s coming wages.
Item, I ordain to Francisco Philippe all that I owe unto him, and
besides that xl £ sterling. Item, I ordain to Mr. John, mine apothecary,
his wages for the year coming, and besides that all that is due unto
him. Item, I ordain that Mr. Whiller be paid of expense about the making
of my gown, and besides that of xx £ sterling. Item, I give to Philip,
to Anthony, and to Bastian, to every of them xx £ sterling. Item, I
ordain to the little maidens x £ to every of them. Item, I ordain that
my goldsmith be paid of his wages for the year coming, and besides all
that is due to him hitherto. Item, I ordain that my launderer be paid of
that is due unto her, and besides that of her wages for the year coming.
Item, I ordain to the Sabell of Vergas xx £ sterling. Item, to my
ghostly father his wages for the year coming. Item, it may please the
King my good Lord, that the house ornaments of the church to be made of
my gowns, which he holdeth, for to serve the convent thereat I shall be
buried. And the furs of the same I give for my daughter.”
Katherine was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella
of Castile. She was born about 1483 and died in 1536. On November 14,
1501, she was married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, then about fifteen
years of age, the eldest son of King Henry VII., who died about five
months later. The King, unwilling to return her dowry, forced her to
marry his remaining son, Henry, who was created Prince of Wales,
February 18, 1503, succeeding to the throne as Henry VIII. on April
21st, 1509. On the 24th of June in the same year, they were crowned at
Westminster. Her only child, Mary, was born on February 15, 1518, and
succeeded her half-brother, King Edward VI., as Queen of England July 6,
1553. The history of this unfortunate, but worthy queen, is too well
known to need further comment.
WILL OF SIR WILLIAM PELHAM, KNT.
(1538)
“In the name of God. Amen. 26th Oct., the yeare of our Lord God a
thousande fyve hundred thirty and eight. I, William Pelham, Knt., in the
countie of Sussex, being hole in mynde and of good memory, doth make and
ordeign my last will and testament in manner and fourme followinge:
“First: I bequeth my soule to Almighty God my Creator, and to all the
Company of Hevyn; and my body to be buried in the Chauncel of Laughton.
“Item: I bequeth vi. _l._ xiii _s._ ii _d._ for twenty sermons to be
preached in Laughton, and in the parishes thereabouts.
“Item: I will that my three sonnes, William, Francis, and Edwarde, shall
have twenty poundes sterlinge by the yere during their lvyes, owte of my
lands, to be divided equally between them into three parts, and my wyffe
to have the same, twenty poundes, every yere during the tyme of their
nonage, towards their fyndinge, forthwith after my deth.
“Item: I bequeth a thousande marks sterlinge to be levyed upon my woods,
to the marriage of my fyve daughters, that is to say: Bryget, Margaret,
Mary, Anne, and Jane, and to be equally between them.
“Item: I bequeth to John Devynyshe, my best geldinge.
“The residue of all my goodes, debts, stuffe, and substance, I geve unto
Mary my wyffe, whom I make myn executrix of this my last will.
“These being witnesses, Mary my wiffe, Nicholas my sonne and his wyffe,
John Devynyshe, gentilman, Sir Robert Fourde Preest, with many other.”
WILL OF MARTIN LUTHER
(1542)
There seems to be considerable obscurity about the authenticity of this
document. The learned Dutchman, M. Van Proet (who gives as _his_
authority the Dutch translation of the “History of the Reformation”),
says that “the will of Luther is to be found in its entirety in the
eighth volume of the works of Luther (Altenburg edition); that the
original, on parchment, was formerly in the hands of Carpzovius, and
that that original, signed by Melancthon, Crucigerus, and Bugenhagenius
(or Pomeranus) differed in some places from the printed copy.”
Seckendorff of Bâle, in his Commentary, lib. iii. sects. 36 and 135, p.
