Showing Cornish Wills 1342 - 1540 (Devon Cornwall Record Society New Series) by Nicholas Orme

Willa are invaluable records of life in the past, bringing us close to people's beliefs, possessions, and relationships. In this period, before the Reformation, they illustrate attitudes to religion, death, charity, status, and family relationships, as well as mentioning property such as land, livestock, clothes, jewels etc. This edition gathers together all the 122 Cornish wills of personal property that are known to exist up the year 1540, plus extracts from another 66 that are not otherwise concerned with Cornwall. Although the county has not been lucky with the survival of its wills, those which do remain are indispensable sources. All the wills are presented in modern English, and in complete rather than abbreviated form. In introduction describes how they were administered and what they contain.