Two Chalk Wills

( 57 ) TWO CHALKE WILLS. BY AYMER VALLANCE. THE two fohowing wills, notwithstanding both, as Mr. Arthur Hussey observes, are in the usual form and contain nothing of exceptional interest, yet present a useful contribution to parochial history. Neither of them has hitherto been printed in Archceologia Cantiana. They appeared, however, so far back as 1702 in a work, now scarce and long since out of print, entitled Formulare Anglicanum, a miscehaneous compilation, by Thomas Madox, of medieval documents. The volume contains no other Kentish will. Thomas Madox does not give the source from which he obtained these two Chalke wills. That of Constance Potkyn (whose first husband was named Martyn) is otherwise unknown ; but Thomas Martyn's is preserved (IV. 129) among Rochester wills at Somerset House. " There are," writes Mr. Hussey, " several Potkyn wills of Chalke." That of John Pottkyn (1490) contains a number of bequests to the very same objects named in the wih of Thomas Martyn. There are extant the wills of one Richard Martin (1456) (who is possibly identical with the first husband of Constance Potkyn, their elder son being named Richard) and of John Martin (1495) respectively, both of the same parish and both, presumably, related to Thomas Martyn, himself, probably, says Mr. Hussey, from the Martin family, of Dartford. Whereas Thomas Martyn terms Thomas Page his " fatherin- law," he would, in modern parlance, have said " stepfather." The Pages were a family of the adjoining parish of Shorne ; and a Thomas Page died there in 1495. In John Weever's time, as recorded in his Ancient Funeral Monuments, .1631, Chalke Church contained a memorial inscription to another Martyn: " Hie iacet Willelmus Martyn, Ar. et Isabella uxor eius qui quidem 58 TWO CHALKE WILLS. Willelmus obiit 26 Maii Ann. 1416." " This Martyn," adds Weever, " was a good Benefactour to this Church, as appears in divers places in the glasse, as also in the structure." • In 1921, according to Messrs. Ralph Griffin and Mill Stephenson in their List of Monumental Brasses in Kent in 1922, Wilham Martyn's engraved plate, broken in three pieces, existed loose in the Vicarage. Since a bequest to the Rood-light occurs in both the wills transcribed below, the result of an examination of the bunding in June, 1912, may be recorded. There is no chancel arch. The width of the chancel opening, 17 ft. 4 in., would probably be the length of the rood-screen ; while the width of the nave, 20 ft. 7 in., would be the length of the rood-loft. Near the southern edge of the flat soffit of the easternmost arch of the arcade, at a distance of about 3 ft. 6 in. from the east wah of the nave, and about 12 ft. 6 in. above the floor level, are two chases, one above the other, which (if not made for the support of a post-Reformation sounding-board over the pulpit) would indicate the situation of the rood-loft. The interior of the building, however, has been so much altered and renovated that, in the absence of any remains whatever of screenwork, one cannot be quite positive of the ancient arrangements. THE WILL OP CONSTANCE POTHYN OR POTKYN, 1473. In Dei nomine Amen. Vicesimo octavo die mensis Novembris, Anno Domini mihesimo cccclxxiii. Y Custans Pothyn, hoole & fresch, make my Wihe in this maner. First I bequeth my sowle to Almyghty God, to owre blessed Lady, and to ah the Holy Company of hevyn ; my body to be beryed in Chalke chirche. Also y bequethe to the hy Auter viii d. Also to the Rode Lyght a Cowe with v Ewes. Also to orwre Lady of Pete hi Ewes. Also to the Lyght of Seynt John Baptyste iiii Ewes. Also to a Torche vi s viii d . Also to Alson Potkyn iiii quarter barly ; Also a Cowe with iiii Shepe, iiii peyre shets parte of the best, with a bord cloth of diapur, Another of playne, iii Towels TWO CHALKE WILLS. 