Will
Derived from Somerset History Centre; Reference Number: DD/WHh/1
Note: The date is catalogued as 1537, but the will text records the year as 1547 and this is supported by the regnal date being the first year of the reign of Edward VIth.
Will Date: 16 May 1547 (or possibly 22nd)
Witnesses: Robert Keylwaye, Richard Stone
Summary
| Beneficiary | Relationship to Testator | Bequest |
|---|---|---|
| The Mother Church of Bristow (Bristol) | Four pence | |
| The Church of Stalbridge | Twenty pence for maintenance | |
| To the ‘brotherhede’ of the Church of Stalbridge (see notes) | Forty pence | |
| Sir William Knight | ‘gostlie father’ (his spiritual father who provided guidance) | Twelve pence |
| Agnes Weston | wife | Twenty pounds in cattle or money |
| John | son | Forty pounds on the day of his marriage or when he reaches the age of 22 |
| Hugh the younger | son | Forty pounds on the day of his marriage or when he reaches the age of 22 |
| Eleanor | daughter | Bequeathed forty pounds (but see notes) Ten pounds on the day of marriage or else when reaching 18 |
| Joan | daughter | Bequeathed forty pounds (but see notes) Ten pounds on the day of marriage or else when reaching 18 |
| Joni? | daughter | Bequeathed forty pounds (but see notes) Ten pounds on the day of marriage or else when reaching 18 |
| Lucy | daughter | Bequeathed forty pounds (but see notes)Ten pounds on the day of marriage or else when reaching 18 |
| Hugh | son, heir and Executor | Remainder of goods movable and unmovable |
| John Barstable of Stalbridge (rector of Stalbridge) Sir Robert Russell of Thorneford (rector of Thorneford) | appointed Overseers | Ten pounds each (see notes) |
Probate: Granted 20th June 1547
Further Notes:
- The precise beneficiary of 40 pence is hard to determine. It’s thought possibly to refer to a brotherhede (brotherhood) in Stalbridge, although no record seems to exist of such. This will of 1547 coincides however, with the beginning of the suppression of these fraternities.
- William Knyght was probably a rector, and as was commonLand over which manorial tenants held shared rights. These typically included common of pasture (grazing), turbary (cutting turf for fuel),... In full., would have attracted the courtesy title of ‘Sir’.
- In a mid-sixteenth-century will, a ‘gostlie father’ was the testator’s spiritual father, who had provided guidance whenever needed. Typically this would be the parish priest but might also be a chaplain or the testator’s confessor.
- The four daughters were each bequeathed forty pounds in the will. For each, the will specifies when the first ten pounds would be paid, without any statement of the balancing thirty. This means their sums of thirty pounds would be included in the residue and left to the elder son Hugh to distribute at his discretion.
- John Barstable was the last Abbot of Sherborne Abbey and became rector of Stalbridge at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. His tenure in Stalbridge began in 1540 and he was succeeded in 1560. See the History section for more detail.
- Robert Keylywaye had a role in the Tudor government, and possibly a distant cousin of William Weston and member of the powerful Somerset & Dorset family
- Bequests to the Overseers are hard to determine in the original and may be Ten pence, but more likely Ten pounds.