Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-05
SOME ANCIENT REQUESTS
INTERESTING WILLS OF LONG AGO,
WITH QUEER LEGACIEs.
Sheets, Blankets, Pillows and Other
ed in Old Legal Instruments.


counterpaneS were frequent subjects of be-
quest in the midle ages: and one lady of
quality. Katherine, Lady Hastings. having
borrowed money Of another, Cecilia, Mar
chioness Of Dorset. wills Q5O3) that the
said Cecilia, in full contention of such sums
OF money that owe unto her have my bed
of arras, litter tester and counterpart,
which she late borrowed of me-" The cost
Illness of the materials may be estimated
from the tradition that the bed, with the
furniture. prepared for James 1 at Knowle,
cost 1900, the curtains being cloth of gold.
Requests for masses and pilgrimages
abound, and It is curious to observe to
what extent the belief in the efficacy of
vicarious performances prevailed. Thus, in
sir Roger Beauchamps will 1379}, we find
Whereas am bound to doe service on the
lnf1dels, by devise of my grandsire, Sir
Walter Beauchamp, to the expense of 200
marks. will that Roger, son to Roger, my
son, shall perform the same when he comes
OF age. The Earl of Hereford Q36D di-
reefs: chaplain of good condition be
sent to Jerusalem principally for my lady
my mother, my lord my father, and for us :
and that the chaplain be charged to say
masses by the way, at all times that he can
conveniently for the souls; and that a good
and loyal man be sent to Canterbury and
to offer there XII s. silver for us; and an
other such man to Pomfret to offer at the
tomb Of Thomas, late Earl of Lancaster
Xl s."
When LIE Balafre, Quentin Durward's
uncle. hears of the mishap that has be-
FALLEN his family, he bites off a few inches
or his gold chain, and sends them to a
monk with this message: ..TeIl nv eossin
that my brother and sister, and some 9TH
ers or my house. are all dead and gone: and
l pray him to have masses for their souls
as FAR as the value of these links will car
ry him, and to do on trust what else NAV
be necessary to free them from purgatory.
ana, marx We. as they were just-living peo-
pie and tree from all heresy, it may be that
they are well nigh out of limbo already so
that little matter may have them free Of
the retiocks; and in that case, look We, We
Will say l desire to take out the balance
OF the gold in curses upon generation
called the Ogilvies of Angusshire in what
way soever the church may best come at
them"
This is the spirit in which masses were
commonly ordered. The testators main OBJ
Ject was to get what he thought money's
I.ittleton oR sathor of the Treatise 1 ie'i on
lehures' rendered famous by Cokes COM
Ihehtary) leaves a sum of money for
masses for the souls of my feder and mo-
der, and for the soul of William Burnley, my
lather-ln-law; and for the soul of Sir Philip
chaturn, and for all souls that [ am most
eoohden to pray for" The average cost of
masses may be collected from a clausa in
the Will of Joan, Lady Gotham, in 1868:
Il Will that vii thousand masses be said
Tor my soul by the canons of Tunbruga-e
t!i!u iaHluSSe, ana the four orders of
1rlars IN London, viz, the friar preachers.
minors. Augustines and Carmelites. who
l0r SO doing shall have xxx lii s. iv d."
mis- IS rather less than three halfpence per
mass. ~
The Earl of Salisbury. the son of Henry
II by the fair Rosamond, bequeaths for the
building Of monastery Qnter alial "a
thousand sheep. three hundred muttons
lorty-elght oxen and fifteen bulls" The
Earl OF Warwick, in 1869. leaves: ."To every
church within each of my manors the best
neast "hlch should there be found in salts
faction OF my tithes forgotten and not maid
ana desire that my executors make friI
satisfaction to every man that l have in
any sort Wr"nged. The object of requests
10 the church, or for ptous uses was not
exclusively superstitious, for wills were sell
doln set aside or evaded when the priest
mood had direct interest in unfolding
them. "hAoi"iie
requests for the erection of statues and
monuments are of frequent occurrence and
the directions are sometimes both curious
ana minute, as in the will of Isabel
Countess of Warwick, In 1889: "AIso r will
that my statue be made all naked with
my mar cast backward, according to the
deslSn and model which Thomas POrcha hon
mas mas tor That purpose. with Mary Magdalen
laying her hand across, and St John the
Evangelist on the right side and St AnthO-
ny IN, ol tne leIt' at my feet scutcheon, i'm
painS my arms with those of the earl nv
husband supported by two griffins. but on
the sides thereof the statues of poor man
anu women in their poor array with their
beads in their hands, 0'A
Guichard, Earl Of Huntingdon willie that
MS heart be taken out of his body and pre
served with spices, to be deposited in the
Church of Engle The preservation of the
noble. members, especially the heart, was
frequently entOined.