The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790

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Month: May 2024


Will of the Month: A Suffolk ‘Scrivener’ and his second-best trousers

Emily Vine In this month’s post we explore the will of John Tylney, a man who had made his living from writing the wills of others. Tylney had lived and died in Bury St Edmunds, and when his will was proved in 1552, his profession was described as ‘Scrivener’: someone who wrote and copied legal […]


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Citizen Humanities: wills and the wisdom of the crowd

Laura Sangha It’s safe to say that the Wills Project wouldn’t be possible without drawing on the skills and knowledge of a wide variety of volunteer ‘citizens’ – or rather, if we were to attempt our project alone it would take decades, rather than the four years that we have funding for. People power fuels […]


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