Fifty earliest English wills in the Court of Probate, London : A. D. 1387-1439 : with a priest's of 1454 / copied and edited from the original registers in Somerset House by Frederick J. Furnivall

JOHN TOKER, OF LONDON, VINTNER, 1428.

[To be buried in St. Mildred's, Bread St. Gifts to that Church, its Priest, Clerk, &c.; to Poor, to Prisoners in London and Westminster, to the Poor in Spitals, and the 4 Orders of Friars. To Apprentice H. Thomason, money, the rest of his apprenticeship, term in The Mermaid, Bread St. [after, SHAKSPERE'S Tavern], Wine, Silver Cups, Pewter Pots, Napery, and kitchen utensils, and the service of his fellow-apprentice, who is given 40s. Clothing to be sold, and money divided among bedrid folk, &c. Gifts for poor Maiden's Marriages, for Executors, for a Priest to sing 3 years for Testator's soul; to which his Residue is bequeathd.]

(More, 3 Commissary Court of London, leaf 202 bk.)

[leaf 202 bk.]

[In margin.] M. Bred̛. [St. Mildred's, Bread Street.] Testamentum Iohannis Toker̛. Ciuis & Vinetarii Londonie.

In the name of god, Amen. I, Ioℏn Toker, Citezein and Vineter of London̄, hool of mynde and of body, And in my good memorie being, the sixte day of the moneth of August, the ȝere of oure lord̛ god A MlCCCC And xxviij, And the ȝere of the regne of Kyng Henri the Sixthe, aftur the conquest the sixte, I make and ordeigne my present testament in this maner and fourme. First I be-quethe my soule to almygℏti god my creatour and maker, And to his blessed modur oure lady saynte Marie, and to aƚƚ the holy companye of heuene, and my body to be buried in the chirche of Seynt Mildredis, in Brede Stret in London̄. Also I be-quethe to the hygℏ auter of the same Chircℏe for my tythes and offrynges forgȝeten and withdrauien, xl s'. Also I be-quethe to euery prest of the forseid Chircℏ, forto praie for my sowle, vj s' viij d̛. Also I be-quethe to the Clerk of the same Chirche, iij s' iiij d̛. Also I be-quethe to the werkis and profitis of the seied chirche, xiij s'

iiij d̛. Also I be-quethe to be distribued among poure folk duellyng in the forseid pariscℏ of Seynt Mildred, forto pray for my sowle, xl s'. Also I be-quethe to be distribued a-mong prisoners in the prisons of Ludgate, Marchalsie, Kyngesbenche, And the Countours in London̄, that is to seie, in euery of the seid prison[s], the prisoners to praie for my soule, xx. s'; And a-mong the prisoners in the Flete, and the Clerkes conuict at Westminster, that is to seie, in euery of tho two prisons, to pray for my soule, x s' [In margin is 'habent Acquietanciam,' that is, the Executors hav paid the Court dues on the Will.] Also I be-quethe to be distribued a-mong pore folk lying sike in the Spiteƚƚ of oure lady ['Saint Marie Spittle': Stow's Survey, 1633, p. 175-6.It had 'at the surrender thereof [to Henry VIII] ninescore beds, well furnished for receipt of poore people.'—p. 86 b. Stow notes 'the Charnell and Chappell of Saint Edmond the Bishop, and Mary Magdalen,' p. 176, col. 1. Cp. 'Charnel' abuv, p. 75, l. 16.] su witℏ-oute Bisshopes-gate, Oure lady of Bedlem, Oure lady of Elsingspitel, [ In Cripplegate: see Stow's Survey, 1633, p. 86 b, 304 a.] of seynt Bathilmewys in Smythfeeld̛, And seint Thomas in Sowthwerk, in euery spitel to pray for my sowle, vj s' viij d̛. Also I be-quethe to the fowre ordres of the freres in London̄, that is to seie, to euery hous of the seide ordurs of freres forto pray for my soule, xx. s'./ Also I be-quethe Tho Henry Thommissone, myn apprentice, vj ƚi, xiij s', iiij d̛, And also I forgȝeff and relece to the seid Henry alle his termes to me comyng of his apprentisehod̛. Also I wiƚƚ that the same Henry haue alle the termes and possession̄ that is comyng to me of my mancion that is cleped the descriptionOpen pageMermaid in Bredstreet, beryng the charges and the rentes ther-of duryng the seide termys. Also I wil that the same Henry haue in possession̄ to his profite and easment duryng an hool ȝere next aftur myn obit day, Alle the encrece that is comyng of my wyne a-boue the stok, And more ouer aƚƚ my peces and kuppes of siluer, peuder pottes, Naapri, and aƚƚ the vtensilmentes longyng to my kechyn, as for that forsaid ȝer enduryng. Also I wil that this reward̛ be truly doon̄ and treuly fulfeld̛ to the same Henry vp-on this, that he gouerne hym goodly and onestly as he oweth forto do, aftur the rewle and discrecioun of myne executours. Also I wil that the same Henri haue aƚƚ the termes comyng to me of .

