{"id":8165,"date":"2026-02-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/?p=8165"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:54:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:54:52","slug":"will-of-the-month-a-tudor-landowner-and-his-brood-of-swans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/materialcultureofwills\/2026\/02\/24\/will-of-the-month-a-tudor-landowner-and-his-brood-of-swans\/","title":{"rendered":"Will of the month: A Tudor landowner and his brood of swans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For this blog we gratefully acknowledge the help of our Bluesky community, particularly Dr Helen Newsome-Chandler, Professor Laurie Johnson, and Professor Tracey Hill, who tackled our palaeography conundrum and identified our \u2018Eyrye of Swannys\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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 Spurstow Hall Cottages. Near Spurstow Hall (demolished 1757), where our Testator would have lived  https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/9\/98\/Spurstow_Hall_Cottages_01.jpg<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This month\u2019s testator is John Spurstowe \u2018esquier\u2019, whose will was proved in 1540. This document provides an insight into the life of a Tudor landowner with many obligations, and a large amount of money, clothing, furniture, animals, and personal possessions to disperse. John lived in Spurstow, near the village of Bunbury in Cheshire. His family home was Spurstow Hall, the largest home in the area, which subsequently burnt down or was destroyed in 1757. Spurstow itself did not have a church, and John asked to be buried in the Bunbury church \u2018in saincte Katernes Chappell ny unto my father and my wyves\u2019. He set out his hopes for an elaborate funeral monument: \u2018An Alaburstone bought with a pictur of me & my ij wyves and all my chyldern on yt.\u2019[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018gevyn unto them on my free wyll\u2019<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Spurstowe\u2019s will reveals that there were at least nine children to be included on the monument. He appeared to have a difficult relationship with his eldest son Randal. In his will he forgave the money Randal owed him, including \u00a33 \u2018I lent hym when he went to london\u2019. Spurtstowe hinted at his fears that Randal \u2018refuse and will not be bounde unto my executor\u2019 \u2013 that he would obstruct or come into conflict with others trusted to execute the will, who included Spurtstowe\u2019s cousins and son-in-law. A bequest towards the end of the will emphasised some of Spurstowe\u2019s concerns: \u2018I pray my Sonne Randull \u2026 wyll not hurt my poor tenantes whiche hath payd me ther income all redy\u2019. He continued almost pleadingly: \u2018& Also to remembr howe kynd I have byn to hym\u2019. We get the sense of Spurstowe\u2019s awareness that his will was his last opportunity to shape his son\u2019s behaviour, and to instil in him the conduct and sense of duty befitting a local landowner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Randall appeared to be Spurtstowe\u2019s only surviving son, the testator also named eight daughters. Spurtstowe suggested that if any of his daughters \u2018be not content\u2019 with the sums of money \u2018gevyn unto them on my free wyll\u2019, then her portion of the inheritance should be rescinded and divided amongst her sisters instead. Some of his daughters were married, whilst others were not, although it appeared that their future husbands had already been chosen. He referred to two of his daughters as \u2018Marget Rutter and Elnore hase\u2019, but suggested they were not yet married, and that payments would be given at the time of the \u2018maryages of the said Margret and Elinore unto William rutter and thomas hase\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018my best bed save one\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The will provides an interesting insight into domestic arrangements. Spurstowe\u2019s daughter Margery Cuny received \u2018toward the brynginge up of hir Chyldern xxli<\/sup> markes and Also my best bed save one and all my flaxe hempe yern\u2019. Margery and her husband apparently owed her father for meals eaten in his household, a debt that he was willing to forgive. They had not paid for meals from Michaelmas (September) to January (when the will was written), but he was willing to continue the arrangement, and allow them to \u2018have breade drincke fleshe a parler at this howse other the grene parlor or the old parlour whether they will those frome Ester unto mydsomer\u2019. The fact that he specified the parlour in which they would receive their meals suggests that they were entitled to eat in the household, but they could not lodge or live there.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hunting crossbow, c.1590, \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025 https:\/\/collections.vam.ac.uk\/item\/O97580\/hunting-crossbow-unknown\/<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018my broken swerd whiche was his Graundfathers\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spurstowe\u2019s will mentioned several weapons that could have been used for both combat and for hunting, and which reinforced his standing as a gentleman engaged in martial pursuits.