Posted by e.m.vine@exeter.ac.uk
27 May 2025This month’s post examines the will of Margaret ‘Pennington’ Cooke (d. 1552), a widow of Hornchurch in Essex. Margaret Cooke moved in prominent circles and had royal connections – she was a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and her daughter princess Mary (Margaret served her before she was crowned Mary I).[1] Her meticulous will is full of references to members of the royal court, and also rich in details of the objects that made up her material world.
‘fellowes in service’
Margaret had married into the prominent Cooke family of Gidea Park and the Royal liberty of Havering-atte-Bower. Havering Palace had been owned by Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, while the princesses Mary and Elizabeth spent time at Henry VIII’s nearby Pyrgo Palace.[2] When Margaret made her will in 1550, Edward VI was still on the throne. She left ‘unto the most excellent princess’ (Mary) ‘for a Remembrannce of my good will and service a Ringe of golde with a Turkes and five olde soverans of gold most humble beseching her good grace to Remember in her prayers to god the soule of me now her poor beadwoman’.[3] The ring of gold with the turquoise, and the gold sovereigns (coins) were specifically left with the intention that Princess Mary would remember and pray for her former lady-in-waiting. While a ‘beadwoman’ was someone who prayed ‘for the soul or spiritual welfare of another’, its usage here suggests Margaret’s request of reciprocal prayers. The term ‘beadsman/beadswoman’ could also be used in a similar manner to the phrase ‘your humble servant’.[4]
Margaret Cooke made several bequests to her ‘fellowes in service’ – princess Mary’s other ladies-in-waiting – including ‘mother Jernyngham’, Anne Basset, and Mabel Browne. They each received ‘one old Angell’ (a gold coin featuring a picture of the archangel Michael) ‘for a poore token of remembrance’. Margaret’s executors were Robert Rochester, ‘Comptroller’ of the royal household, and the prominent solicitor William Cordell. For their pains they received bequests including ‘a spanyshe bowle a carpet for a borde with the castell in the mydds’ (presumably a carpet embroidered with a picture of a castle) and ‘my Lytle Clock’. This ambiguous spelling hints at some of the problems of using wills to uncover details of material objects. Though unusual, ‘well-off subjects’ did own clocks and timepieces in the sixteenth century, but this reference could also be a variant spelling of ‘cloak’.[5] While some objects mentioned in wills, such as the ‘old Angells’, are easily identifiable from their descriptions, others can be more uncertain.
‘the pewe where I use to knele’
It is the level of description in Margaret Cooke’s will that ensures it is an interesting document for reasons beyond the testator’s royal connections. Her descriptions of places and objects provide an insight into the daily routines of her household. When discussing her burial, she asked that her body ‘be buryed within the Chapell of saynt Edwarde there in our lady Chappell before the pewe where I use to knele’. Her intended permanent resting place was adjacent to the location of her regular prayers. Like one of the other sixteenth-century testators featured in this blog, Margaret had purchased her tombstone a couple of years before her death. She wished that ‘the stone whiche I have alredye bought be layde upon my grave with my picture and my late husbands and our severall Armes graven thereupon’. This stone appears to have been a precursor to a later, grander Cooke family memorial which still stands in the Church of St Edward the Confessor, Romford. It was built for Margaret’s stepson, Sir Anthony Cooke (d.1576), a humanist who had been a tutor to Edward VI.
Margaret left the same stepson ‘all my hanginges of Tappistrie that were wont to hange in my haull in the parlor and in my Chamber at the haull ende and my hoope of gold that was my wedding Ringe’. This bequest gives a sense of the layout and decoration of Margaret’s home, as well as of the jewellery she habitually wore. Similarly, she left to a London Physician, Mr Westcote, ‘my Signet of golde graven with the picture of Seynt John Baptist the wch I use to ware upon one of my fyngers’. Other bequests to her ‘old servinte Johanne Myddleton’ detailed ‘my fetherbedd that I use to lye upon at my said house in Romeforthe […] Also my least Salt of sylver and gilt that I was accustomed daylie to use at my saide house by Romforthe’. In each bequest Margaret set out how, when, or where she interacted with her household objects, or how, where, when or where she wore her personal jewellery.
