Garth, I've given it my best shot and have tried my best to decipher the left hand side of the upper part (which is very feint). Any way I hope it is of some help. 1. In dei no[m]i[ne] amen the sixt day of Apr[i]le in the yere of o[u]r lord god MCCCCClix I W[illia]m Lenge 2. of nether catton husbandman being of p[er]fecte mynd & good remembrance do make 3. this my last will & testament as in forme followeth First I give & bequeth my soull to 4. almighty god to the blessed virgen marie and to all the celestiall company of heven & my 5. body to be buried in the p[ar]ishe churche yarde of catton It[em] I bequeth to the sacrament xijd 6. It[em] [? -----] to Ric[hard] lenge my son my fermfold It[em] to the said Ric[hard] my draughting 7. [? ----------] & all things belonging to them It[em] to the said Ric[hard] I give my cropp 8. of [? -----] of the ground & vj wand[es] of [? ynge] in wilberfosse fild It[em] I give to Jane leng 9. my daughter all my shepe [? ---] ? w---e & a counter my bed & on mattresse w[i]t[h] all thing[es] 10. belonging [? -----] It I give to Rob[er]t lenge one bushell of whete & on white headed 11. stott It[em] I give to Thomas nelis my best gray Jackett It[em] I give to Jenet my daughter 12. one bushell of whete It[em] I give to Alison sanderson one bushell of whete Item to 13. Agnis my daugghter one bushell of whete It[em] I give to the said Ric[hard] one cowe Item 14. I will that the said Jane my daughter shall shifte w[i]t[h] Ric[hard] all my good[es] w[i]t[h]in the house / the residewe 15. of my good[es] my debt[es] paid & my funeralls discharged I give to the said Ric[hard] whom I make my 16. executor of this my last will & testament This being recorders of the same will & testament Rob[er]t 17. clerke John Smeton John clerke & Thomas A[?-]eth clerke & Curate ther / Et xxij die ap[ri]lis 18. anno d[omi]ni Mccccclix probat[um] fuit hui[usm]o[d]i test[ament]u[m] iurat &c Com[m]issaq[ue] fuit ad 19. mi[ini]straco[em] bonor[um] Ric[hard]o filio soli Excut[or] no[m]i[n]ato iura[men]tp &c salvo iure cuiuscu[m]q[ue] All the best Martyn (West Sussex) ----- Original Message ---- From: garth swanson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, 14 October, 2006 7:26:32 AM Subject: [OEL] A Yorks. will - 1559 - help please Hello Following my previous query about the apparently anomalous use of the name Pir, now resolved, I am posting the text of the full will with my best transcription at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/unsolved41.html I must say a big thank you to Judith who helped in assembling and posting my scanned fragments in a thoroughly professional way. I would appreciate any comments and input that listers might have. Thank you in advance. Garth - Surrey ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Martyn It was kind of you to look closely at the will and to provide such a very careful transcription. It is very satisfying to see it fill out. I have received one or two other contributions which agree very largely with your interpretation. When I have what I see as a concensus I will ask Judith to post it for all to see. I particularly appreciated the transcription of the Latin lines which I think I can interpret with my schoolboy Latin and a dictionary. Thank you very much for your help. Garth