Statute of Wills

[Phoenix]

There was a huge upset in the tudor period, when Henry VIII introduced some new laws relating to inheritance. I know everything was in limbo for about four years, but can't remember the exact sequence.

Googling suggests that the statute of wills allowed you to leave land to whom you pleased but I know there was previous legislation that created the mess and I can't remember what it was.



OC, can you help on this?

[Olde Crone Holden]

Phoenix

No, not in any informed way, lol!

However - Henry overrode Danelaw and the other regional ecclesiastical laws regarding wills and inheritance, I do remember that.

As far as I can remember without checking, the statute of wills wasn't 100% successful and church overcame state for many years.

It is my experience that primogeniture continued until the late 1800s, but whether that was by choice or by custom I cannot tell.

I'll have a bone up on this if I can find my useful book and come back later.

OC

[Olde Crone Holden]

Well, from what I can gather, the Statute of Wills was a compromise law which ended the years of confusion which followed the previous law which had set up a department for dealing with feofees. This previous law was just a good way for the Crown to get its hands on any money floating around.

The Statute of Wills, allowing land to be inherited by anyone, only applied to landowners who paid Knights Fees (the top gentry in other words)and not to anyone else. So primogeniture continued for everyone else until the 1800s.

The Statute of Wills only allowed a certain proportion of lands to be willed, erm, willy nilly, lol, not all of an estate.

OC