{"id":47,"date":"2024-01-04T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2025-04-08T20:36:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T20:36:56","slug":"resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-353\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon-270x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon-270x300.png 270w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon.png 295w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/> &nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">On this page we are collating resources and references relevant to anyone working with sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wills. Our focus is on England, but the research section includes work on wills from other parts of the globe. We will add to these lists throughout the life of the project and hope to crowdsource as many references as possible &#8211; <strong>if you have an item to suggest, please use our <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/contact\/\">contact form<\/a>, or let us know on Bluesky <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/materialwills.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@materialwills.bsky.social<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div ><style>#sp-ea-1235 .spcollapsing { height: 0; overflow: hidden; transition-property: height;transition-duration: 300ms;}#sp-ea-1235.sp-easy-accordion>.sp-ea-single {margin-bottom: 10px; border: 1px solid #e2e2e2; }#sp-ea-1235.sp-easy-accordion>.sp-ea-single>.ea-header a {color: #444;}#sp-ea-1235.sp-easy-accordion>.sp-ea-single>.sp-collapse>.ea-body {background: #fff; color: #444;}#sp-ea-1235.sp-easy-accordion>.sp-ea-single {background: #eee;}#sp-ea-1235.sp-easy-accordion>.sp-ea-single>.ea-header a .ea-expand-icon { float: left; color: #444;font-size: 16px;}<\/style><div id=\"sp_easy_accordion-1710768266\"><div id=\"sp-ea-1235\" class=\"sp-ea-one sp-easy-accordion\" data-ea-active=\"ea-click\" data-ea-mode=\"vertical\" data-preloader=\"\" data-scroll-active-item=\"\" data-offset-to-scroll=\"0\"><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12350\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12350\" aria-controls=\"collapse12350\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> WILLS: SOME KEY WORKS<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12350\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12350\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p>Arkell, T., Evans, N., and Goose, N., eds, <em>When Death Do Us Part: Understanding and Interpreting the Probate Records of Early Modern England<\/em> (Leopard\u2019s Head Press, 2000). Excellent place to start research into wills, chapters explain the process of probate and look at the different documents generated by it: wills, inventories, probate accounts etc.<\/p><p>Houlbrooke, Ralph, <em>Death, Religion and the Family in England, 1480-1750<\/em> (OUP, 2000), espec. chapters 4 &amp;5. Houlbrooke uses a large set of wills to explore the history of the family.<\/p><p>James, Susan E., <em>Women&#8217;s Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485\u20131603: Authority, Influence and Material Culture<\/em> (Taylor &amp; Francis, 2016). A study of a large set of women&#8217;s wills.<\/p><p>Wrightson, Keith, <em>Ralph Tailor\u2019s Summer: A Scrivener, His City and the Plague<\/em> (Yale University Press, 2011). A microhistory focused on the activities of a scribe in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1636, a plague year &#8211; Tailor is called upon to write the wills of many plague victims, and these are used by Wrightson alongside other records.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12351\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12351\" aria-controls=\"collapse12351\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> WILLS: PRACTICALITIES (how to locate, understand and interpret wills)<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12351\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12351\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p>Arkell, T., Evans, N., and Goose, N., eds, <em>When Death Do Us Part: Understanding and Interpreting the Probate Records of Early Modern England<\/em> (Leopard\u2019s Head Press, 2000). Excellent place to start research into wills, chapters explain the process of probate and look at the different documents generated by it: wills, inventories, probate accounts etc.<\/p><p>Asquith, Richard, <em>Piety and Trust: Testators and Executors in Pre-Reformation London.<\/em> Unpublished doctoral thesis, Royal Holloway, 2022 [embargo ends 25\/07\/24].<\/p><p>Brooks, C.W., Helmholz, R.M., Stein, P.G., <em>Notaries Public in England since the Reformation, <\/em>Society of the Public Notaries of London (London, 1991).<\/p><p>Brooks, C.W., <em>Law, Politics and Society in Early Modern England<\/em> (Cambridge, 2000).<\/p><p>Camp, A. J., <em>Wills and their Whereabouts<\/em> (London, 1974).