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Wills from Doctors' Commons. a Selection from the Wills of Eminent

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Wills from Doctors' Commons. a Selection from the Wills of Eminent UC-NRLF B 3 MflD fiMS J?.^. WILLS FEOM DOCTORS' COMMONS. A SELECTION THE WILLS OF EMINENT PEESONS PROVED IN THE PREROGATIVE COURT OF CANTERBURY, 1495-1695. EDITED BY JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS AND JOHN BRUCE. UNIVFli PRINTED FOR THE CAMDEN SOCIETY. M.DCCC.LXIII. ^ 8 83 WESTMINSTER : PRINTED BY JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SONS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. ?^'y' [no. lxxxiii.] COUNCIL OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1862-63. President, THE MOST HON. THE MARQUESS OF BRISTOL, V.P.S.A. ARTHUR ASHPITEL, ESQ. F.S.A. WILLIAM HENRY BLAAUW, ESQ. M.A., F.S.A. Treanurer. BERIAH BOTFIELD, ESQ. M.P. F.R.S. F.S.A. JOHN BRUCE, ESQ. F.S.A. Director. WILLIAM DURRANT COOPER, ESQ. F.S.A. JAIilES CROSBY, ESQ. F.S.A. JOHN FORSTER, ESQ. LL.D. THE REV. LAMBERT B. LARKING, M.A. JOHN MACLEAN, ESQ. F.S.A. FREDERIC OUVRY, ESQ. Treas.S.A. EVELYN PHILIP SHIRLEY, ESQ. M.P. M.A. F.S.A. WILLIAM JOHN THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A. Secretary. WILLIAM TITE, ESQ. M.P. F.R.S. F.S.A. ALBERT WAY, ESQ. M.A. F.S.A. HIS EXCELLENCY M. VAN DE WEYER,D.C.L., Hon. F.S.A The Council of the Camden Society desire it to be under- stood that they are not answerable for any opinions or observa- tions that may appear in the Society's publications; the Editors of the several Works being alone responsible for the same. INTEODUCTION. " Wills feom Doctors' Commons." Wills from an office, of which it was said, not without reason, in a volume published by the Camden Society in 1853, that it was believed to be the only de- pository of historical documents, if not the only office of any kind, in the kingdom, in which there was no feeling whatever in favour of literature and historical inquiry ; an office from the authorities of which the Council of the Camden Society wholly failed to obtain, on behalf of literature, even the smallest modification of their re- strictive regulations ; an office in which in recent times there was no one who could read-or transcribe many of the documents which were there preserved; whilst absurd restrictions, framed upon the principle of securing a payment at every turn, drove persons who consulted the registers to contrivances the most ludicrous for fixing in their memories a date, an incident, an amount, or a name which happened to occur in a will. That such a depository should be thrown open to inquirers, and that, in token of the fact, a volume of Wills should be published from it without payment of office fees, are circumstances which mark an aera in our literary history. Of old, admission to inspect the treasures of our record depositories was considered a very remarkable and pe- culiar privilege. It was never conceded save to men of the highest name in historical or antiquarian literature, and then only under formal instruments granted by Secretaries of State or other even more eminent authorities. This state of things continued with little CAMD. SOC. • b n INTRODUCTION. alteration* into the present century. Lord Langdale, when Master of the Eolls, considerably modified and reduced the fees for consultation of the Eecords; but it was not until 1851, under the Mastership of SiR JoHN Romilly, that the great restrictions in the way of literature were broken down, and the Public Records were for ever thrown open to free consultation by historical students. This result, it is but right to say, was in great part brought about by the instrumentality of The Camden Society. Although the movement ultimately took the shape of a general memorial of literary persons, and was greatly aided by the Society of Antiquaries and its noble President, it originated in the Camden Society, the documents connected with it were prepared by officers of that Society, and it was altogether carried on and managed by them. All effi^rts to extend any portion of these privileges to Doctors' Commons were entirely unsuccessful. Disregard of literature, or fear of it, anxiety to retain extravagant fees, and inability to perceive that under more liberal management those fees would be multiplied almost indefinitely, barred the door against all improvement or al- teration. Whether in Will Offices, or wherever else, such a state of things can lead only to one termination. In Doctors' Commons it has run its course. The old jurisdiction has passed away. Its registers remain, but they are in other custody. Its very name has become a thing of the past. On the institution of the Court of Probate the Camden Society again took the field. Aided as before by the Society of Antiquaries » At the Tower Record Office, under the successive keeperships of Mr. Lysons and Mr. Petrie, there existed a power of remitting fees upon literary searches. Many