651, speaks thus of it, and it will be seen that Luther does not err on
the side of modesty:
“_De Testamento Lutheri._--Testatus est, ut exemplar, tom. viii. Altenb.
fol. 846, relatum ostendit, anno 1542, die Euphemiæ (16 Septembris),
uxoris potissimum gratiâ, cui testamentum perhibet probitatis,
fidelitatis et honestatis, et quòd ab eâ semper amatus et omnibus
officiis cultus sit; nec fecunditatem tacet, quòd quinque liberos tum
viventes ediderit. (Observatum est ex litteris Pontani post mortem
Lutheri ad electorum scriptis, quòd uxor Lutheri animum paulò elatiorem
et imperiosum habuisse visa sit, et quòd tenax in victu domestico
sumptuosa tamen fuerit in ædificia, imprimis in prædium illud Zeüsldorff
quod ei in hâc dispositione suâ dotali nomine Lutherus assignaverat. Sed
tolerabiles illi nævi fuerunt, nec ab omnibus immunem eam judicavit ipse
Lutherus, licèt eam tenere amaret....) Non tam conditionem adjecit iis
quæ uxori destinaverat, quàm fiduciam testatus est: quòd uxor, si ad
secunda vota transiret (id quod ipsius voluntati et divinæ providentiæ
prorsus committit), omnia cum liberis divisura sit. Liberos verò mavult
à matre quàm hanc ab illis dependere, exemplis se territum dicens, quàm
iniquè sæpè liberi tractent. Denique omissâ omni solemnitate legali
confidere se ait, majorem fidem se mereri quàm notarium quemque.
“Notus sum,” inquit “in cœlo, in terrâ, et in inferno, et auctoritatem
ad hoc sufficientem habeo ut mihi solo credatur, cùm Deus mihi homini
licèt damnabili et misera peccatori, ex paternâ misericordiâ Evangelium
filii sui crediderit, dederitque ut in eo verax et fidelis fuerim, ita
ut multi in mundo illud per me acceperint, et me pro doctore veritatis
agnoverint, spreto banno papæ, Cæsaris, regum, principum et sacerdotum,
imo omnium dæmonium odio: Quidni igitur ad dispositionem hanc in re
exiguâ sufficiat, si adsit manus meæ testimonium et dici possit, hæc
scripsit D. Martinus Lutherus, notarius Dei et testis Evangelii ejus.
“Additae tamen sunt subscriptiones Melancthonis, Crucigeri et Pomerani,
sed alio tempore.
“Elector vero Saxoniæ rogatus à vidua diplomate domino judica hoc anno
(10 April) dato, testamentum Lutheri conservavit, jubens ut illud etsi
solemnitates à legibus requisitæ abessent validum haberetur et
observaretur....”
* * * * *
Our readers will doubtless remember that this curious and characteristic
fragment has been quoted by Robertson, in a note to his history of
Charles Quint, vol. v.
Some time ago the Evangelical Church in Hungary believed itself
possessed of the original last will and testament of the great
Protestant reformer, Martin Luther. The genuineness of the document was,
in fact, attested as undoubted by a special commission appointed to
determine that question. The members of this body, however, did not
consist of historical scholars, but chiefly of noted members of
Parliament. Accordingly, before long it was shown, upon the evidence of
Professor Rancke’s researches, that the only real testament of
Luther--that written with his own hand--is, as a matter of fact, in the
Heidelberg Library, and is there kept in a glass case for the inspection
of visitors. It has also been satisfactorily proved that the will in the
possession of the Hungarian Evangelicals, though written in a hand
exactly like Luther’s, is not his, but the work of one of his disciples,
Henterus, who introduced the reformation into Transylvania; he made a
true copy, even to the very handwriting, of the last will and testament
of his master.
WILL OF HANS HOLBEIN
(1543)
Hans Holbein, the younger, belonged to a celebrated family of German
painters. His great paintings are scattered throughout the galleries of
the world; his last years were spent in England, where he gained both
success and fame. He died in London, of the plague, in 1543. His will,
written shortly before his death, was found in the archives of St.
Paul’s Cathedral in 1861 and bears evidence of having been written in
haste, as it probably was.