While Margaret had described herself as ‘in service’ to princess Mary, the role of Lady-in-Waiting was largely one of companionship. Yet Margaret appeared relatively generous in the bequests to her own servants – ensuring that they would be kept in board and lodging for a month after her death, and their wages paid for a whole year. She also made specific bequests that provide a glimpse into the living conditions of individual servants: John Hethe received ‘one of my kyen’ (a cow) and ‘the mattras that he lyeth upon in my house w[ith] the coverlet bolster and blankettes that dothe belonge unto the said bedd and a payre of course shetes’.
Absent bequests
Margaret Cooke’s will is extremely detailed in its discussion of possessions that were integrated into daily life – the rings that she wore on her fingers, the silver gilt salt she used very day, the beds, sheets, and blankets that her servants slept in.
Despite being such a meticulous record of material objects, one of Margaret Cooke’s most important possessions does not feature in her will. In the Morgan Library in New York is a 1528 ‘Book of Hours’ – an illuminated devotional text – that was owned by Catherine of Aragon. The book’s inscription confirms that it had been gifted to Margaret: ‘Thys boke was good quen[e] kat[er]in boke and she gave yt to [Mar]ge Coke her woman and [she] gave yt Betryce Ogle hyr dowghter’.[6] Beatrix Cooke Ogle, Margaret’s stepdaughter, is named in her will, but the only bequest made at this point was of ‘a doble docate’ (a coin). It is probable that this precious book was gifted to Margaret’s stepdaughter during her lifetime, and before she came to make her will.
Tudor wills often act as a written record of objects that have not survived to the twenty-first century. It is a useful reminder to also consider surviving objects that have a clear provenance, but which were not mentioned in a will, and which may not have left a paper trail. So much of gifting was informal or conducted during an individual’s lifetime: possessions regularly changed hands, and goods owned or bequeathed at the end of life can only ever be a snapshot of one moment in time. Wills like Margaret Cooke’s can provide fascinating glimpses into Tudor households, but entire facets of an individual’s material life may have been obscured by ambiguous spelling or descriptions – was it a ‘clock’ or a ‘cloak’ that she left to her executor? – or may have slipped out of the paper records altogether.
PROB 11/35/123, Will of Margaret Cooke of Hornchurch, Essex, 31 March 1552
T. Margarete Cooke
In the name of god Amen the sixte daye of the moneth of January
in the yeare of our lorde god a Thousande fyve hundreth and ffiftie I Margaret Cooke of
Romeforthe in the parishe of hornechurche in the lordship of Havering of the Bowre in the
Countie of Essex Wydowe being nowe of hole mynde and of good and perfytt memorie
thankes be geven unto Almightie god make and ordeyne this my present testament and last
will Revoking and admitting all other willes and testamentes heretofore by me made
wrytten or spoken And this to be my undubted Testament and Last will ffirst I give &
bequeathe my soule unto Almightie god Creator and redemer of the same And yf it shall
please god to call me oute of this transitorye lyf within Twentie myles of Romeforthe
aforesaid Than I will that my bodye by buryed within the Chapell of saynt Edwarde
there in our lady Chappell before the pewe where I use to knele And that the stone
whiche I have alredye bought be layde upon my grave with my picture and my late
husbandes and our severall Armes graven thereupon with a remembrannce & memory
of our severall deceases And as touchinge the Residue of my funerall I commytt theym to
the order of myn Executours, so do with at, as yt shall leave unto them convenient & most
profytable to my soule Item I give and bequeathe to the parsone or vicar of the chapell of
hornechurche aforesaid for my thythes and offeringes by me necligently forgotten or wthholden
in discharge of my patience xxs Itm I will that my Executours shall within one moneth
next after my decease give and dispose of every one of the poore folks inhabiting wthin the Almes
house of Romeforthe aforesaid xxs And to every other poore householder within the said towne
of Romeforthe where as they shall thinke most nede xijd to praye for my soule and all Christen
soules. Item I give and bequeathe unto the most excellent princess my especiall good Lady &
[?ayres] my Ladye Maries grace for a Remembrannce of my good will and service a Ringe of
golde with a Turkes and five olde soverans of gold most humble beseching her good grace
to Remember in her prayers to god the soule of me now her poor beadwoman Item I give
unto every of my said Ladies grace money and my fellowes in service hereafter namyd
