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Baddesley Clinton, Wolston, Marston, Wappenbury, co. Warwick, Woolsthorpe, co. Lincoln, and cos. Bedford, Northampton and Berkshire

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Memorandum that on 28 June 2 Edward IV [1462] Thomas Yonge acknowledged in Chancery that on Tuesday the Morrow of St. Martin the Bishop 16 Henry VI [12 November 1437] he with other persons was in the New Temple `infra barras' of London, when Nicholas Metley was there taken ill and declared his will which was written down on paper in the following terms. The said Nicholas after bequesting his soul to God and his body to be buried in the church of the Blessed Mary called the Temple in London, directed that his manors of Wolfrageston [Wolston] and Merston [Marston] in co. Warwick should be held by Joan his wife for the term of her life, and that the said Joan should provide for the upbringing of their daughter Margaret and for her marriage when she came of age according to the advice of Robert Catesby one of the executors of the will of the said Nicholas. The said Joan was also to pay to Nicholas Jones and others £200 from the sum of £412 which the said Nicholas and Joan received from the said Nicholas Jones and others in the King's Court by writ of transgression, so that upon the death of the said Joan the said manors might pass freely and completely to the said Margaret and her heirs for ever. Next he directed that 100 marks should be given as a marriage portion to his bastard son, 100 shillings to Richard Tewkesbury his clerk, 20 shillings to Brother William [Mildenhale] his confessor, and that his executors should reward all those persons who attended him in his sickness. Next he directed that his manor of Baddesley and his moiety of the manor of Wapenbury in co. Warwick, and also his moiety of the manor of Wollesthorpe, co. Leicester [Woolsthorpe, co. Lincoln] should be sold and the money used to provide four chaplains to say masses for his soul and the souls of his ancestors for one whole year after his death, or else to provide two chaplains for two years after his death, also that one other chaplain should be appointed at the church of Baddesley for one year, that his executors should give special alms in the church of Wollefrageston in memory of his soul and the souls of his parents, and that from this money and the sale of his moveable goods, when all debts had been paid, his executors should distribute £100 in alms to the poor engaged in agriculture and for the repair of roads and bridges. Next he directed that his lands and tenements with a mill in Berkshire and his lands in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire were to be held to the use of the sons of John Metley his brother, according to the advice of Margaret Metley his mother, and lastly he directed that the rest of his goods were to be disposed of by his executors for the good of his soul and all Christian souls in such a manner as the said executors would wish to answer for before God. The said Margaret Metley, mother of the said Nicholas Metley, the said Joan Metley, wife of the said Nicholas, and the said Robert Catesby were appointed executors of the said will. The memorandum continued that the said will as thus recited by the said Nicholas Metley and written down on paper as aforesaid was then delivered to John Joyce, servant of the said Thomas Yonge, to be translated into the venacular. The said Thomas Yonge affirmed that the said Nicholas Metley made his will in this way and no other in the presence of Robert Rodes, Brother William [Mildenhale], then Master of the said Temple, John Hody and many other worthy and discrete men. Endorsed: 1. [In a contemporary hand along left edge-almost illegible] ... Nich' Metley 2. [In the hand of Edward Ferrers c. 1630] Nicholas Metley his will for the sale of Badessly other manners in the county of Warr' or else where: W supt; suph; y supe; othes of Thomas Yonge fryer Will' Mildenhale in y supe; Chauncery to be the true will testamente of Nicholas Metly: Edward regis 4.2. Anno 1437: 3. [c.1839] 12 November 1437 - Will of Nicholas Metley directing the Sale of Baddesley by his Executors Margaret Metley his mother, Robert Catesby and Joan his wife as proved by Thomas Young and William Mildenhale Master of the New Temple in the Court of Chancery. It seemeth that it had been prepared and taken to be engrossed - and was so proved in Chancery. [320a]