It reads as follows:
“In the name of God the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghoste, I, Johan
Holbeine, servante of the King’s Majistie, make this my testamente and
will, to wyt, that alle my goodes shall be sold, and also my horse; and
I will that my debtes be payd to wyt: furste to Mr. Anthony the kynges
servant of Greenwiche, ye summe of ten poundes thirtien shyllinges and
sewyne pence sterlinge.
“And, moreover, I will that he shal be contented for all other thynges
between him and me.
“Item: I do owe unto Mr. John of Anwarpe, Goldsmythe, saxe pounds
sterling, which I will alsoe shalle be payde unto hyme with the fyrste.
“Item: I bequeathe for the kypyng of my two chylder, which be atte
nurse, for every monthe, seyvene shellinges, and sexpence styrlynge.
“In wytnes I have sealed and sealed thys my testamente, thys sexthe daye
of October, in the yeare of our Lorde MIVCXLIIJ.
“Wytnes, Anthony Snetcher, Armerer, Mr. John of Anwarpe, aforesaid,
Goldsmythe, Obrycke Obynger, Merchante and Harry Maynaert, Paynter.”
WILL OF KING HENRY VIII
(1547)
The greatest testamentary powers ever conferred on an English king were
given to Henry VIII. by 25 Henry VIII. c. 7, empowering him to limit and
appoint the succession to the Crown by will, in default of children by
Jane Seymour.
This will of Henry VIII. is to be found in full in Nicolas’s “Testamenta
Vetusta,” a collection of famous wills, a work of great excellence,
prepared in 1825. There are also to be found the Wills of Henry II.,
Henry III., Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., and Henry VII., as are those
of other Kings and Queens of England.
WILL OF RABELAIS
(1553)
The will of this ingenious satirist is adorned (or disfigured) by a very
characteristic clause: “I have no available property, I owe a great
deal; the rest I give to the poor.”
We cannot affirm that this bull, worthy of an Irishman, is well
authenticated, any more than Rabelais’s facetious reply to the messenger
of Cardinal du Belay, whom he sent to see how he fared in his last
illness: “Je vais chercher un grand peutêtre; tirez le rideau, la farce
est jouée.”
WILL OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
(1587)
Mary Stuart was beheaded in 1587. Her will is to be found in a
collection entitled: “Pièces fugitives pour servir à l’Histoire de
France, avec des notes historiques, par M. le Baron d’Aubais,” 1759.
This work is in 5 vols. 4to, and the will is in the second.
It is prefaced by a short note explanatory of the attendant
circumstances, viz. that it was written by the ill-fated queen on the
eve of her execution, and after she had been curtly, unceremoniously,
and unexpectedly informed it was to take place at eight the following
morning. The writing out of this, and of an extremely touching letter to
her brother-in-law, Henri III., occupied her until two o’clock in the
morning, when she bathed, selected and put on her costliest dress,
head-dress, and costume, distributed her little store of ready money and
jewels to her attendants, retired to her oratory and prepared herself
for death. All this is minutely related, also the manner of her death;
for to the last moment the queen was unaware whether she were to be
beheaded standing or with her head on the block. It was, however, to be
by the latter mode; and the headsman proved so inexperienced, and his
weapon so clumsy, that the operation was only completed after three
blows.
Mary’s will is written in French, and is word for word as follows:
“Au nom du Père, du Fils, et du Sainct Esprit:
“Je, Marie, par la grâce de Dieu royne d’Ecosse, douarière de France
etc.: Estant preste à mourir, et n’ayant moyen de faire mon testament,
j’ay mis ces articles par escrit, lesquels j’entens et veulx avoir meme
force que si ilz étaient mis en forme.
“Protestant, premier de mourir en la foi chatolique apostolique romaine.
“Premier, je veulx qui’il soit faict un service complet pour mon ame a
l’église Sainct Denys en France, et l’autre a Sainct Pierre de Reims, où
tous mes serviteurs ce trouveront en la manière qu’il sera ordonné a
ceulx a qui j’en donne la charge issi dessouts nommez.
“Plus, qu’un obit annuel soit fondé pour prier pour mon ame à
perpetuité, à lieu et en la maniere qui sera advisé le plus commode.