that is to saye to my Lady Anne Wharton to my Ladye Kempe to my doughter mrs [?Chireneyes]
To my daughter Basset to my doughter fynche to my mother Jernyngham to my doughter
Stirling to my doughter Moreton to my doughter Waldegrave to my doughter Mabell
Browne, to my doughter Anne Cooke to my doughter Russell and to Mrs Cicile Barnes
to every of them one old Angell for a poore token of remembrance Item I give more unto
my said doughter Anne Cooke my gowne of blacke vevet lined with blacke Satten a gowne
of tawnye Taffa and a kirtle of the same and a Soverayne of gold Item I give unto Mrs
Nevill wief unto Edward Nevill one olde Angell Item I give to Mrs Barbara Pooly
fyve shillinges Item I give to every other of the ladies and gentilwomens women afore
mentioned wayting upon theym in her graces howse iijs iiijd Also to Mrs Rowland iijs
iiijd Item I give unto Barbara my owne wooman my gowne of tawnye Chambelet garded
with velvet my kyrtell of Redd Russett and twentie shillinges in money Item I will & give
to Mr doctor Lyopton and to Mr Barber her graces Chapelayns to every of theym tenn
shillinges Also to Mr Bicare vjs viijd Item to Father Medecals and faither Ellys prestes
to every of them fyve shillinges Item I give to Mrs Lanndress fyve shillinges and to every
of her five women xxd Item I give to Ric Makyn sometyme my sirvante and nowe my
Ladies graces servante the fetherbed that she hath of myne and lyethe upon in her graces
house two payre of shetes and one of my Yonge Coltes runnyng within Chaldwell marshe
as shalbe appoynted unto hym by myne Executors and fourtyne shillinges in money
Item I give unto Christopher Write one of her graces sirvantes vjs viijd Item I will that myne
Executors shall at my costs and charges kepe all my sirvantes in my house at Romeford
by the space of one moneths next after my decease with sufficient meate and drinke And
thende of the said monethe to give unto every of them one hole yeres wage
According to the Rate as they receyve nowe of me over and above that I shall them owe
theym for therr wages and over and above suche Legacies as I give unto anny of theym
by this my present testament Item I give unto my sonne Sr Anthonye Cooke Knight all my
hanginges of Tappistrie that were wont to hange in my haull in the parlor and in my
Chamber at the haull ende and my hoope of gold that was my wedding Ringe my Roll
Carpet wt the Cookes Armes wrought upon yt And all myn olde Ewes of [?Srwarmes]
going and being in Chaldewell Item I give unto my doughter his wief my gowne of
Tawney Satten furred with blacke budge and my kirtle of tawney velvet Item I give
unto my god doughter Margaret Cooke one soverayne and a payre of shetes of thre bredes
Item I give unto my godsonne Edwarde Cooke one soverayne of gold Item I give to my
doughter Myldrede Tysell a doble docate Item I give unto my sister Beatrice Balson
my gowne of blacke Taffa furred with Marternes my night gowne furred wt foynes
my black cloke of frystaide furred with blacke conye my lytle cloke and twentie
shillinges Item I give to my nece Anne Cooke Stanhope her doughter my Ringe
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enamyled [?roythes] white wt the boles Item I give unto my Neice Elizabeth Coxleye nowe Wief
unto one Mr Kettelbye xxs item I give unto my doughter Beatrice Ogle a doble docate
Item I give to my Nece Margaret Wylson my gowne of frenche blacke fared with martrons
and my kyrtell of tawny damaske Item I give unto my Nece Phillip Barkworthe A
trussing bedd standing within a Chamber in my house at Romeforthe called my sister Dawsons
Chamber and my [?Spervor] of Russet and blacke damaske three Curtaynes remaining nowe
within the saide chamber Item I give unto Mr Westcote the Phesycion dwelling in London
besides the stockes my Signet of golde graven with the picture of Seynt John Baptist the wch
I use to ware upon one of my fyngers Item I give to his wief half a dosen of Sylver spones
Item I give to every one of my godchildren being or most commonly contynewing within Romeforth
aforesaid at the tyme of my decease and other then those that I do by this my presente testament
particularly give any legacie unto xijd Item I will that Johane Myddleton shall have her
dwelling in my howse at Romeforth the space of one yeare after my decease and fyve poundes
in money: And to John Blackborne in money fyve poundes Also to the said John Middleton
and John Blackborne the rent of the old ortyerd in Romeford being xls the yere and to the longest
lyver of theym. Item I give unto Sir Robert Pinckney prest yerely for terme of his naturall
lif fourtie shillinges as he hath presently of my gifte to be paide unto hym at two feastes in the yere
by equall porcions over and besides suche arrerage as shalbe due unto hym at the tyme of my deceas
