Up to the year 1311 there are recorded in the Calendar of Wills in all five such bequests.
- Between 1311 and 1324 there are three bequests
- Between 1324 and 1332 there are five bequests
- Between 1332 and 1339 there are eight bequests
- Between 1339 and 1355 there are fifty bequests
- Between 1355 and 1400 there are one hundred and thirty-five bequests
- Between 1400 and 1412 there are seventeen bequests
- Between 1412 and 1436 there are six bequests
- Between 1436 and 1530 there are fourteen bequests
As for special and separate bequests, the Grey Friars, formerly the most popular of all, obtained only one bequest between 1396 and 1436; after that, none at all. The Black Friars got no legacies at all from 1413 to 1503; in the latter year one fell to them. The White Friars got none between 1395 and 1503, when they got one. The Austin Friars got none after 1395; the Crutched Friars none from 1460 to 1518. That is to say, in the bequests, few and small, given during this period to the various Orders, they get their share, but there is no special gift made to any.
While considering the subject of wills and bequests, I ran through the volume edited by Dr. Furnivall called The Fifty Earliest English Wills. These were from 1389 to 1439. A brief analysis shows that in most cases bequests are made to the parish church, either to the High Altar, or to the “Works,” either of vestments, or of money to the priests and clerks, or of money for masses, a rental of masses or “the year’s mind” for twenty, seven, or five years. In seventeen cases, or perhaps more, provision is made for the poor; in three cases for prisons and prisoners; in three cases for nuns; in one case for an “ankeress”; in one for mending the ways; in one for repairing a bridge; and in nine cases for friars, either the recognised Orders, all together, or one or other of them. But four of these cases belong to the country; there are, therefore, only five belonging to London. The period covers that when Lollardy was at its highest, and this result confirms the conclusion arrived at by an analysis of the Calendar of Wills; that, namely, as to the decay of respect for the Religious.
Then there are those wills published by the Camden Society (Wills from Doctors’ Commons) which belong to the time before the Reformation, viz. those of Cicely, Duchess of York, 1495; Dame Maude Parr, 1529; Archbishop Warham, and Charles Brandon.
The Duchess of York leaves bequests to certain colleges named, to the House of Sion, of which her daughter was prioress, and to certain parishes, but nothing to the Friars.
Dame Maude Parr gives forty shillings each to the four Orders of Friars in London, and twenty shillings each to the Friars of Northampton.
Archbishop Warham gives nothing to the Friars.
