{"id":1921,"date":"2024-09-24T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?p=1921"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:18:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:18:57","slug":"will-of-the-month-an-alderman-of-exeter-and-his-locked-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/2024\/09\/24\/will-of-the-month-an-alderman-of-exeter-and-his-locked-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Will of the Month: an Alderman of Exeter and his locked box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

**This will inspired a Chris Hoban song! Read his lyrics at the end of the post.**<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Vine<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u2018Will of the Month\u2019 post features the will of a man \u2018local\u2019 to the University of Exeter: Alderman Thomas Hunte, who died in 1548 in the reign of Edward VI, having been mayor of the city three times.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first few lines of his will Hunte identified himself as \u2018one of thaldermen of the Citie of Exceter\u2019. He asked to be buried \u2018wth<\/sup>in the parrishe churche of Saint Petrocke\u2019 and left six shillings eight pence to the \u2018highe aulter\u2019 of the same. The small medieval church of Saint Petrock still stands today as a striking example of a red \u2018Heavitree stone\u2019 building, nestled right in the centre of Exeter between the High Street and the Cathedral Green.<\/p>\n\n\n

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St Petrock’s Church, Exeter, photo by Robert Cutts from Bristol – , CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=43766974 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Thomas Hunte the civic leader<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunte\u2019s will shows that he was as embedded in city life as the central church he wished to be buried in. At his funeral he intended to have forty shillings distributed to the poor, and black cotton gowns and hoods for twelve poor men to wear. He also bestowed money to other Exeter institutions and the maintenance of the city. He left \u2018to the prisons of the Castell of Exceter three shillinges four pence in bread\u2019, \u2018twoo pence a pece\u2019 to the \u2018poore people of the house of Saint Marye Magdalen wth<\/sup>out the South gate\u2019, a hospital for the infirm and poor, and 20 shillings to the maintenance of \u2018Cowleigh Bridge\u2019, a main route into the north of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day of his \u2018monthes mynd\u2019 (one month after his death) he asked for a \u2018dynner at my house\u2019 attended by \u2018the Righte Worshipfull mr<\/sup> maier of the saide Citie his bretherne the Aldermen and all the Residue of the xxiiij of the same Citie and there wiffes if it please them\u2019. Hunte envisaged a memorial dinner attended by all the civic leaders and important men of Exeter: men he considered his peers and equals. This bequest also hints at the possession of a substantial enough property to accommodate such an illustrious gathering. In addition, he entrusted the oversight of his last will and testament to the \u2018Righte Worshipfull master maier of the saide Citie of Exeter for the tyme being\u2019 alongside other named \u2018gentilmen\u2019. Hunte\u2019s will was in many ways a means of reinforcing his local standing. His bequests accord with expectations of charitable giving to the local poor and institutions, as well as designs to cement his memory amongst his fellow men of business and office.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fragment of English embroidery, C16th, \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O361558\/fragment-unknown\/ <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Thomas Hunte the draper<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunte was a draper by trade, and aspects of his working life are apparent in his final bequests. He left to his wife Elizabeth \u2018all the hollonde dowlas locram (dowlas and lockeram \u2013 both types of fabric) and other lyninge clothe in my shopp and Russettes worsted. And also all my woll and yarne that maye be founde with<\/sup>in my house after my deceas.\u2019 This itemisation of Hunte\u2019s stock hints at the often-fluid division between \u2018workplace\u2019 and \u2018home\u2019 in the early modern period, where tradespeople would often live above or behind their shop, and many forms of work would take place in domestic places. Elizabeth was also left all the \u2018apparrell belonginge to her body\u2019 and other \u2018housholde Stuff\u2019 that filled their second, rural home in the Devonshire village of Farringdon, including \u2018pottes pannes beddes carpittes\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Warming Pan, C16th, \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O92572\/warming-pan-unknown\/<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The identification of unspecified quantities of yarn and wool – seemingly scattered around Hunte\u2019s house – appears quite vague. Yet unusually, the registered copy of Hunte\u2019s will is appended by a copy of his probate inventory: an itemised list of the objects and furnishings found in each room of his property. We know for example that \u2018In the kytchen\u2019 of his house there were \u2018three kettles\u2019 and \u2018three pannes\u2019, and in the parlour \u2018a joyind chaier covered wth<\/sup> redde lether\u2019. This provides greater insight into Hunte\u2019s possessions than is apparent in the umbrella category of \u2018housholde Stuff\u2019, or cloth \u2018founde with<\/sup>in my house\u2019. Yet the will itself also contains more specific and itemised bequests, most pleasingly the gift of \u2018my night gowne furryd with blacke lambe\u2019 to one John Mutton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A coffer locked with two keys<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the will, Hunte stated that any \u2018goodes money and plate debtes my ware in my shopp\u2019 and other items that had not already been mentioned, should be appraised, sold, and the money placed in \u2018a coffer in the counsaile chamber\u2019 and kept for the use of all his children and to be \u2018devyded equallie\u2019 amongst them. He directed: \u2018in the same coffer to putt all myne Evidences and this my present Will and to be<\/sup> locked wth<\/sup> twoo keyes thare to remayne in the custody of the maier of the saide Citie for the tyme beinge and the other wth<\/sup> one of myne overseers\u2019. This is a striking bequest that sees his will and some of his children\u2019s inheritance left to the trust not of the executrix of his will, his wife Elizabeth, but to the mayor of the city and another as yet unspecified gentleman. Equally this precious locked box of legal documents and money was kept not in his own home, but in the civic space of the council-chamber. The separate possession of two keys appears more suited to attempts to secure the money held by a guild or livery company than the administration of a will. It was perhaps because all of Hunte\u2019s children were minors at the time of his death, that when looking to secure their future, he turned not to his own family, but to the office holders of the city in which he had already placed so much trust.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Coffer, ca.1475-1500 (made), \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum  https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O380088\/coffer-unknown\/<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Thomas Hunte\u2019s tombstone<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was just one facet of Hunte\u2019s careful attempts to make provisions for after his death. As well as ensuring that his affairs were in order, and his will and papers safely locked away and secured by two keys, Hunte asked that his grave be marked with \u2018a certeyn Tombestone nowe beinge at my howse\u2019. He had not only established his wishes for his funeral and elaborate memorial dinner, but by the time he made his final will in April 1548, around two months before his death, his tombstone had already been designed, carved, delivered, and was being carefully stored in his own home. Thomas Hunte was nothing if not fastidious: his will is a snapshot into the life of a man determined to tie up the loose threads of his drapery business, to provide for his several young children, to ensure a burial befitting a man of his status, and to uphold his legacy as (at the time) one of Exeter\u2019s twenty-or-so most important men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> PROB 11\/32\/164, Will of Thomas Hunte or Hunt, Alderman of Exeter, Devon, 5 July 1548; https:\/\/www.exetermemories.co.uk\/em\/exetersmayors.php<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n