of the said yerely gifte of xls that the enyoiethe nowe of my benevolence Item I give give unto
olde father nestwick of ware xxs in money and suche other thinges of myne as my Executors
shall thinke mete and convenient to be given unto hym Item I give unto Sir John Sannder prest
brother unto my woman and servante Johane Myddleton otherwise called Sannder xxs my money
and a payre of shetes by thappoyntment of myne Executours Item I will and charge myne
Executours to paye and delyver or cause to be delyvered unto Anne Harrisby late of Alvely in
the countie of Essex deceased when she shall come to the age of xxi yeres or at the daye of
her laufull mariage the some of Sixe poundes of laufull money of Englande the whiche
I receyved of thexecutours of the testament of ffraunces Harrison her father to thuse of her &
a sister of hers nowe also deceased Item I give unto John Martyn my servante and farmer one
of my Yonge colves Rynning in Chaldwell marshe and to be delyvered at theappoyntment of my
Executours and twentie shillinges in money Item I give unto William Wells my fermor of
the parsonage that I have in lease my fill horsse and twentie shillinges in money Item unto
Christrfer Makyn my servante one of my kyen by thappoyntment of my executours and xxs in
money. Item I give unto John hethe my servinte one of my kyen by theappoyntment of myne
Executours and the mattras that he lyeth upon in my house wt the coverlet bolster and
blankettes that dothe belonge unto the said bedd and a payre of course shetes by theappoyntment
of my said Executours Item I give unto Elizabeth Sannder my sirvente twenties shillinges in
money and some other thinges or ymplement of household that shalbe thought mete by myn
Executours to geve her Item I give unto Johane Engerson Sometyme my servinte half a
dosen pewter dishes a lytle pott and a little panne of brasse to be Appoynted unto her by the
discrcrecion of my said Executours and a payr of shetes Item I give unto Isabell hodgeson
some tyme servinte half a dos pewter dishes a pott and a panne of brasse by thappoyntment
of my said Executors and a payrr of shettes Item I give unto Agnes Collard my sirvente a cowe
half a dos peces of pewter a pott and a pane of brasse to be delyvered by thappoyntment
of my said Executours a payre of shetes and a copher Item I give unto John blackborne my
servinte my greate baye gelding two of my kyen by thappoyntment of my said Executours
the fetherbedd that he lyethe upon at my said house in Romeforthe and all other thinges that he
nowe usethe belonging to the said bedd and two newe payer of course shetes Item I give
unto my old servinte Johanne Myddleton my fetherbedd that I use to lye upon at my said
house in Romeforthe and the bedsted a payre of blankettes two pillowes and pillowberes
and all other thinges belonging unto the said bed the [?Sparvor] over yt of tawney &
blacke velvet foure payre of shetes whereof one payre of three bredes two payre of
two bredes etc and the fourthe a course payer of that sort I made for my sirvente to lye
in Also my least Salt of sylver and gilt that I was accustomed daylie to use at
my saide house by Romforthe fyve sylver spones agarnyshe of my best vessell &
dyaper table Clothe that correnlye lyeth in the Cofer of the buttrye half a dosen of
my dyaper napkyns and half a dosen playne napkins one of my draper towelles
A gowne of backe clothe lyned with bockeram and gardyd wt velvet my Rounde kirtell
of tawney Russett two of my kyen and my greate flannders Chest Item I give and
bequeath unto myn Executours of this my presente testament and Last will all that my
Capitall messuage or house set and being in Romeforthe aforeaide with brewing
vessells bolting tubbes and suche lyke and all other my landes tenementes medowes
pastures [?fodinges] woodes rentes Revercions and hereditamentes whatsoever they be
Aswell freehold as copiehold with all and singular theappurtennces set lying and
being within the townes feldes Hamlettes and parishes of hornechurche havering of
the bowre and Romeforthe aforesaid or els where within the said Countie of Essex
That them or the Survivor of them or the executours or thadministrators of the
Survivor of theym shall at suche tyme as they thinke mete [?Alyen] and sell in fee
symple the said Capitall messuage or howse And all other my said landes Tentes
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and heriditaments and the money and profytt coming of the sale thereof I will that myne
said Executours or the Survivor of them shall ymploye and converse to thexecucucion &
performannce of this my presente testament and last will And wher as I have certayne imploymentes
and household stuff more than ys bequeathed as brasse pewter bedding tables chestes
formes and suche lyke The particulars whereof I nether can no maye here conveniently