<\/p><p>Cox, Nancy, Dannehl, Karin,<em> Dictionary of Traded Goods and Commodities 1550-1820<\/em> (Wolverhampton, 2007). [avaliable at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/no-series\/traded-goods-dictionary\/1550-1820\">British History Online<\/a>].<\/p><div>Durie, Bruce, <i>Understanding Documents for Genealogy and Local History<\/i> (History Press, 2013). [transcription, palaeography, money, weights and measures, glossaries of Latin and Scots legal terms, Latin personal and place names.]<\/div><p>Gibson, J., and Raymond, S., <em>Probate Jurisdictions: where to look for wills<\/em> (The Family History Partnership, 6th edition, 2016). [<a href=\"https:\/\/shop.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/products\/probate-jurisdictions-6th-ed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you can order this from TNA shop<\/a>].<\/p><p>Milward, Rosemary, <i>A Glossary of Household, Farming and Trade Terms from Probate inventories<\/i>, 3rd edition\u00a0 (Derbyshire Record Society, 1986) [available from the Record Society.]<\/p><p>Munby, L.M., Thompson, K.M., et al. <em>Short Guides to Records, First Series &#8211; Guides 1-24<\/em> (The Historical Association, 1994). [articles on Probate Inventories and Wills.]<\/p><p>Palmer, Megan, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/ebba.english.ucsb.edu\/page\/early-modern-costume\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Early Modern Costume Book<\/a>. <\/em>[designed to help researchers date ballad illustrations, a useful guide to clothes from different periods].<\/p><p>Raymond, Stuart A., &#8216;On the Editing of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century English Probate Records&#8217;, <em>Archives<\/em> 17 (1986), 33-40.<\/p><p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Raymond, Stuart A., <em>The Wills of our Ancestors: a guide for family and local historians<\/em> (Pen &amp; Sword, 2012).<\/span><\/p><p>Raymond, Stuart A., <em>Words from Wills and other Probate Records: a Glossary<\/em>. 2nd ed. (British Association for Local History, 2026).<\/p><p>Rosenthal, J. T., ed.<em>, Understanding medieval primary sources: using historical sources to discover medieval Europe<\/em> (London, 2012), Barron chapter, \u2018Sources for medieval urban history\u2019 and Wray chapter &#8216;Wills and Primary Sources&#8217;.<\/p><p>Skeat, Walter W. and Mayhew, Anthony L., <em>A glossary of Tudor and Stuart words, especially from the dramatists<\/em> (OUP, 1914). [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/glossaryoftudors00skea\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">available at The Internet Archive<\/a>].<\/p><p>Spufford, Margaret, \u2018Religious Preambles and the Scribes of Villagers\u2019 Wills in Cambridgeshire, 1570-1700\u2019, <em>Local Population Studies<\/em>, 7 (1971). Revised discussion in Margaret Spufford, <em>Contrasting Communities: English Villagers in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries<\/em> (Cambridge, 1974), pp. 320-44.<\/p><p>Takahashi, M., \u2018The number of wills proved\u2019, in G.H. Martin and P. Spufford, <em>The Records of the Nation: The Public Record Office, 1838-1988<\/em> (Boydell, 1990).<\/p><p>Thompson, K.M., <em>Short Guides to Records, Second Series &#8211; Guides 25-48<\/em> (The Historical Association, 1997). [article on Probate Accounts.]<\/p><p>Whyman, S., <em>The Pen and the People<\/em> (Oxford, 2009). [on people writing their own wills after 1660]<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12352\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12352\" aria-controls=\"collapse12352\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> WILLS: RESEARCH (books &amp; articles etc drawing on wills as evidence)<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12352\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12352\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p>Ainsworth, Sarah-Jayne, \u2018Willing Women: Wills as constructs of female self-identity in the seventeenth-century south west (1625-1660)\u2019. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Exeter, 2019.<\/p><p>Alsop, J.D., \u2018Religious Preambles in Early Modern English Wills as Formulae, <em>Journal of Ecclesiastical History<\/em>, 40.1 (1989).<\/p><p>Appleton, Stephanie, \u2018Women and Wills in early modern England: the community of Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1537-1649\u2019, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Birmingham, 2017.<\/p><p>Arkell, T., Evans, N., and Goose, N., eds, <em>When Death Do Us Part: Understanding and Interpreting the Probate Records of Early Modern England<\/em> (Leopard\u2019s Head Press, 2000).<\/p><p>Attreed, L. C., \u2018Preparation for Death in Sixteenth Century Northern England\u2019, <em>The Sixteenth Century Journal,<\/em> 13.3 (1982), 37-66.<\/p><p>Barnett-Woods, Victoria, \u2018\u2018Bequeathed unto My Daughter [\u2026] Slaves\u2019: Women, Slavery and Property in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic\u2019, <em>Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies<\/em>, 44.4 (2021).