Henry Clopton̄, myn other apprentice. And also I be-quethe to that same Henry Clopton̄ xl s'. Also I wil that myn aray and clothyng to my body longyng, a-non̛ aftur my deces be sold̛, And the monei ther-of comyng & taken, I wil that hit be deuided and parted among pouere folk lieng bedred, and in other werkes of charite most plesyng to god and to the helthe of my soule. Also I ȝiue and bequethe to the mariage of onest and poure maidens, to be distribued a-mong hem aftur the wil and discrecion of myn executours, xiij ƚi .vj s'. viij d̛. Also I bequethe to euericℏ of myn executours takyng charge to compleet and to do execucion̄ of this my present testament, v. ƚi. Also I wil that a discreet and an abul preest be choson aftur the good discrecion̄ of myne execucutours [so] to syng and rede for my sowle and aƚƚ criston soules in the forseid chircℏ of seynt Mildredis duryng the termys of thre ȝer next suwyng aftur my deces. And I be-quethe to the sustentacion of that seide preest for the forseid terme of thre ȝer, xx. ƚi. The residue of aƚƚ my godes and catalles and dettours, what so-euer they be aftur my dettes paide and my present testament fulfillid, I be-quethe to be distribued and departed for my sowle, and for the soules of aƚƚ tho that I am boond̛ to praye for, And for the soules of aƚƚ trewe criston pepul, like as myn executours seme best, to plese god, and profit to the helthe of my soule. And of this my present testament, I make and ordeigne myn executours, that is to seie, Richard̛ Banaster And Edmond̛ Scheffild̛, Citezins and vineters of the forsaid cite, aƚƚ and euericℏ aboue expressid, iustly to complete, and treuly to spede. In witnesse of the whiche thyng, on this my present testament I haue put my seal. Date at London̄ the day and the yer aforesaid.

Probatum fuit hoc presens testamentum coram nobis Willelmo Stonham & c̘, Commissario Reuerendi in christo patris & domini domini Willelmi, dei gratia Londonie Episcopi & c̘, generali, iijo nonarum Septembris Anno domini Ml cccco xxviijo. Approbatum, insinuatum, ac pro eodem per nos legitime pronunciatum; & Comissa est Administracio omnium bonorum dictum [so] defuncti & c̘ Executoribus interius nominatis, et Admissa per &c c̘.

Notes

• p. 78, l. 19. The Mermaid.

  —"As early as the fifteenth century, it was one of the haunts of the pleasure-seeking Sir John Howard, whose trusty steward

  

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  records, anno 1464:—'Paid for wyn at the Mermayd in Bred Stret, for my mastyr and Syr Nicholas Latimer, x d. ob.' [? Howard Household Books, Roxb. Club]. In 1603, Sir Walter Raleigh established a literary club in this house, doubtless the first in England. Among its members were Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Selden, Carew, Martin, Donne, Cotton, &c.; . . . There was another Mermaid in Cheapside, frequented by Jasper Mayne, and in the next reign by poet laureate, John Dryden. Mayne mentions it in 'The City Match' (1638):—'I had made an ordinary,Perchance at the Mermaid.'"The sign was also used by printers. John Rastall, for instance, brother-in-law of Sir Thomas More, 'emprynted in the Cheapesyde at the sygne of the Meremayde, next to Poulysgate, in 1527;' and in 1576 a translation of the History of Lazarillo de Tormes, dedicated to Sir Thomas Gresham, was printed by Henry Binnemann, the queen's printer, in Knightrider Street, at the sign of the Mermaid."—

  Hist. of Signboards