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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2001-04 > 0986537157


From: "Chris Dickinson" <>
Subject: Re: Tomlinson, Elizabeth PART I
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 07:05:57 +0100
References: <01c0bdfc$1aa67a20$LocalHost@fti/62hzcyc>


Annie Natalelli-Waloszek writes:

>It would seem that her will was not accepted as legal, since
>there is an admon... is it not?

I'm never quite sure of what people mean when they talk about
admons in a sixteenth and seventeenth century context. I suspect a
lot of the time they are simply talking about the bonds or grants
of administration that were issued to regulate the paying of debts
and drawing up of an inventory. This was done for all wills.

To give you an idea of distribution. I've taken a page at random
from the index of a local Archdeaconry Court. This has 16
pre-1700 probate entries: only 1 will has no supplemental extant
admin; there is one inventory on its own; three admins without
wills; two wills with inventories but without admin; and nine
wills with admin and inventory (of which three have additional
bonds dealing with minors). This is probably fairly typical.


>I dont think the point of the MANY wills I've seen distributing a
>few rags and pennies, was financial importance, but the very
>strong religious feelings about the 'will' (volont) or
>personality of the person being respected even after death, in
>representing by the way they distributed their goods and
>wealth, their view of what was important in life

<snip>

A will can be a rather crucial statement about oneself, and
drawing up a will is an event that probably few people take
lightly, but I suspect that you may here be reading too much into
the formulaic devotional paragraph inserted into sixteenth and
seventeenth wills.

The section starting 'first and principally I commend my soul to
Almighty God my Creator' (and variants) was largely formulaic and
may say more about the lawyer or clerk who drew up the will than
about the testator.

I've seen very few wills distributing 'rags & pennies'. Most of
the wills I look at aren't PCC, and are of farmers with modest
means, so bequests are small - but they are often crucial. The
most important thing about a will was to prevent dispute within
the family, so dealing with the big items (who was to get the
husbandry gear and meal ark) and the smaller items (the child
portions and personal bequests) was part of the ordered retreat
from life. Any of you who have watched elderly parents over the
years cleaning out the attic and sorting out papers will know what
I mean.

Bear in mind too that wills were not mainly about real property.
The freehold of an estate was inherited automatically by law and
custom, and any disputes were not settled in the ecclesiastical
courts.


>The Very Fact that her will was finally treated in PCC and not in
>public courts, was a sign of this...not everybody was recorded
>in PCC... this was the "important people's court"... & what
>about them was important? ...Be they rich or poor, they
>represented the soul of the empire; their lives were carefully
>structured to uphold invisible cathedrales... having their "will"
>their true intention, supposedly guided and steered by divine
>inspiration and high minded ideals of charity and
>custodianship of the goods and authorities invested in them,
>made this crucial

<snip>

You may not be aware of quite how probate jurisdiction worked.
Putting it simply, your will was proved in the lowest jurisdiction
(the Archdeaconry) covering your area UNLESS there were reasons
for the will to be proved at a higher level. Typically, your will
might go to the PCC if you held property in more than one local
jurisdiction.



Chris








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