.S87 ^^Surrey Record Society. Number XVII. / London, December, 1922. NOTE. This part is issued in respect of ihe 1921 subscription. The Honorary Editor and Secretary regret the delay, which has been unavoidable. A part dealing with Surrey Taxation Returns (Subsidies) will be issued almost immediately m respect of the 1922 subscription. CORRIGENDUM. p. xi, line 2, for nine read ten. •Sg9 ur^'''S vSurrey Record Society. Volume V. SURREY WILLS. {Archdeaconry Court. Spage Register.) London : Printed by ROWORTH & CO., 104-107 FETTER LANE, E.G. 4 FOR THE SURREY RECORD SOCIETY. MDCCCCXXI. HAl»OTJ3 B. LEE LIBRATTT brighajvi young UNIV^^^^^ ; INTRODUCTION. Production of this Work.—The present text is based upon a transcript made for the late Dr. A. V. Peatling, F.S.A., and by him presented to the Society shortly before his lamented death. For the labour of revision, comparison with the original, and calendaring of Latin entries the Society is indebted to Mr. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, F.S.A., who has also compiled the Introduction. The Honorary Editor has read the proofs and with the Honorary Secretary has given assistance in occasional matters of detail. For the compilation of the Index we have to thank Mr. T. Craib, who has also assisted with the calendaring. Form of the Text.— In this Calendar the Latin Wills,- which are far the most numerous, are given in abstract only. The formal matter has been omitted, but all names and all bequests are given. In cases where the interpretation is open to question, or where there is something peculiar, the original is quoted the English words and phrases which occasionally occur are given in inverted commas. The title " Dominus " which was given to priests is—following the analogy of the English Wills—translated by " Sir." The names of places are given in the spelling of the original, even where, as often happens, variants occur in the same Will. In the records of probate the modern form is used. The English Wills, which at this date are of interest apart from their contents, are given verbatim. Meaningless abbreviations in English words, especially those of the abbreviated final II and n, have been omitted and the punctuation and capitalisation of the original have also been modified ; otherwise the text follows the Society's ordinary rules. Courts of Probate.—Anciently the jurisdiction in testamentary cases belonged (with certain exceptions such as the Courts of Rusting in London and other towns, and some " Peculiars ") to the Ecclesiastical Courts, the authority of which was only abolished in 1857. The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole Province, and the Wills of persons of rank and importance were very commonly proved in that Court. ii Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. But in every diocese the Bishop's Consistory Court had also jurisdiction throughout the whole area. In addition, the Bishop sometimes appointed a Commissary to grant probate of Wills in some specified area. Furthermore, every Archdeacon had his Court, which, subject to certain restrictions, exercised testamentary jurisdiction within the Archdeaconry. The powers of the Provincial Court, of the diocesan Consistory Court, of the Bishop's Commissary, and of the Archdeacon's Court were exercised concurrently. There were, however, certain small areas, known as Peculiars (generally some parish, group of parishes or manor) which had obtained a special right and lay outside the ordinary jurisdiction. The extant records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury begin in 1374. Those of the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Winchester go somewhat further back, the earliest dating from 1361. The Bishop of Winchester had also a Commissary for the county of Surrey, but the history of the Commissary of Surrey begins only with 1662. The Court of the Archdeacon of Surrey is thus the only one which deals exclusively with Surrey Wills till late in the seventeenth century.^ The Court of the Archdeacon of Surrey.—This Court had power to grant probate of Wills, with jurisdiction extending over the County of Surrey, except the Peculiars. Its powers were, however, inhibited during six weeks in every year, and during three months at the primary visitation of the Bishop.^ Conse- quently we find in the following Register no record in any year of the probate of Wills between the latter part of July and a date towards the middle of September.