“Will of Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, dated at Warwick Castle, Monday next after the Feast of St. James the Apostle, 1315. My body to be buried in the Abbey of Bordsley, without any funeral pomp; to Alice, my wife, a proportion of plate, with a crystal cup and half my bedding, and also all the vestments and books belonging to my Chapel; the other half of my beds, rings, and jewels, I bequeath to my two daughters; to Maud, my daughter, a crystal cup; to Elizabeth, my daughter, the marriage of Astley’s heir; to Thomas, my son, my best coat of mail, helmet, and suit of harness, with all that belongs thereto; to John, my son, my second coat of mail, helmet, and harness; and I Will that all the rest of my armour, bows, and other warlike implements, shall remain in Warwick Castle for my heir.” DUKES OF LANCASTER (1360) Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who died in 1360, thus begins the second clause of his will: “Item: we will _that our body be not buried_ for three weeks after the departure of our soul.” (1399) John, Duke of Lancaster, better known as John of Gaunt, directs as follows in his will: “If I die out of London I desire that, the night my body arrives there, it be carried direct to the Friars Carmelites, in Fleet Street, and the next day be taken straight to St. Paul’s, and _that it be not buried for forty days_, during which I charge my executors that there be no embalming of my corpse.” WILL OF SIR ROBERT LAUNDE (1367) “Will of Sir Robert Launde, alias Atte Launde, Knt., Citizen of London, on our Lady’s Eve, 1367. My body to be buried in the quire of St. Mary’s, of the Charterhouse in London; to Christian, my wife; to Ada Launde, my mother; to Robert Watfield, late my servant, c _l._; to Rose Pomfret, my sister, of Berdfield, CXL _l._; to Richard, her son, and William, her brother; to Margaret Biernes, their sister; to Margaret, her sister, married to Aksted; to Agnes, my niece, at Hallewell; to the high altar of Hempsted, in Essex; to the poor there, by gift of Robert Watfield; to Joane Launde, of Cambridgeshire; to my noble Lady the Countess of Norfolk; to John Southcot, to find him at school; to the building of the cross in Cheapside; and I appoint Sir John Philpot, Knt., overseer of this my Will.” WILL OF LADY JOAN DE COBHAM (1369) “Will of Joan De Cobham, of Starburghe. August 13, 1369. My body to be buried in the church-yard of St. Mary Overhere, in Southwark, before the church door, where the image of the blessed Virgin sitteth on high over that door: and I Will that a plain marble stone be laid over my body.