Remember And calling to remember the good and faithfull since done unto me of longe
tyme by the said Johane Middelton and Johane Blackborne and upon hope that they
will have a trusted and a vigelant Eye and Regarde to the possession and keping of
suche goodes as I have in my said house and in their charge or els wheare in any other
place the which they best knowe, that the same be not unbeselled nor conveyed from the
handes of my said executors. To the hynderannce of thexecution of this my testament
And in consideracion that they shall from tyme to tyme declare unto my said executours
their true knowledge aswell as suche debtes as arr owinge me or that I owe as of all
other matters that they can trewlie enforme them of necessarie to be knowen whiche
I charge theym to do as they will answere to god at the dradfull daie of Judgement
Item I will that my said Executours shall if this my present testament maye otherwise
be performed, distribute and denyde the greatest parte and porcion of my ymplementes of
household stuff not bequeathed betwene the saide Johane middleton & Johane blackborne
and the residue thereof amonges suche of my poore neybowres within Romeforth aforsaid
as myn Executours shall thinke most mete and convenient Item to the poore folks of
Chaldwell tenne shillinges Item to the poore folkes of Mawdelyn Laver ten shillinges
Item I give unto Thomas makyn in monye twentie shillinges and some other change at
the discrecion of my said Executours Item I geve unto phillip Josselyn for his paynes
fourtie shillinges Also I will that my said Executours shall by their discretions distribute
betwene the said Johane Myddleton and other my women sirvintes and amonges since my
poore neighbors dwelling in Romforthe aforesaid all my apparell and suche lyke
not before bequeathed Requering theym to have a more liberall Respect in the distribucion
thereof unto the said Johane Myddelton than to any other of theym upon hope and in
consideracion that she will remayne unto my said Executours as she hath contynewed
unto me faithfull and true And not concile or hide from them anny matter the whiche
might predudice thexecution and performance of this my presente testament The overplus of
the money comyng of the sale of my saide howse or lande before remembered And the
Residue of my cattell debtes plate and of all other my goodes moveable unmoveable
what soever they be not before bequeathed or assigned to be distributed after my funerall
Charges deducted my debtes paid and this my presente testament and last will & the legacies
and cherdges thereof fully performed and discharged I commyt and leave theym to the order
Rule and dispocion of my said Executors Requering theym that the said overplus and
Resydue yf any remayne maye be disposed imployed and convertyd to the Relefe and
socoure of the most poore and nedye persons inhabiting within the said towne of Romford
and the Lordship of Havering as the bowre whereas they shall thinke most charitie to be
extended unto. For Christes sake and the helthe of my soule And of this my presente testament
and last will I ordeyne and make to be my true and faithfull Executours my assured
good friend Mr Robert Rochester Esquier Comptroller of my said ladis gre honorable
howshold and Mr William Cordell solicitor to the same I give unto the said master
Rochester for a poore Remembrannce and for his paynes herein To be taken one old soverayne
of gold a spanyshe bowle a carpet for a borde with the castell in the mydds and my
Lytle Clock Also I give unto the said William Cordell in likewise for his paynes two old
Ryalls a lytle carpet of damaske worke and a silver porringer over and above all
suche reasonable costs and charges as they shall susteyne abowte thexecucion & performance
of this my testament and last will And in witnes that this is my true testament and last
wyll I have to the same put to my seale and signe [?mainell] the daie and yeare above
wrytten These bering wytnes Thomas Stannton Willam bocher Phillip Hills Margaret Cook
[1] Donn L Calkins, “Cooke, Sir Anthony (1505/6–1576), educator and humanist.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 19 May. 2025. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-6155.
[2] ‘Parishes: Havering-atte-Bower’, in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7, ed. W R Powell (London, 1978), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol7/pp9-17
[3] PROB 11/35/123, Will of Margaret Cooke of Hornchurch, Essex, 31 March 1552.
[4] Oxford English Dictionary, “beadsman (n.),” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9196794089.
[5] Christina J Faraday, ‘Tudor time machines: Clocks and watches in English portraits c.1530–c.1630’, Renaissance Studies 33 (2019) pp.239-266 at p.241. https://doi.org/10.1111/rest.12517
[6] https://www.themorgan.org/blog/women-book-owners-renaissance
