THE WILL OF HUMPHREY DE BOHUN, EARL OF HEREFORD AND ESSEX, WITH EXTRACTS FROM THE INVENTORY OF HIS EFFECTS. 1319—1322.
The importance of Wills and Inventories as illustrations not only of the manners but of the arts of the middle ages has been of late so fully recognised, that no apology can be required for presenting the accompanying documents to the Members of the Archæological Institute. The will in question, although not one of the earliest extant, is perhaps one of the most interesting yet printed, considering the rank of the testator, the minuteness of the document, and the peculiarity of certain of its provisions, which we may fairly assume to be in this, as in other cases, indicative of the character of the individual. It is also a valuable addition to the series of wills of the Bohun family already published[1].
If these remarks be true of the Will, they are not less so as regards the Inventory, which is beyond doubt the most curious of its early date yet discovered. Both documents are preserved in the archives of the duchy of Lancaster, into which they passed by the marriage of Mary the second daughter and co-heir of Humphrey de Bohun, fourteenth earl of Hereford, and twelfth earl of Essex, with Henry Plantagenet, earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry the Fourth.
Dugdale has so amply and, allowing for a few inaccuracies, so well illustrated the history of the Bohuns, that it may be sufficient for the present purpose to state that the testator Humphrey de Bohun, fourth earl of Hereford of his name, and third earl of Essex, the son of that Humphrey who had distinguished himself in the Scottish wars of Edward the First, particularly by his victory at Roxburgh, was the representative of a family pre-eminent among the Anglo-Norman baronage. He married Elizabeth, seventh daughter of Edward and Alianore of Castile, and widow of John, count of Holland. This alliance which placed him in near relation to the crown, did not render him its creature, and as we find a Bohun foremost among the barons who obtained the great charter from John at Runnymead, so the subject of this notice was among the first in opposition to the mischievous favourites of his brother-in-law Edward the Second. The league which he formed with Thomas earl of Lancaster, against Piers Gaveston,
- ↑ In the Collection of Royal Wills. 4to. 1780.
