0 someone who makes a will: --
The law restricts a testator's freedom to distribute property.
The last three cases are unusual in that, although the testators had children of their own, they preferred their estate to be inherited by others.
Indeed, in most instances, the number and size of the saints possessed by the testator had a direct correlation with the individual's wealth and status.
Finally, the only beneficiary named by 3 per cent of testators was a spouse (no kinship link).
How far could the wishes of the testator be overridden in the wider public interest?
Dissecting the documents she shows their structural components, draws out general trends concerning the age and origins of the testators, and discusses their legal context.
Nor does the register of names give a lot of help, for it just lists the 47 testators.
Many testators were in their dotage, of course, but a good proportion died young, still apprenticed, perhaps mentioning parents, siblings and, sometimes, a betrothed.
The status of about a quarter of the testators was not identified.
