In old days, perhaps, testators were less unwilling for their animals to pass to others. Ralph Bigod, of Seaton (1545), gives “to my nawnte Warrayn the graie horse whiche I had of her, if he goo streght, and if he goo not streyghte, then she to have the white amblinge mare whiche I had of Maister Baites.” Thomas Brigham (1542) bequeaths his “great hawke” to his brother-in-law; and John FitzThomas, of Bilton Park (1541), “one cople of houndes and their lyomes [leashes], and one black begill and his lyome and his coller” to “my lorde of Combrelande.”
John Coward, of Westpennard, Somerset, whose will is dated the 9th of October of the 32nd year of Queen Elizabeth, gives therein to his brother Thomas “my greate clocke nowe in my house goynge. To William Watkynnes my little clocke ... nowe to be emended.” In a codicil, dated the 9th of January of the 34th year of Elizabeth, he gives to Mary Watkynnes “my best baye amblinge mare.” To his son Thomas Coward, “my best geldinge yf he be not taken for a heryott. And unto Edward Coward my sonne the other geldinge. Yf any of theise geldinges be taken for an heryot, then my will and intent is that by my overseers a choice be made of the fittest and best colte I have to make a geldinge when they ar in theire pryme at sommer. I give allso to William Wilkynnes, gentleman, (choice being first made for my sonne) one other colte to make hym a geldinge at the pryme tyme in sommer, when they ar best in shewe. Item. I give to Richard Siote, my guide, a good heiffer yerelinge, a fustian dublett, my best white frise jerkin, a payer of breches parte of the velvett being worne awaye with my sworde, and a payer of russett stockinges. Item. I give unto Elizabeth Kitchen the cloathe which she hathe in keepinge to make me a shirte.”
The details in these wills are so clear that one seems almost to be present in the village when some local figure passes away. “In the name of God, Amen. The seconde day of December in the yere of our Lorde God a thousande fyve hundred and nynetie ... I Johan Macham, of the parish of Corffe Mullen in the countie of Dorset, wydowe, of good and perfect mynde and remembrance, (God be thanked,) do ordayne constitute and make this my last will and testament in manner and forme following ... In primis, I give and bequeath unto the parish church of Shapwicke five shillinges of lawfull money. Item. I give unto the poore people of Corffe Mullen a sacke of wheate and a sacke of barley, halfe a bushell a peece as farre as yt will goe. .. Item. I give unto John Sampson halfe a bushell of wheate. Item. I give unto Mary Frampton, my kynneswoman, my best cassocke and my best petticoate. Item. I give Mrs. Phillipes a cowe. Item. I give and bequeath unto Mr. Thomas Phillipes a weather sheepe. Item. I give unto Elizabeth Willis the daughter of Thomas Willis deceased a gould ringe. Item. I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth Lambe, the wife of Phillippe Lambe, all suche goodes and stuffe as in my chamber that I now lye on whatsoever that there shalbe, and also a worsted kirtle with silke bodyes.”
Bequests of animals for religious or kindred purposes were of commonest occurrence, and sound very strangely in modern ears. Richard Browne, of Kent, desired “to be buried in the church of Cowlyng in the mydyll alley wher for I bequeth to the church a cow to be dryvyn to church with me at my beryall.” (1530.) John Olney, of Weston, bequeathed in 1420 his “body to be beryed yn the chapele off our Lady yn the chyrch off seynt Nicholas off Weston, and my beste best [beast] in the name off principale” (offering). Custans Potkyn made her will in 1473, “hoole and fresch,. .. in this maner. First I bequeath my sowle to Almyghty God, to oure blessed Lady, and to all the Holy Company of hevyn; my body to be beryed in Chalke Chirche. Also y bequethe to the hy auter viii d. Also to the Rode lyght a Cowe with v Ewes. Also to oure Lady of Pete’ iii Ewes. Also to the lyght of Seynt John Baptyste iiii Ewes. Also to a Torche vi s. viii d. Also to Alson Potkyn iiii quarter barly; Also a Cowe with iiii Shepe, iiii peyre shets parte of the best, with a bord cloth of diapur, another of playne, iii Towels of diapur with ii keverletts, iii blanketts, a mattras, a bolster, iiii pelewes, vi Candelstikes. ..” Simond Gaunt, of the parish of St. Margaret at Cliffe, in 1514, made request “that Richard Brown go to the Holy Blood of Hayles, and he to have a mare for his labour and my best gown, or else six and eightpence with the mare.”
Evidently in pre-Reformation days the animals of an establishment were highly considered. And so they continued to be, though they were not put to the same pious uses. Bartholomew Clarke, who died in 1590, wrote in a codicil: “If my wife die during the minority of my children, then Mr. Doctor Hone and my cousin Good to take the use of my house at Clapham, of the gardens, orchards, fishponds, and twenty acres of the land in the east fields worth £50 a year and better, to bring up my children by a schoolmaster in the house, unless it shall please the good Lady Buckhurst to take my daughter into her virtuous tuition; and for a poor remembrance I give unto the said virtuous Lady my best horse as the best thing I have in this world, and mine honourable Lord to whom I have been ever bound my cabinet of cypress which I had out of Germany.”
Lastly, it may be pardonable to quote in full the will of one Robert Tubbe, on its own merits, though the bequest of a two-year-old ewe, which brings it within the scope of this chapter, is but an incident in the whole.
“In the name of God, Amen. On the twelfth day of December anno Christi a thousand five hundred and ninety one Robert Tubbe, of the parish of St. Niot in the county of Cornwall, gentleman, languishing in extremity, and not able through the force of death assaulting him to commit his testament and last will into writing, did express his last will in manner following. First, I Richard Tubbe, feeling myself extremely taken with sickness, and the same continually growing more forcibly upon me, do express and declare my last will in this manner. First, I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God my Creator steadfastly hoping through the merits of His Son Christ Jesus my Saviour to rest among the blessed, and my body I leave to Christian burial. And for the diligent attendance of all my servants about me in this sudden time of my sickness, I do give and bequeath unto every one of them a ewe hogget. All the rest of my goods and chattels I give and bequeath unto Joan my wife whom I make and ordain sole executrix of this my will, of intent to see the same performed, and my children to be brought up in the fear and knowledge of God.”
CHAPTER XIV
THE WAY OF ALL FLESH
“Omnes Eodem Cogimur.” Horace.