<\/p><p>Barry, Jonathan, \u2018Bringing Up Bristolians c.1558-1660\u2019, in Jonathan Barry,<b> <\/b>James G. Clark and William Richardson, eds, <i>Education and Religion in Medieval and Renaissance England: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Orme<\/i> (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2023), pp. 396-417.<\/p><p>Becker, L., <em>Death and the Early Modern Englishwoman<\/em> (Ashgate, 2003).<\/p><p>Benadusi, Giovanni, \u2018Investing the Riches of the Poor: Servant Women and their Last Wills\u2019, <em>American Historical Review<\/em>, 109.3 (2004).<\/p><p>Bertram, M. A., \u2018\u201cRenaissance Mentality\u201d in Italian Testaments?\u2019 <em>Journal of Modern History,<\/em> 67 (1995), 358-69.<\/p><p>Bevan, A. and Foster, D., \u2018Shakespeare\u2019s original will: A re-reading, and a reflection on inter-disciplinarity within archives article&#8217;,<em> Archives <\/em>(2016).<\/p><p>Biggs, Carmel, \u2018Women, Kinship, and Inheritance: Northamptonshire 1543-1709\u2019, <em>Journal of Family History<\/em>, 32.2 (2007).<\/p><p>Bonefield, Lloyd, <em>Devising, Dying and Dispute: Probate Litigation in Early Modern England<\/em> (Routledge, 2017).<\/p><p>Charles, Laura, \u201cWill doe all in her power\u201d: the role of women in the contested will of Henry Cavendish\u2019, <em>The Seventeenth Century<\/em>, 39.1 (2024).<\/p><p>Cohn, Samuel, \u2018Renaissance Attachment to Things: Material Culture in Last Wills and Testaments\u2019, <em>Economic History Review,<\/em> 65.3 (2012), 984\u20131004.<\/p><p>Coppel, S., \u2018Will making on the deathbed\u2019, <em>Local Population Studies,<\/em> 40 (1988), 37-45.<\/p><p>Cross, C., \u2018Northern Women in the Early Modern Period: the female testators of Hulls and Leeds 1520-1650\u2019, <em>The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, <\/em>59 (1987), 83-94.<\/p><p>Cuesta, Julia Fern\u00e1ndez, \u2018The Voice of the Dead\u2019, <em>Journal of English Linguistics<\/em>, 42 (2014).<\/p><p>Davis, Lloyd, \u2018Women\u2019s Wills in Early Modern England\u2019, in N.E. Wright, M.W. Ferguson and A. Buck, eds, <em>Women, Property, and the Letters of the Law in Early Modern England<\/em> (University of Toronto Press, 2016).<\/p><p>DeBold, Elizabeth, \u2018But by the Eyes of His Trustees\u2019: the Emotions and Post-Mortem Strategies of Will-Writing in Restoration London, 1660\u20131700\u2019, <em>Cultural and Social History<\/em> (2023), DOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14780038.2023.2298529\">10.1080\/14780038.2023.2298529<\/a><\/p><p>Duffy, E., <em>The Stripping of the Altars<\/em> (Yale UP, 1992). [chapter 15 on wills].<\/p><p>Erickson, Amy, <em>Women and Property in Early Modern England <\/em>(Routledge, 1995)\u00a0[contains extensive discussion of women\u2019s wills, and their role as executrixes].<\/p><p>Formby, Oliva, \u2018The emotional evidence of early modern English plague wills\u2019, <em>Historical Research<\/em>, 94. 266 (2021), 782\u2013805.<\/p><p>Fudge, Erica, <em>Quick Cattle and Dying Wishes: people and their animals in early modern England<\/em> (OUP, 2019).<\/p><p>Helt, J.S.W., \u2018Women, memory and will-making in Elizabethan England\u2019, in B. Gordon and P. Marshall, eds, <em>The Place of the Dead: Death and Remembrance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe<\/em> (2000).<\/p><p>Hoffman, Philip T., &#8216;Wills and Statistics: Tobit Analysis and the Counter Reformation in Lyon&#8217;, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 14.4 (1984), 813-834.<\/p><p>Holland, Lynda, \u2018An investigation into the testamentary content of Stafford wills 1761\u20131860\u2019, <em>Family and Community History<\/em>, 21.1 (2018).<\/p><p>Houlbrooke, Ralph, <em>Death, Religion and the Family in England, 1480-1750<\/em> (OUP, 2000), espec. chapters 4 &amp;5. Houlbrooke uses a large set of wills to explore the history of the family.<\/p><p>Howell, M.C., \u2018Fixing Movables: Gifts by Testament in Late Medieval Douai\u2019, <em>Past and Present<\/em>, 150 (1996).<\/p><p>Jakobiec, Katie, \u2018The Architecture of Benefaction: The Last Will and Testament of a Grain Merchant\u2019, <em>The Journal of Interdisciplinary History<\/em>, 47.4 (2017).<\/p><p>James, Susan E., <em>Women\u2019s Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485\u20131603: Authority, Influence and Material Culture<\/em> (Taylor &amp; Francis, 2016). A study of a large set of women\u2019s wills.<\/p><p>Jordan, W.K.,<em> Philanthropy in England 1480-1660<\/em> (George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1959).<\/p><p>Korpiola, Mia, and Lahtinen, Anu, eds, <em>Planning for Death: Wills and Death-Related Property Arrangements in Europe, 1200-1600<\/em> (Brill, 2018).<\/p><p>Lambert, Miles, \u2018Death and Memory: Clothing Bequests in English Wills 1650\u20131830\u2019, <em>Costume<\/em>, 48.1 (2014).<\/p><p>\u2018Writing Inheritance in European Literature\u2019, issue 35.1 of <em>Law and Literature<\/em> (2023).