“Pour a quoy fournir je veulx que mes maysons de Fontayne-beleau soient
vendues, esperant que au surplus le roy m’aydera, comme par mon memoyre
je le requiers.
“Je veulx que ma terre de Jespagn demeure a mon cousin de Guise pour une
de ses filles, si elle venoit a estre mariée en ces quartiers; je
quitteray la moitié des arerages qui me sont deus, ou une partie, a
condition que l’autre soit payée, pour estre par mes executeurs employée
en aumosne annuelle.
“Pour a quoi mieulx provoir, les papiers seront recherchez et delivrez
selon l’affination pour en faire poursuite.
“Je veulx aussi que l’argens que ce retirera de mon procès de secondat,
soit distribué comme s’en suit.
“Premier, a la descharge du poiement de mes dettes et mandemens si aprez
nommez, qui me seront ja paiez, premier, les deux mille esqus de Courle
que je veulx luy estre payez sans nulle contradiction, comme estantz en
faveur de mariage sans que nous au aultre luy en puisse rien demander,
quelque obligation qu’il en aye d’autant qu’elle n’est que feincte é que
l’argent estoit à moy é non emprunté, lequel je ne fis que luy montray,
é lé depuis retiré, et me on pris avecque le reste à Chasteley, lequel
je lui donne si il le peut recovrer, comme il a esté promis pour
payement ces quatre mille franks promis, pour payement ces quatre mille
franks promis par mort, et mille pour marier une siene sœur, et m’ayant
demandé le reste pour ses despans en prison; quant a l’assignation de
pareille somme a nous, elle n’est pas d’obligation, et pour ce a
toujours esté mon intention que elle fust la dernière payée et encore en
cas qu’il fasse aparoir n’avoir faict contre la condition pour la quelle
je les luy avoist donnéz au temoignasge de mes serviteurs.
“Pour la partie de douze cens esquus que il m’a faict alleuer par lui
empruntée pour mon service de Beauregard, jusques à six sens esqus et de
Gervays trois cents, et le reste je ne sais d’ou, it faut qu’il les
repoye de son argent et que j’en soyes quitte é l’assignation cassée,
car je n’en ay rien resceu, mais est le fond en ces coffres, si ce
n’estoit que ils en soient payez par dela; comme que ce soit; it faut
que cett partie me revienne bonne, n’ayant rien receu, et si elle estoit
payée je doits avoir recours sur son lieu, é de plus, je veulx que
Pasquier compte les deniers que il a despandus é receus par le
commandement de nous, par les mains des serviteurs de M. de
Chasteauneuf, l’ambassadeur de France.
“Plus, je veulx que mes comptes soyent ouys é mon tresorier payé.
“Plus, que les gages et parties de mes gens tant de l’année passée que
de la presente, soyent tous payez avant toute autre choze, tant gages
que pensions, parmis les pensions les pensions de Jean et de Courle,
jusques a ce que l’on sasche ce qui en doit advenir et ce qu’ils auront
meritez de moy pour pensions si ce n’est que la fame de Courle soyt en
nécessité, ou luy maltraicté pour moy; des gages de Jean de mesme.
“Je veulx que les deux mille quatre cens franks que j’ay donnais a Jène
Kenedi luy soyent payez en argent, comme il estoit porté en son premier
don, é quoy fesant la pension de Willi Guillaulme Douglas me reviendra,
laquelle je donne a Fontenoy pour ces services é despens non
recompansez.
“Je veulx que les quatre mille esqus de ce banquier soyent sollisitez é
repayez, duquel j’ay oublié le nom; mais l’evesque de Glascou s’en
resoviendra assez; é si l’assignation premiére venoit à manquer, je
veulx qu’il leur en soyt donné une sur les premiers deniers de secondat.
“Les dix mille franks que l’ambassadeur avoyt receux pour moy, je veulx
qu’ilz soyent employez entre mes serviteurs qui s’en vont à present à
scavoir, premier, deux mille franks à Elizabeth Courle; deux mille
franks à Basten Pages; deux mille à Marie Pages, ma filleule; mille à
Gourgon; mille à Gervays.