an inquirer can bear witness how gladly and liberally that power was exercised by Mr. Thomas Duffua Hardy, the present Deputy Keeper of Records. INTRODUCTION. Ill and by many eminent literary persons, a letter was addressed to Sir Cresswell Cresswell wliicli set before him the nature of the evils complained of. He at once admitted the principle that documents which had none but literary uses ought to be accessible to literary men. For a short time want of space prevented his putting his views in execution, but no sooner was that obstacle overcome than he at once made the necessary arrangements. A room has been set apart for literary inquirers, permission of consul- tation, down to the year 1700, is given to all persons searching for purely literary purposes, and the department has been placed under the care of a gentleman whose courtesy to all applicants, and anxiety to assist their researches, stands in curious contrast with the treatment to which literature was exposed in that same building in times now happily past. From what has been stated it is obvious that English Historical Literature, and our national reputation in respect of our treatment of literary inquirers, are most deeply indebted to Sir John Ro- MiLLY and Sir Cresswell Cressavell. To them it is owinof that we are now enabled to say that, down to a comparatively recent period ofinquiry, our country gives totally unrestricted facilities for historical research among the national archives. Literature and literary men will not be ungrateful for such benefits. The honourable fact will be duly recorded, and the results, which are even now becominty apparent, will ultimately be, that our historical literature will take for its basis a far wider research, and a far greater certainty in the establishment of facts, than have ever hitherto been deemed necessary. Of the importance of Wills as materials for historical and literary research no one can entertain a doubt. It has been already remarked IV INTRODUCTION. of tliem, in the course of the correspondence with Sir Cresswell Cresswell, that they abound in illustrations of manners and customs; that they exhibit in the most authentic manner the state of religion and the condition of the various classes of the people ; that they il- lustrate the history of law and civilization ; and are invaluable alike to the general historian, the philologist, the genealogist, the bio- grapher, the topographer— to historical writers of every class. Our best genealogical works (as for example Dugdale's Baronage) are built upon the Wills and Public Kecords, and could never have been written without them, whilst the several published collec- tions of Wills are esteemed among the most useful of our anti- quarian publications; witness, the Koyal and Noble Wills, edited by Dr. Ducarel and John Nichols, 1780, 4to.; the Testamenta Vetusta of Sir Harris Nicolas, 1826, 2 vols, royal 8vo.; the Wills from the Kegistry of Bury St. Edmund's, edited by Mr. Tymms for the Camden Society, 1850, 4to.; the Durham Wills, edited by Dr. Kaine and the Rev. H. Greenwell, for the Surtees Society, 2 vols. 1835 and 1860, 8vo.; the York Wills, edited for the same Society also by Dr. Eaine and the Rev. James Raine, 2 vols. 1836 and 1855, 8vo.; the Richmondshire Wills, also edited for the same Society by the Rev. James Raine, 1853; and the Lancashire and Cheshire Wills edited by the Rev. G. J. Piccope, for the Chetham Society, 1857, 4to. The Wills scattered about in various printed books constitute another evidence of the estimation in which such documents are held as historical evidences. An endeavour has lately been made in Notes and Queries to form a complete list of these, but the contri- butions are as yet too imperfect to be made use of on the present occasion. — — INTRODUCTION. V The Eegisters of Wills frorruwliich tlie present volume is derived extend throngliout the long period of nearly five hundred years from the year 1383 to the present time.* These Wills are entered chronologically, in the order of proof, in gigantic quarto volumes, weighing each of them, with clasps and rim-plates of brass, little short of half a hundredweight. Of these ponderous volumes there are nearly two thousand, eacli being distinguished by the name of the first testator, or that of some eminent person, whose will is en- tered in the volume. An Index of the names of testators exists for every separate year, arranged alphabetically so far as respects the first letter of each testator's name. The present volume is not put forth with any idea of giving an adequate notion of the almost infinite variety and value of this ex- traordinary series of documents. Its objects are rather to awaken literary men to a due sense of their importance, to make widely known the nature of the great privilege to which inquirers have become entitled, and to manifest gratitude towards the public au- thorities through whom that privilege has been obtained.
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