<\/p><p>Marsh, C., \u2018In the Name of God? Will Making and Faith in Early Modern England\u2019, in G. H. Martin and P. Spufford, eds, <em>The Records of the Nation<\/em> (Woodbridge, 1990).<\/p><p>Merwick, D., <em>Death of a Notary: Conquest and Change in Colonial New York<\/em> (Ithaca, NY and London, 1999)<\/p><p>Newstok, S., <em>Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb\u00a0<\/em>(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)<\/p><p>Orlin, Lena Cowen, \u2018Empty vessels\u2019 in Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson eds, <em>Everyday objects: medieval and early modern material culture and its meanings <\/em>(Ashgate, 2010).<\/p><p>Prior, Mary, \u2018Wives and Wills 1558-1700\u2019, in Chartres, John, and Hey, David, eds, <em>English Rural Society 1500-1800<\/em> (Past and Present Publications, 2006).<\/p><p>Richardson, C., <em>Domestic Life and Domestic Tragedy<\/em> (Manchester UP, 2006).<\/p><p>Richardson, R. C., \u2018Wills and will-makers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: some Lancashire evidence\u2019, <em>Local Population Studies<\/em>, 9 (1972), 33-42.<\/p><p>Salter, E., \u2018Women\u2019s Last Wills and Testaments in Hull, England (c. 1450\u20131555)\u2019, <em>Early Modern Women, <\/em>12.2 (2018), 33\u201353. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1353\/emw.2018.0002\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1353\/emw.2018.0002<\/a><\/p><p>Staves, Susan, &#8216;Resentment or resignation? : dividing the spoils among daughters and younger sons\u2019, in Brewer, John, and Staves, Susan, eds, <em>Early modern conceptions of property<\/em> (Routledge, 1995).<\/p><p>Thomas, Keith, <em>The Ends of Life: Roads to Fulfilment in Early Modern England<\/em> (2009).<\/p><p>Vann, R.T., \u2018Wills and Family in an English Town: Banbury 1550-1800\u2019, <em>Journal of Family History<\/em>, 4 (1979).<\/p><p>Wall, Richard, \u2018Bequests to Widows and their Property in Early Modern England\u2019, <em>History of the Family<\/em>, 15.3 (2010).<\/p><p>Wilson, Marianne, \u2018A Reformation of Remembrance? Devotional Practices of Female Testators in Lincolnshire 1509-1558&#8242;, <em>Midland History<\/em> 44.2 (2019), 176\u2013189. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/0047729X.2019.1667105\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/0047729X.2019.1667105<\/a><\/p><p>Wrightson, Keith, <em>Ralph Tailor\u2019s Summer: A Scrivener, His City and the Plague<\/em> (Yale University Press, 2011). A microhistory focused on the activities of a scribe in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1636, a plague year \u2013 Tailor is called upon to write the wills of many plague victims, and these are used by Wrightson alongside other records.<\/p><p>Zell, M., \u2018The Use of Religious Preambles as a Measure of Religious Belief in the Sixteenth Century\u2019, <em>Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research<\/em> 50 (1977).<\/p><p>Zigarovich, Jolene, \u2018Matriarchal Economies: Women Inheriting from Women in Eighteenth-Century Wills, Courts, and Fiction\u2019, <em>Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture<\/em>, 52 (2023).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12353\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12353\" aria-controls=\"collapse12353\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> ONLINE RESOURCES (databases, collections of transcribed wills, useful websites) <\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12353\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12353\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/help-with-your-research\/research-guides\/wills-1384-1858\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The National Archives.<\/strong><\/a> How to look for wills and administrations before 1858. Focus is on TNA wills proved in the highest and busiest probate court, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) in London. By the late 1850s it was proving about 40% of all wills.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genuki.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>GENUKI: UK &amp; Ireland Genealogy<\/strong><\/a>. A virtual reference library organised by county. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.genuki.org.uk\/big\/eng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Use the map<\/a> to navigate to information about each county, then choose the \u2018Probate Records\u2019 link to see information about that county\u2019s documents. In many cases this <strong><em>includes links to online transcriptions, indexes and published editions of wills<\/em><\/strong> (depending on what is available for each place).<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk\/nei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>North East Inheritance<\/strong><\/a>. Lots of really useful material, including:<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/familyrecords.dur.ac.uk\/nei\/data\/scope.