Fingringhoe
Wills
By the Revd.
G Montagu Benton, M.A., F.S.A.
{Part 1}
Owing to their human interest,
mediaeval wills are perhaps the most fascinating
of all sources of information for reconstructing the history
of the past, since they
provide intimate details of domestic and religious life, and social organization, which can be obtained in no other way. Before probates and legacies were taxed, the quite humble householder considered it his bounden duty to make a testamentary disposition
of his goods and chattels, so that particulars of
persons of all classes, except the very poorest, are to be found in these documents; nor are the wills of people
of small property among the least
interesting.
A former secretary, Mr. H. W. King, contributed many valuable papers on Essex wills to
the earlier volumes of these Transactions, and although the subject has not
been
entirely neglected since his day, it has not received the attention it deserves when we
consider the vast amount of material which
has never yet been investigated. Our late
treasurer, Mr. W. C. Waller, did the
Society excellent service by publishing, some twenty years ago[1], full abstracts of all the old wills relating to Chigwell that he could discover, thereby showing the important contribution such documents make to the history of a single parish when treated systematically. In the present paper Mr. Waller's
example has been followed so far as the parish of Fingringhoe is concerned. Full abstracts are
printed of 45 wills down to, and including, the year
1550. With the exception of the earliest, which
was a lucky find among the Colchester Court Rolls, they are derived
from (1) the Registers of the Archdeaconry Court of Colchester, these being
official transcripts of original wills, bound in thick volumes;
and from (2) original
wills, there being no registers in this
case, in the Commissary Court of London (Essex and
Herts). {The latter are now preserved
at the Essex Record Office and available online through Essex Ancestors.} These
documents are preserved at Somerset House.
Until comparatively recent
times the last will
was essentially a religious instrument, for it was
often made when death was approaching, and when the testator was conscious that he was finally settling
his worldly affairs.
That Fingringhoe people put off making their wills
until death was near, as was commonly done in deference to an old superstition,
is clearly shown in those few instances in which the probate act is recorded, e.g., the interval between the date of
the will of Robert Graye (1542) and its probate is less than five weeks. We also find that frequently the first and principal witness
was the parish priest, who doubtless had previously admonished the sick man to make
his will, if there had been occasion to do so - as our
Book of Common Prayer
still directs - and was
present to hear his last confession.
The wills begin with a commendation of the soul, and
directions as to the place of burial invariably follow;
bequests-sometimes in kind, when they took the form of on e or two "mother" sheep - to the high altar for tithe s and offerings
forgotten were the rule down to 1533,
the custom having
lapsed, apparently, shortly after that date, though we meet with an isolated instance as late as 1542.
The cathedral church of St. Paul’s, or
the "Mother Church of St. Paul's," is often mentioned
prior to 1532, sums ranging from 2d. to 12d. being left for
its reparation, etc.; and there are also eight cases of small amounts being left to "Paul’s Pardon." We learn from Dugdale[2] that a chapel , with chantry
attached, stood within a cloister, called Pardon Church Haugh, on the north side of the cathedral and possibly it was to this foundation that the latter bequests were made.[3]
[1] See EAT vol x, pp 237,
312,, and vol xi pp 10, 150, 335.
[2] Hist . of St. Paul's Cathedra , ed . Henry Ellis (1818), pp. 92-3
[3] Bequests to “Paul's Pardon" occur in some of
the
Bri ghtlingsea wills (see Dickin, Hist. of Brightingsea, p. 59). The following references have also been k indly sent me
by the
Rev. J. F. Williams, F.S .A.: 1526, “for Peters pens and Poll pardon a t the Vysytacon, 1s. 8d.'' (Churchwardens' Acc ounts, Gt. Hallingbury);
1480, " I bequethe t o Powli’s p 'don, iiijd. "
(Will of John Bastwyk,
of Lt. Baddow - Ct. Archd. Essex. Wynterborne 122).
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