Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) EditionReilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776: June 2011 (Sixth) Edition
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
"Will of William de Tonge, citizen of London: One hundred marks
[1,333s.] each to my two sons. And I will that my said two sons shall
live upon the profits of the money bequeathed to them above until the
age of twenty years. And if my said two sons be well learned in grammar
and adorned with good manners, which shall be known at the end of twenty
years, and the elder son wish to practice common law, and if it is known
that he would spend his time well in that faculty, I will that over and
above the profit of the said one hundred marks he shall have yearly from
my rents for the term of seven years five marks [67s.]. And if he should
waste his time aforesaid, or if he should marry foolishly and
unsuitably, I will that he receive nothing more of the said five marks.
And if younger son wishes to attend the University of Oxford or to
establish himself well in the mystery of a merchant after the age of
twenty years, and [if] there be knowledge of his praiseworthy progress
in his faculty or his carefulness in trading ... I will that he shall
receive five marks yearly in the manner described above for his
maintenance, over and above the profit of the said one hundred marks to
him bequeathed, for the space of seven years; and if he behave himself
otherwise, I will that thereupon he be excluded from the said five
marks. And in case the said bequest of 200 marks [2,667s.] to him and
his brother shall be annulled so that he shall have nothing therefrom
... then the said 200 marks shall be spent upon all the yearly chaplains
who can be had to celebrate divine service in the church of All Hallows
for my soul."
Most great lords were literate. Many stories described good men, who
set an example to be followed, and bad men, whose habits were to be
avoided. Stories were written about pilgrimage vacations of ordinary
people to religious sites in England. Will Langland's poem "The Vision
of William Concerning Piers Plowman" portrays a pilgrimage of common
people to the shrine of Truth led by a virtuous laborer. Mystics wrote
practical advice with transcendental teaching, for instance "Scale of
Perfection" attributed to Walter Hilton and "Cloud of Unknowing".
Richard Rolle wrote about spiritual matters, probably the "Prick of
Conscience". Richard de Bury wrote "Philobiblon" about book lovers. Jean
Froissart wrote the "Chronicles" on knights. Courtly ideals were
expressed in "Sir Gawaine and the Grene Knyght", wherein the adventures
of the hero, an Arthur knight, are allegorical in the struggle against
the world, the flesh, and the devil (1370). "Pearl" eulogized all that
is pure and innocent on the event of the death of a two year old child.
Marco Polo's book of discoveries on his journey to China was known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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