{"id":1125,"date":"2024-03-19T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2024-06-27T09:21:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T09:21:59","slug":"will-of-the-month-a-lincolnshire-farmer-and-his-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/2024\/03\/19\/will-of-the-month-a-lincolnshire-farmer-and-his-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"Will of the Month: a Lincolnshire farmer and his cows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month\u2019s featured will is longer and more detailed than previous examples, stretching to three and a half pages. It\u2019s the will of Ralph Wrighte, a landowner and farmer who died in Sutton Saint James, Lincolnshire, in 1604, and had a lot of land, money, and farm animals to distribute. The dispersal of the estate of this country dweller also marks a departure from last month\u2019s featured will [link]<\/a>, which was made by a London clergyman involved in many facets of urban professional life, and whose will was largely concerned with the disposal of books and papers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Excerpt from PROB 11\/103\/311, The Will of Ralph Wrighte of Sutton Saint James, Lincolnshire, 16 March 1604<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wrighte did not list books to be bequeathed: instead, he itemised his farm animals. Wrighte\u2019s will contains dozens of bequests of identified animals: ewes, swine, calves, \u2018the Mill mare And the Mill mares yearling\u2019, \u2018the bald mares foale\u2019. To his wife Emma he bequeathed \u2018eight cowes at her choice\u2019, alongside several other more rigidly specified animals. And to each one of his godchildren he left \u2018one lambe to be delived unto them or to their use soe soone as they can say perfectly the Cathechisme set forth in the booke of common praier\u2019. This is a striking condition that reflected the ongoing caring responsibilities of godparenthood, comprising an intention to provide for a child\u2019s future and some oversight over their spiritual education.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Potter, Paulus; An Old Horse, c.1650, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts; http:\/\/www.artuk.org\/artworks\/an-old-horse-236065<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A lot more could be said about Wrighte\u2019s itemised menagerie, and indeed the parcels of land and sums of money that he bequeathed to friends, family, and those who leased houses on his estate. But the focus of our project is objects, and the meaning of objects, and Wrighte\u2019s will also provides an insight into his household furnishings and other possessions. In the section of his will concerning the dispersal of \u2018household stuff\u2019 he writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Item I will that my wife shall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

have all the housholdstuff reserving unto Robte my sonne the best cubborde in the hall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

two tables two foormes two benches one chaire, The reckens the fire irons and hookes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the parlour wher we lie, one posted bed one standing bed as they stande; one chest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with two lockes as it standeth one presse one cubbord two joyned chestes as they stand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and one other other chest one hutch and a frame in the buttrie and all the shelves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Item in the loft two spruce chestes and a trundle bed and one other chest with the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lynnen in it; in the ghest parlor two beddes as they stande, Item in the kitchen one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table one cowle one presse one chaire, Item all the shelves in the milk house, the lead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the furnace and the shelves in the bolting house Item half the pewter and halfe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brasse.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot that we can infer from this paragraph. Wrighte\u2019s estate included several outbuildings associated with the processing of foodstuffs: a \u2018milk house\u2019, a \u2018buttrie\u2019, and a \u2018bolting house\u2019 likely used for the bolting or sifting of flour. The main house itself appears to have been fairly substantial, with a separate guest parlour and a loft, and a variety of different types of furniture. The will mentions five different beds, including a \u2018posted bed\u2019, and five different chests. Wrighte distinguished between and attributed value to certain items, identifying the cupboard in the hall as being \u2018the best\u2019, and setting this aside not for his wife but for his son. From these descriptions we can gain an insight into where in the house certain items were kept, and what certain rooms were used for \u2013 this is evident in the description of \u2018the fire irons and hookes in the parlour wher we lie\u2019, and \u2018all the shelves in the milk house\u2019. There are also references to the materiality and use of individual objects, with descriptions of \u2018one chest with two lockes\u2019, \u2018two spruce chestes\u2019 (constructed out of spruce pine) and \u2018one other chest with the lynnen in it\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bed, 1500-1600, On display at Oakwell Hall, West Yorkshire, \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O371933\/bed-unknown\/<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Unlike the previous will discussed in this blog, the will of Josias Alsop, a clergyman who was mentioned in the diary of Samuel Pepys, we don\u2019t know much more about Lincolnshire farmer Ralph Wrighte, his family, or his estate. Wrighte’s will provides the only source of information about his life and living situation. His will is one that divides up a life spent working off the land: a farmhouse with outbuildings, some substantial items of furniture and apparatus for making dairy products and milling flour, and a protracted list of sheep, cows, horses and pigs to be distributed far and wide. It\u2019s a methodical list that details which family member, tenant, or godchild should receive which sum of money or which type of animal. It hints at the level of thought that had gone into each bequest, and stands in contrast to some shorter wills which tend to cluster together objects or animals e.g. \u2018all my household stuff, all my livestock\u2019 rather than itemising them. \u2018Meaning\u2019 can be discerned from Wrighte\u2019s decisions to divide up his \u2018housholdstuff\u2019 unequally between his wife and son, his setting aside of identified animals for named individuals, and his bequests which sought to provide for the future living of his son and godchildren. There was probably a reason for Wrighte\u2019s decision to leave some of his young beneficiaries a sum of money \u2018to be paied at his age of one and twentie yeres\u2019, while others received \u2018tenne ewes\u2019 upon reaching adulthood \u2013 but Wrighte leaves us with no further explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of detail within these methodical decisions was perhaps also determined by the length of time that elapsed between Wrighte making his will, in February 1603, and it being proved in March 1604. In contrast to many other examples, Wrighte was perhaps not gravely ill when he made his will, and perhaps felt able to take the time to make considered decisions. Wrighte saw his will as an opportunity not only to provide for the living of his family and kin, to ensure that his young beneficiaries could establish a household or a flock of sheep, but also to safeguard the longevity of his lands, which were not to be subdivided in any manner other than what he had specified. Unlike in other contemporary wills, Wrighte\u2019s will doesn\u2019t always specify his relationship to the dozens of beneficiaries of his money and livestock, many of whom may have been his neighbours in the small village of Sutton Saint James. The sheer number of beneficiaries, some of whom received relatively small bequests of three shillings or a single ewe, was perhaps also a means of Wrighte solidifying his place as a local landowner, and of securing his memory within the community and for the subsequent generation. Wills were concerned with distributing money, property, and lands, but the decisions underpinning these bequests could also shape how a deceased individual would be remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> PROB 11\/103\/311, The Will of Ralph Wrighte of Sutton Saint James, Lincolnshire, 16 March 1604<\/p>\n\n\n