Help reading 16th century will

[Higgler67]

Any help completing this transcription would be appreciated, or corrections.
Link to document:

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Ar71XRq7mht0i1VWascf0D_gDrkV

In dei — Amen the xxixth day of August in the year of our
lord god 1587. I John Brockway of Donhead St Andrew in then
countie of Wiltes being of good and [perfect?] mynde and memory ____
____ praise be given unto almighty god do make this my last
will & testament in name and _____ following. First I remand
my soul onto the hand of Almighty god my ____and ____
____ my body to be buried in the _____ _____ of D_____
_____. Item I give to the ____ ____ ____ ____. Item I give
to the poore people of the ____ ____ ____ ____. Item I give to
Margaret ______ my daughter one yearling calf. Item I
give to ____ ____ my daughter one ____ ____ ____
____ ____. Item give to my ____ daughters that be
married to each of them ____ to be ____ ____ ____ ____
____ of ____ ____ ____ ____ eight of their marriage
days if they happen to be married before ____ ____. Item I
____ ____ Anne my wife ____ but my ____ daughters
____ ____ all of my house ____ within my house together
with ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ but my wife to ____ ____
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ during her natural life
after ____ ____ ____ estate ____ to be equally
divided betwixt them or the ____ of them together with
____ ____ of the ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
____ ____ of my ____ wife. ____ ____ ____ all my
good moveable and ____ ____ ____ and ____.

[wimsey]

... laud and praise be given unto Almighty God ... (as in the hymn "All Glory, laud, and honour")

in the sentence after the yearling calf I should think we have "one bullock"

[wimsey]

.... last will and testament in name and figure following .. (i.e. number of items) ?

... goods moveable and immoveable ...

[janbooth]

"laud and praise be given"
"manner and form following"
"Almighty God my Creator and Redeemer"
"body to be buried in the parish church of D"
"I give to the same church"
"I give to the poore people of the same parish"
"I give to Margaret Henbury my daughter"
"I give to Warborough Page my daughter one bullock of the ? of two years"
"I give to my fyve daughters that be unmarried to every of them ...... (2 cows?) to be delivered unto them at the ? of twenty years or at either of their marriage days if they happen to be married before that ?"
"I give unto Anne my wife and unto my fyve daughters unmarried all my household stuff within my house together with the lease of the same house but my wife to have the use of the same stuff and lease during her natural life"
"After whose decease the said household stuff to be equally divided betwixt them or the survivors of them together with so many years of the said lease as remayne unexpired at the decease of my said wife"
"The residue of all my goods moveable and unmoveable lyving (leaving?) rents and debts"

I think the word I have queried could be perhaps another word for "age".

Hope this helps.

Janet

[arthurk]

Just to add to Janet's reply:

"body to be buried in the parish church of D"

Dunhedd aforsaid

Here (start of line 8 in original) and in many other places the writer uses a different form of the letter 'a' - see 'and' at the start of lines 4 & 7. This also explains the following:

"I give to Warborough Page my daughter one bullock of the ? of two years"....

"I give to my fyve daughters that be unmarried to every of them ...... (2 cows?) to be delivered unto them at the ? of twenty years or at either of their marriage days if they happen to be married before that ?"

I think the word I have queried could be perhaps another word for "age".

Yes - in fact it's just a variant spelling - 'aige'. The same 'a' appears before 'cowe', so they're just getting one each.

[Higgler67]

Janbooth, Wimsey and Arthurk,
Bravo and thank you very much giving of your time! Now it’s looking like a real will:

In dei — Amen the xxixth day of August in the year of our
lord god 1587. I John Brockway of Dunhedd St Andrew in the
countie of Wiltes being of good and [perfect?] mynde and memory laud
and praise be given unto almighty god do make this my last
will & testament in manner and form following. First I remand
my soul onto the hand of Almighty god my ____creator & redeemer
____ my body to be buried in the parish church of Dunhedd
_____. Item I give to the same church ____ ____. Item I give
to the poore people of the same parish ____ ____. Item I give to
Margaret Henbury my daughter one yearling calf. Item I
give to Warborough Page my daughter one bullock of the
aige of two years. Item give to my fyve daughters that be
unmarried to every of them 2 cows to be delivered unto them att
the of twenty years or att either of their marriage
days if they happen to be married before that ____. Item I
give unto Anne my wife and unto my fyve daughters
unmarried all of my household stuff within my house together
with the lease of the same house but my wife to have the
use of the same stuff and lease during her natural life
after whose decease the said household stuff to be equally
divided betwixt them or the survivors of them together with
so many years of the said lease as remayne unexpired att
the decease of my said wife. The residue of all my
goods moveable and unmoveable lyving rents and debts.

[elsinore]

Not sure what the actual word is but should the opening phrase translate as “In the name of God, Amen”

Almighty God my ? Creator and Redeemer.....I don't think there is another word there.

…..and my body..........

…..aforesaid.

Don't know what he gave to the church or the poor people but it looks like they got the same!

…..before that aige.


Peter

[wimsey]

"in the name of God" would be in nomine dei, but it doesn't even look like in dei nomine

I wonder which daughter thought she got the best deal

[arthurk]

A few more bits - note that some words are contracted, as marked by a line above the word/letters where the contraction has taken place. This is common in writing of that period. I've written the words in full here, with the omitted letters in [square brackets].

In dei — Amen

In dei no[m]i[n]e Amen

being of good and [perfect?] mynde

The first character in the word that looks like 'pfitt' is one of a group of contractions specific to the letter 'p'. This one stands for 'per', or sometimes 'par'. At that period I think this word could have been spelled either 'perfitt' or 'parfitt', and the modern form is 'perfect'.

my soul onto the hand of Almighty god my ____creator & redeemer

written 'my soule into the hande of Almightie god my creator and rede[e]m[er]' (Superscript 'r' at the end of 'creator')

Item I give to the same church ____ ____.

a vjs viijd - using Roman numerals and old money, 6s 8d (a third of a pound)

Item I give to the poore people of the same parish ____ ____.

Similarly, a iijs iiijd (3s 4d)

Many of the words and phrases in the first part of the will are standard ones which crop up time and again, so once you've seen a few, it's easier to make out the ones where the handwriting is more challenging.

[Higgler67]

A few more bits - note that some words are contracted, as marked by a line above the word/letters where the contraction has taken place. This is common in writing of that period. I've written the words in full here, with the omitted letters in [square brackets].


In dei no[m]i[n]e Amen


The first character in the word that looks like 'pfitt' is one of a group of contractions specific to the letter 'p'. This one stands for 'per', or sometimes 'par'. At that period I think this word could have been spelled either 'perfitt' or 'parfitt', and the modern form is 'perfect'.


written 'my soule into the hande of Almightie god my creator and rede[e]m[er]' (Superscript 'r' at the end of 'creator')


a vjs viijd - using Roman numerals and old money, 6s 8d (a third of a pound)


Similarly, a iijs iiijd (3s 4d)

Many of the words and phrases in the first part of the will are standard ones which crop up time and again, so once you've seen a few, it's easier to make out the ones where the handwriting is more challenging.

This is clearly not your first time to a 16th-century-manuscript-will-rodeo! Thank you very much!