“In the name, &c., We, Edward, eldest son of the King of England and France, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, the 7th June, 1376, in our apartment in the Palace of our Lord and Father the King at Westminster, being of good and sound memory, &c. We bequeath to the altar of Our Lady’s chapel at Canterbury two basons with our arms, and a large gilt chalice enamelled with the arms of Warren. To our son Richard the bed which the King our father gave us. To Sir Roger de Clarendon a silk bed. To Sir Robert de Walsham, our Confessor, a large bed of red camora, with our arms embroidered at each corner; also embroidered with the arms of Hereford. To Mons. Alayne Cheyne our bed of camora powdered with blue eagles. And we bequeath all our goods and chattels, jewels, &c., for the payment of our funeral and debts; after which we Will that our executors pay certain legacies to our poor servants. All annuities which we have given to our Knights, Esquires, and other our followers, in reward for their services, we desire to be fully paid. And we charge our son Richard, on our blessing, that he fulfil our bequests to them. And we appoint our very dear and beloved brother of Spain, Duke of Lancaster; the Reverend Fathers in God, William Bishop of Winchester, John Bishop of Bath; William Bishop of Asaph; our Confessor, Sir Robert de Walsham; Hugh de Segrave, Steward of our Lands; Aleyn Stokes; and John Fordham, our executors. In testimony of which we have put to this our last Will our privy seal, &c.” “Published by John Ormesheved, Clerk, in the year 1376, in the presence of John Bishop of Hereford, Domini Lewis Clifford, Nicholas Bonde, and Nicholas de Scharnesford, Knights, and William de Walsham, Clerk; and of many other Knights, Clerks, and Esquires. Proved 4 idus June, 1376.” WILL OF LADY ALICE WEST (1395) Some wills, although they cannot be called curious, are highly interesting, and excite great curiosity in the reader. For instance, Lady Alice West, widow of Sir Thomas West who fought at the Battle of Crecy, and an ancestress of the De la Warr family, by her will, dated July 15, 1395, and proved on September 1 following, bequeaths to “Johane my doughter, my sone is wyf, a masse book, and alle the bokes that I have of latyn, englisch, and frencsh, out take the forsayd matyns book that is bequeth to Thomas my sone.” Who can help wondering what books, and particularly what English books, this good old lady had at a period five years before the death of Chaucer, and nearly eighty years before the first book was printed in England? Perhaps two of them were Robert of Gloucester’s “Rhyming Chronicles of England,” and Robert Langland’s “The Vision of Piers Ploughman.” WILL OF LADY ALICE WYNDSORE (1400)