The Will of John Chambyr
Written 1486, Swaffham Prior
Consistory Court of Ely
VC 3:69, Microfilm in
Cambridge County Record Office
In the name of good Amen the yer of our
lord MCCCCLXXXVI the X day of Septembye I John Chambyr of Swafham Prior with
hole mynde and mood make my testament in ye wise ffrst I beqwethe my soule to
good allmyghty - also I beweth to the hye auter XIId also to Joannah my wyff a
cottage lying a long by the hyewey all so I will that John my eldest son make
and repayr the forsaid cottage to her behosse during ye remains of her lyff and
also I will yt my wyff dwell styll in my place to ye forsaid cottage he mend and
repayed as forsaid all I will that my wyff have the II yages in the yerd a kock and
VI henys and a hog and agarthyn for aubage and halfe the frute yt shall grow in the
orchard yearly also I will yt my wyff have fre passage to and fro to ye west and
to the bakhouse also I will that my wiff have III acre of land one acr in the
dalefelds another in the mydylfeld and the IIId in the dyche felds also I will yt
my II sonys yt is to say John and John dyght this III acres as they do ther awn
yt is to say tyllying sowying reping and garynges home and my wyff shall fynd
dong and seed and aftye her decesse of her deceasse also I beqweth I will that John my son ye
elder have one of aqr and John my son the younger anoder acrs also I will
that Margarett my dawghter have ye acre in ye dychfelds aftye ye decesse of
her moder also I beqweth John my son the elder VIII acre lands and a halfe also
I beqweth to John my son ye younger VIII acre land and a halfe and yf any of
thes dy wtout ayer male then I will yt ther part returne unto ye next ayer male
and so for to rege farther also I beqweth to John my son the elder my place
wt the closse yt I dwell in on this condyssion yt he shall kepe yerly myn obyt
and do bake III bushels of wheaht and do brew a combe of malte and VId worth of chese
al this I will have spent at my dyinge and the prest yt executes the office shall have
IIIId
and case be yt the said John or his ayers be neclygent and will not kepe
myn obyt as
aforesaid then I will that ye next ayer enter ye for said place and close and he
to do kepe ye same charge and so fouth wtout end and all other things not beqwethed
nor gewyn I gyffe and beqweth to Joannah my wife except a tabyll a chare
a spyte a douge hoke and a hoke for threp(?) lineum(?) also yf all my children die wtout ayer
male I will that my lands
and place be sold and disposed to ye church and to other god works also I
beqweth III gartes of barly to III of my children Richard Margaret and ? this is my last will
A Comment on this Will
The will of John Chambyr was written (but not proved) in 1486, the year after the battle of Bosworth Field. As such it is one of the oldest wills preserved by the Consistory Court of Ely and is written in what is probably best described as early modern English.
The handwriting on the will itself is dreadful which, when combined with the abbreviations and the phonetic spelling, has made this an extremely difficult document to transcribe. The transcription here was worked out by myself and Jean Gentry.
From John's will we can interpret some aspects of his life. He was the owner of medium-sized farmstead with at least twenty acres of land accompanying it. We know that he had an orchard, that the farm grew wheat and barley but that there must also have been cattle to produce the cheese mentioned in the will. The willed objects (a cottage by the highway, table, chair, dough hook and spit) are all consistent with the lifestyle of a better-off-than-average late mediaeval farmer.
The location of the farmstead cannot be said for certain. Most of the Chambers early activities centre around the village of Reach and the specification that there is a 'cottage by the highway' makes one think that it probably lay slightly to south of Reach where there were several main roads connecting it to Swaffham Prior and Burwell villages.
We also know something of his family life. His wife was Johanna and in 1486 he had three surviving children, John the elder son, John the younger, another son Richard and his daughter Margaret. The will would seem to indicate that John's children were old enough to fend for themselves (he mentions that the sons should farm their mother's lands like their own) and yet they have not yet produced him any grandchildren (or at least male heirs). This would indicate that his kids were probably late teens/early twenties which would mean that he married Johanna around about 1465 and that he himself was probably born in the mid-1440s.
Exactly when John died is not known, it not being known when the will was proved. It is probable that the Richard Chambre whose will was proved in 1532 was the same son Richard mentioned in this will.