^ The See of Winchester fell vacant by the death of William Waynflete in August, i486, but his successor's primary visitation does not seem to have fallen within the period covered by this volume. The " Spage " Register, which is here calendared, is the earliest record of the Archdeacon's Court which has been preserved. The first Will entered was proved on r6 July, 1484, and the latest record of probate was on 25 January, 1490. How long previously the Court had been in existence we * See further Stubbs's valuable paper in the Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts, vol. i, pp. 2 1-51, published in 1883, and G. W. Marshall's Handbook to the Ancient Courts of Probate. * See Return of Probate of Wills. 1845, pp. 58, 59. * To judge from the printed calendar of " Herringman " Register this rule was not observed between 1595 and 1600, probates being granted at short intervals throughout the year. Wills: Spage Register. iii cannot say. Three Wills^ of earlier date than 1484 have for some reason been inserted in " Spage," and one of these—No. 11—probate of which was granted on 19 October, 1480, is stated to have been " proved coram nobis offic. Sun." ; the Court was therefore in existence at least as early as 1480. No argument can be based on the absence of more ancient Registers, for the records may have been carelessly kept or lost. In the neighbouring Archdeaconry of London there is a Register covering the period from 1393 to 1415, whilst the next Register which has been preserved belongs to the r6th century. As explained in the Introductory Note to the Calendar of " Herringman " (pubHshed by the Society in 1915) the later records of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey extend with some gaps to 1821. They are now preserved at Somerset House. Officers of the Court.—The testamentary work of the Archdeacon's Court was done by a subordinate styled his " Official," who in case of need appointed a commissary to act for him. The actual register was kept by the Official's Registrar. The heading of " Spage " shows that in July, 1484, Oliver Dynham was Arch- deacon of Surrey, and Master William Barker or Baker his Official. Oliver Dynham was son of Sir John Dynham (d. 1458), of Nutwell, Devon, and brother of Sir John Dynham, Lord Dynham, who was Lord Treasurer from 1485 to 1501. As Master Oliver Dynham, the King's Chaplain, he was given a prebend at St. George's, Windsor, on 2 October, 1480.^ He had already been collated Archdeacon of Norwich on 27 Feb. 1477-8.^ The date of his appoint- " " ment as Archdeacon of Surrey is unknown, though Spage shows that it was before 16 July 1484. Le Neve only records that further Oliver Dynham died Archdeacon of Surrey in 1500 : he alleges that William Smith, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, was promoted to the See of Lichfield from the Archdeaconry of Surrey in 1493.* This latter statement must it would seem be erroneous, for Oliver Dynham appears as Archdeacon of Surrey in 1490 in the heading of " Mathewe " (the next Register to " Spage "). More- over, Oliver Dynham held the living of Frensham, Surrey, and a " will was proved there " in domo residencie Domini Archidiaconi " " in September 1494.^ In Mathewe (f. 61) there is also a note of * Nos. II, 160 and 253. « Col. Pat. Rolls, Edw. IV, etc., p. 222. * Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 484. * id. iii., 30 ; the alleged authority appears to be Archbishop Morton's Register. " " ' Register Mathewe f. 43. iv Archdeaconry Court of Surrey. the entry of office by Christopher Bainbridge post decessum Oliveri Dynham ultimi Archidiaconi. The date of this is about July 1500. Oliver Dynham had made his Will as Archdeacon of Surrey at Frensham on 22 April, 1500 ; he directed that he should be buried in his church of Frensham before the image of St. Swithin, and appointed as his executors his brother John, " Dominus le Dynham," Thomas Villers and Richard Loche. The Will was proved on 31 May.* That Oliver D5mham, Archdeacon of Surrey, was also the Archdeacon of Norwich, appears to be certain from the fact that when on the same day—i Nov. 1500—appointments were made to the archdeaconry of Norwich and to the prebend at Windsor, both were stated to be vacant through the death of Oliver Dynham.^ It is, however, remarkable that Djmham does not refer to himself as Archdeacon of Norwich in his Will, and that when appointed to his stall in 1480 he is not described as Arch- deacon. The obscurity of Dynham's history justifies this account of him, but in " Spage " at all events there is no trace of any active concern of his in the Probate Court of his archdeaconry. The actual work of the Court was done by the Official, Of William Barker or Baker we know nothing beyond the appearance of his name in " Spage." He seems to have retained his office till at least as late as March 1488.^ In the records of probate his name occurs occasionally till that date. In the earlier years Edmund Colman twice grants probate as Official,* and in the end of 1488 and beginning of 1489 his name occurs frequently in that capacity ;^ he may hav e been Barker's deputy and have continued to act pending another appointment.