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">North East Inheritance database<\/a> (pre-1858 Durham Probate Records: searchable images of documents)<\/li><li>An extensive list of <a href=\"http:\/\/familyrecords.dur.ac.uk\/nei\/NEI_sources.htm\">useful texts relating to pre-1858 probate records<\/a><\/li><li>Explanations of different <a href=\"http:\/\/familyrecords.dur.ac.uk\/nei\/NEI_records.htm\">types of diocesan probate records<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/london-record-soc\/vol3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>British History Online: London Consistory Court Wills, 1492-1547<\/strong><\/a>. London Record Society, volume 3. Contains 245 transcribed London wills of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Nearly half are taken from the register Palmer (1492-1520), with the remainder being additional separate wills for the period up to 1547.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/court-husting-wills\/vol2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>British History Online: Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London: Part 2, 1358-1688<\/strong><\/a>. Originally published by Her Majesty&#8217;s Stationery Office, London, 1890.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/qfhs.co.uk\/public_html\/wills\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Quaker Family History Society<\/strong><\/a>. Transcribed quaker wills and other testamentary documents. You can also donate your own transcriptions.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk\/earls_colne\/probate\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Records of Earls Colne<\/strong><\/a>: Church Records, Documents of Record Concerning Testaments. Transcriptions of more than 400 wills made by residents of, or with a connection to Earls Colne, Essex.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/programminghistorian.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Programming Historian<\/a>:<\/strong> Publish novice-friendly, peer-reviewed tutorials that help humanists learn a wide range of digital tools, techniques, and workflows to facilitate research and teaching.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/warwick.ac.uk\/fac\/cross_fac\/myparish\/projects\/cwa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Parish List:<\/a> <\/strong>a spreadsheet listing all the parishes in England and Wales and giving various additional information: parish church, county, diocese, arch-deaconry, deanery. The list has been created by a team led by Dr Valerie Hitchman, and is part of a project to provide a complete list of all surviving churchwarden accounts in county record offices, local history libraries and museums. Click on the &#8216;County List&#8217; link and you can (1) access maps of each county showing the parishes (2) access individual spreadsheets for all counties. Click on the parish names at the bottom to see total spend for each year (according to the surviving churchwarden accounts). The main page also contains links to look at separate lists of deaconries and archdeaconries.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12354\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12354\" aria-controls=\"collapse12354\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> EARLY MODERN PRINTED WORKS (guides for notaries, legal textbooks)<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12354\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12354\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p>Billingsley, Martin, <em>The Pens Excellencie or The Secretaries Delight<\/em> (London, 1618). [Copy book.]<\/p><p>Burn, R., <em>Ecclesiastical Law<\/em> (London, 1763-5) [<a href=\"https:\/\/familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk\/nei\/NEI_burn1763.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Available online at NEI<\/a>]<\/p><p>Coote, H.C., <em>The Practice of the Ecclesiastical Courts, with Forms and Tables of Costs<\/em> (Butterworth, 1847). [<a href=\"https:\/\/familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk\/nei\/NEI_coote.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Available online at NEI<\/a>]<\/p><p>Chesne, John de Beau, <em>A Booke Containing Diverse Sortes of Hands<\/em> (London, 1571). [Copy book.]<\/p><p>Godolphin, John, <em>The orphans legacy, or, A testamentary abridgement in three parts<\/em> (London, 1674).<\/p><p>Hill, R., <em>The<\/em> <em>Pathway to Prayer and Pietie <\/em>(London, 1613). [Section \u2018an instruction to die well\u2019].<\/p><p>Swinburne, H., <em>A brief Treatise of Testaments and Last Wills<\/em> (London, 1611).<\/p><p>Wentworth, Thomas, <em>The office and duty of executors<\/em> (London, 1703).<\/p><p>West, William, <em>Symbolaeographia \u2026 or The Notarie or Scrivener<\/em> (London, 1590). [Contemporary guide to the duties of scriveners and notaries.]