Record revealed
Jane Austen’s will
Explore Jane Austen's will, in her own handwriting, which shows how the novelist planned to share her belongings with family and friends after her death.
Series
Exchequer: Treasury of the Receipt: Royal Wills
Catalogue reference: E 23
What's it about?
E 23
This series contains royal wills from the Exchequer, Treasury of Receipt.They are the original wills of Richard II (1399), Henry VII (1509) and Henry VIII (1546), as well as an interim testament - the 'second will' of Henry V (1417).E 23/4...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- E 23
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Title (The name of the record)
- Exchequer: Treasury of the Receipt: Royal Wills
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1399-1548
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series contains royal wills from the Exchequer, Treasury of Receipt.
They are the original wills of Richard II (1399), Henry VII (1509) and Henry VIII (1546), as well as an interim testament - the 'second will' of Henry V (1417).
E 23/4 contains an unrelated draft warrant and letters patent of the inspeximus of the Close Roll enrolment of Henry VIII's will. Two wills, those of Henry VII and Henry VIII, are essentially death-bed wills, although grounded in part on earlier drafts. One, that of Henry V, is an interim settlement, drawn up at a time when the king was about to depart on a military campaign, and is not a full testamentary disposition. The will of Richard II was drawn up in similar circumstances, on the eve of his departure for Ireland.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
- 4 volume(s)
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Custodial history (Describes where and how the record has been held from creation to transfer to The National Archives)
- The will of Richard II was deposited in the Exchequer in the king's own lifetime; whereas that of Henry VIII was transferred to the custody of the Exchequer only in 1566, after twenty years of controversy concerning its authenticity and dispositions concerning the succession. The archival history of all the wills confirms their uninterrupted official custody. In 1610 Arthur Agarde, deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer, specifically remarked on the preservation in the Chapel of the Pyx of the wills of Henry VII and Henry VIII. By the mid-eighteenth century, most records from the Pyx had been consolidated in the Chapter House, Westminster.
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Publication note(s) (A note of publications related to the record)
- The wills of Richard II and Henry V is published in J Nichols, Royal Wills (London 1780). The will of Henry VII is published in T Astle, The will of Henry VII (London, 1775). The will of Henry VIIl is published in Foedera, Conventiones ..., ed T Rymer (17 vols, London, 1704-1735), xv, pp 110-117.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C6522/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
393,709 records
Within the department: E
Records of the Exchequer, and its related bodies, with those of the Office of First...
You are currently looking at the series: E 23
Exchequer: Treasury of the Receipt: Royal Wills
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