“Plus, sur les aultres deniers de mon revenu, à Beauregard, mille
franks; à Monthay mille franks.
“E reste de Secondat et de toutes mes casualitez, je veulx estre
employez sinq cens franks à la misericorde des enfans de Reims; à mes
escoliers, deux mille franks; aux quatre mandians, la somme qu’il sera
nécessaire; à mes executeurs, selon les moyens qui ce trouveront, sinq
cens franks aux hospitaulx.
“A l’esquier de cuisine Martin, je donne mille franks; mille franks à
Hambel, e le laisse à mon cousin de Guise, son parein, a le mettre en
quelque lieu en son service.
“Je laysse sinq cens franks à Robin Hamilton et prie mon filz le
prendre, é Monsieur de Glascou faulte de luy, ou l’evesque de Rosse.
“Je laysse à Didier son grefe sous la faveur du roy.
“Je donne sinq cens franks à Jean Landere, é prie mon cousin de Guise ou
d’Humaine (pour du Maine) le prendre en leur service, é a Messieurs de
Glascou et de Rosse qu’ils ayent soing de le voir preveu; je veulx que
son père soyt payé de ces gages, et luy laysse sinq cens franks.
“Je veulx que mille franks soyent payez à Gourgeon, pour argent et
aultres chozes qu’ils m’a fournies en ma nécessité.
“E je veulx que si Bourgoin accompli le voiage du vœu qu’il a faict pour
moy à S. Nicolas, que quinze franks lui soyent livrés à cet effet. Je
laysse selon mon peu de moyen six mille franks à l’evesque de Glascou,
troys mille à celuy de Rosse. E je laysse la donaison des alsualities et
droicts seigneriaux recelez à mon filleul, filz de M. Duruisseau.
“Je donne troys cens franks à Laurents, plus troys cens franks à
Suzanne, é laysse dix mille franks entre les quatre parties, qui out
esté respondant pour moy é au solliciteur parmy.
“Je veulx que l’argent provenant des meubles que j’ay ordonnez estre
vendus à Londres soyt pour defroyer le voyage de mes gens jusques en
France.
“Ma cosche je la laysse pour mener mes filles, é les chevaulx pour les
vendre ou aultrement en faire leur commoditez.
“Il y a environ cent esqus des gages des années passées deus à Bourgoin,
que je veulx luy estre payez.
“Je laysse deux mille franks à Meluin, mon maystre d’hostel.
“Je ordonne pour principal exécuteur de ma volonté mon cousin le Duc de
Guise, é aprez luy l’Archevesque de Glascou, l’evesque de Rosse, et M.
Duruisseau, mon chancelier.
“J’entends que sans faulte le preau jouisse de ces deux prependes.
“Je recommande Marie Pages, ma filleule, à ma cousine Madame de Guise, é
la prie de prendre en son service; é ma tante de S. Pierre fayre mettre
Montbraye en quelque bon lieu, ou la retenir en service pour l’honneur
de Dieu.
“Faict ce jourd’hui 7 Feubrier, mil sinq cens octante é sept.
“MARIE R.”
WILL OF ALESSANDRO TASSONI
(1635)
Tassoni was an Italian diplomat, poet and critic; he was born at Modena
in 1565 of an old patrician family. His greatest work was the
publication, “The Stolen Bucket.” The following are excerpts from his
will:
“I leave my soul--the most precious thing I possess--to its first great
cause, the invisible, ineffable, eternal.
“As for my body, destined as it is to corruption, my own desire would
have been that it should be burned; but that being contrary to the
custom of the religion in which I was born, I beg those in whose house I
should die--for I have none of my own--to bury me by preference in
consecrated ground; or if I should be found dead, without any other roof
over me than the vault of heaven, I entreat the charitable neighbors or
passers-by to render me this last service.
“My wish would be that my funeral should only employ one priest, that
there should be simply the small cross and a single candle, and that as
regards expense no more shall be incurred than will pay for a sack to
stuff my remains into, and a porter to carry it.
“I give twelve gold crowns to the parish, because I cannot carry them
away.”