[2]<\/a> To Thomas Spurstowe he left \u2018my swerd and my bockler\u2019, a sword and a small round shield, which would be held by a handle, and used in hand-to-hand combat as well as fencing.[3]<\/a> Sir John Doone received \u2018my Crosse bowe and all that longyth therto\u2019. Crossbows were often used in hunting in the sixteenth century. \u2018Rauf Doone\u2019 received \u2018my broken swerd whiche was his Graundfathers\u2019, presumably a sword used in the fifteenth century, and to his son-in-law Thomas Hase he left \u2018my wood knyf\u2019. He left to his godson Richard Spurstowe his \u2018best Cappe\u2019, \u2018all my ffurres of fox to furre him a gowne\u2019, and \u2018my Ruet horne\u2019 \u2013 a small, early wind instrument, perhaps also used in hunting.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Sword and buckler combat, plate from the Tacuinum Sanitatis illustrated in Lombardy, ca. 1390. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Buckler#\/media\/File:38-svaghi,_lotta,_Taccuino_Sanitatis,_Casanatense_4182..jpg<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If Spurstowe\u2019s ownership of weapons reaffirmed the character of a gentleman landowner, then so did his dispersal of large numbers of animals. Some of these animals were given to children: \u2018lytyll Aldersaye\u2019 received a little cow, \u2018A hayfor calf of twelve monythe olde\u2019, and Edwarde Salysburye received \u2018a wenynge Calf to be put to his use as hys mother thinkes best\u2019. Some beneficiaries were left \u2018half\u2019 an animal. The \u2018master warden of bunbury & John Aldersay the younger\u2019 were left \u2018my stonyd horse betwyxt them\u2019, although Spurstowe conceded \u2018yf John have not half the horse then I will that he have the welshe gelding\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018an Eyrye of Swannys\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the most interesting animals mentioned were not livestock. Spurstowe left his cousin Hughe Aldersaye (a three-time mayor of Chester) \u2018an Eyrye of Swannys\u2019 (a nest or brood of swans). An \u2018eyrar\u2019 is an obsolete word for a brood of swans, and the reference in Spurstowe\u2019s will predates the earliest example of this word referenced in the Oxford English Dictionary (also from a will) by eleven years.[5]<\/a> Spurstowe specified the exact group of swans, which was in \u2018prest lande poole\u2019, presumably a pond owned by his wife Margaret Prestlonde\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A Grade II Listed sixteenth-century swan. A carved wooden swan on an ornamental cast-iron bracket, 11 Sadler Street, Wells, Somerset. Image credit: Tony Cooper \/ Art UK, (CC BY-NC) https:\/\/artuk.org\/discover\/artworks\/swan-281128<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The law on swan ownership was more complex than for other animals.[6]<\/a> Swans were high-status birds, prized for being graceful, occasionally eaten on special occasions, and their feathers used to make the highest quality quills. There were restrictions on disturbing nesting swans or stealing eggs, and the monarch had ownership rights to \u2018unmarked\u2019 mute swans.[7]<\/a> \u2018Marked\u2019 swans would have distinctive notches carved into their beaks to signify they were owned by a particular individual. A 1483 Act of Parliament (22 Edw IV c.6) stated that swan-marks would have to be granted by the Crown, but that the owners could pass down swans, and the right to use a swan-mark, to their heirs.[8]<\/a> This ensured that swan ownership remained exclusive, and that owning and indeed inheriting a swan would be a status symbol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An English swan mark from 1638, granted to John Hobart of Weybread, Suffolk, indicating the design of notches to be etched or cut into the beaks of all swans owned by him. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Swan_mark#\/media\/File:SwanMark_1638_Suffolk_England.png<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I trust he shall Cheve the better\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Spurstowe\u2019s will is eclectic: second-best beds, broken swords, and fox furs feature alongside little cows and nests of swans. His will is ultimately about upholding status: the status of a landowner with connections to the mayors and aldermen of Chester, a gentleman who owned weapons, who hunted and sparred, and\u2014the ultimate status symbol\u2014who had a Royal grant to own and bequeath swans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As befits a gentleman, there\u2019s a sense of paternal obligation and duty to his local community: he forgave many debts or unpaid rents, he left bequests of clothing or individual horses and cows to large numbers of people, including to children, and he expressed concerns about his \u2018poor tenants\u2019. Many of the conditions or caveats mentioned in the will were also about the maintenance of status and indeed, attempts to determine the fitness of those who would inherit that status. \u2018I trust he shall Cheve the better\u2019, wrote Spurstowe about his son, a word which could mean \u2018succeed\u2019 \u2018prosper\u2019 or \u2018to make one\u2019s way\u2019.[9]<\/a> Several clauses in Spurstowe\u2019s will therefore seem to mitigate his worries about his heirs \u2013 his many daughters to be married and provided for, and his only son, who was seemingly lacking in some of the qualities his father had hoped to instil, and which he had hoped would be carried forth along with the family name.<\/p>\n\n\n