59 of diapur with ii keverletts, iii blanketts, a mattras, a bolster, iiii pelewes, vi Candelstikes. To Marget Crippis ii Candelstikes, a peyre shetis, a quarter barly. To Thomas Harry iii quarter barly, a peyre shetis, with a blanket. To Thomas Crippe a peyre shetis. To John Martyn a peyre shetis. To every gode-child a bushel barly. The residue of my godes I will that Richard and John my Sones, myn Executours have and dispose for the helthe of my Sowle as they see that best ys. Probatum fuit presens testamentum coram nobis Officiali Roffensi apud Dertforde xxviii die mensis march, Anno Domini MccccLxxiiii; Et commissa est administracio omnium bononum infrascripte defuncte Ricardo Martyn & Johanni Martyn executoribus infranominatis, in forma juris juratis & admissis. THE WILL OE THOMAS MARTYN, 1473. In the name of God Amen. The ix day of the moneth of February, the yere of our Lord God a Mcccclxxiii; Y Thomas Martyn of the parish of Chalke in the shire of Kent; hooll of mynde & in good wit, make my testament in the manere that foluyth. First y bequethe my Sowle to Almizti God my Creatur, to our Lady Seint (Mary), & to all the blessed Seints of hevene; my body to be beryed in the Cherche of our Lady of Chalke forsaid. Item y bequethe to the hye Awter of the same Cherche, for tythes for geten xii d. Item I bequethe to the Hye Cros Lyzt v modershepe. Item to the Lyzt of Seint John in the same Cherche v modershepe. Item to the Lyzt of our Lady Pety v modershepe. Item to the Lyzts of our Lady & of Mary Magdaleyn v modershepe. Item y bequethe a blak yonge cowe to the Sustentacion of the Lyztys of Seint Anne, Seint Jame, and Seint Margarete in the forsaid Cherche. Item to the Lyght of the Lampe in the hye Chaunceh v modershepe. Item y bequethe to the reparacions of the said Cherche xxvi s viii d. Item to eche of my godchildron xii d. Item y bequethe to Margarete my Dowzter my grete bras pot, and my grettist 60 TWO CHALKE WILLS. Cawdron. Item y will that a honest Preste synge masses in the forsaid parish of Chalke for my Sowle, and for the Sowle of my Fader, and for ah my Frendys Sowlys, by halff a yere ; and y bequethe to hym for his saharye v marc. Item y bequethe to a mass book to serve in the same Cherche v marc. The Residewes of all my godes and cattels not bequethen, after my detts ben paid, my beryeng don, and thys my present Testament fulfilled, y bequethe to Alys (my) wiff, and to Margarete my Doughter. Item y will that yff hit happe the said Margarete with in the age of xvi yere deye, that y wih that the part of ah the mevabill godes to the same Margarete bequethen, remayne to Alys her Moder. Item hit is my wih that ah my bequests and ah other things that shah bee don for me be rulyd and governyd by the advys and discrescion of Thomas Page my Fader in Lawe, and of my Moder his wiff. And to this my present Testament y make and ordeyne my trewe Executors the forsaid Alys my Wiff, Stephene Charlys of Hoo, and Wilham Banaster of Derteforde ; and y bequethe to eche of theym for her Labour vi s. viii d. Also y wih that the said Thomas Page my Fader be over seer ; and y bequethe to hym for hys Labour vi s. viii d. Dat. daye and yere abovesaid. Probatum fuit presens Testamentum cum ultima voluntati Testatoris annexa coram nobis magistro Thoma Candos, Decretorum Doctore, Officiah Roffensi in Ecclesia Cathedrali Roffensi xvi die mensis Aprihs Anno Domini MccccLxxiiii, et commissa est Administracio omnium bonorum infrascripti defuncti & ejus testamentum concernentium, Ahcie uxori sue, Stephano Charlys de Hoo, & Wihelmo Banastar de Dertford, Executoribus intranominatis in forma Juris juratis & admissis. Postea dimissi sunt predicti Executores ab ulterioris Compoti reddicione quantum ad nostrum attinet officium, Salvo jure cujuscunque Registratur.