<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12355\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12355\" aria-controls=\"collapse12355\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> PALAEOGRAPHY<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12355\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12355\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/manyheadedmonster.com\/2018\/03\/01\/free-online-palaeography-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A many-headed monster blog post<\/a> with links to online tutorials and other key resources.<\/p><p>Marshall, Hilary, <em>Palaeography for Family and Local Historians<\/em> (Phillimore, 2010).\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/products\/palaeography-for-fh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">You can buy this from TNA shop<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ea-card sp-ea-single\"><h3 class=\"ea-header\"><a class=\"collapsed\" id=\"ea-header-12356\" role=\"button\" data-sptoggle=\"spcollapse\" data-sptarget=\"#collapse12356\" aria-controls=\"collapse12356\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><i aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"ea-expand-icon eap-icon-ea-expand-plus\"><\/i> WILLS PROJECT PUBLICATIONS<\/a><\/h3><div class=\"sp-collapse spcollapse spcollapse\" id=\"collapse12356\" data-parent=\"#sp-ea-1235\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"ea-header-12356\"> <div class=\"ea-body\"><p>Harry Smith and Emily Vine, &#8216;Material and Digital Archives: The Case of Wills&#8217;, <em>Transactions of the Royal Historical Society<\/em> (Published online, 24 September, 2024). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/transactions-of-the-royal-historical-society\/article\/material-and-digital-archives-the-case-of-wills\/6936C1E9FF6CF41AB89755693619CCDF?utm_campaign=shareaholic&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_source=bookmark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Available open access<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Leverhulme_Trust_CMYK_blue-1024x342.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-215\" style=\"width:161px;height:54px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Leverhulme_Trust_CMYK_blue-1024x342.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Leverhulme_Trust_CMYK_blue-300x100.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Leverhulme_Trust_CMYK_blue-768x257.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Leverhulme_Trust_CMYK_blue.jpg 1418w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Logo_of_The_National_Archives_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg_.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-217\" style=\"width:63px;height:63px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Logo_of_The_National_Archives_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg_.png 240w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Logo_of_The_National_Archives_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg_-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; On this page we are collating resources and references relevant to anyone working with sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wills. Our focus is on England, but the research section includes work on wills from other parts of the globe. We will add to these lists throughout the life of the project and hope to crowdsource [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1473,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-sidebar-boxed-feature-img.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Resources - The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resources - The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; On this page we are collating resources and references relevant to anyone working with sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wills. Our focus is on England, but the research section includes work on wills from other parts of the globe. We will add to these lists throughout the life of the project and hope to crowdsource [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-08T20:36:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon-270x300.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"Resources - The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon-270x300.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-04T13:18:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-08T20:36:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/375\/2024\/01\/Resources-icon.png\",\"width\":295,\"height\":328},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/\",\"name\":\"The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790\",\"description\":\"Generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Resources - The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/resources\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Resources - The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790","og_description":"&nbsp; On this page we are collating resources and references relevant to anyone working with sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century wills. 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