MARVODIA - AN ACCOUNT OF THE LAST ILLNESS OF JAMES I AND OF THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION; NOTES ON THE MARWOODS
MARVODIA
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LAST ILLNESS OF JAMES I AND OF THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION OF HIS BODY, FROM A MS. LONG IN THE POSSESSION OF THE MARWOODS OF HONITON;
TO WHICH ARE APPENDED SOME NOTES IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE MARWOODS AND OF THEIR DESCENDANTS.
By WILLIAM MUNK, M.D., F.S.A.,
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
to which, in 2021, a rough English translation
of the Latin text has been added
The following account of the last illness of James I, and of the post-mortem examination of his body, is now printed, and for the first time, from a MS. which was long in the possession of the Marwoods of Honiton, co. Devon, and jealously preserved by them and their descendants among the family archives.
The Marwoods were an Æsculapian family, that gave not fewer than five physicians to Honiton and its immediate neighbourhood. Of these, one — Thomas Marwood, the founder of the family — was so renowned, that he was summoned from Honiton to London by Queen Elizabeth to attend the Earl of Essex when his cure was despaired of; and another of the family — Thomas Marwood also, the grandson of the one just referred to — is traditionally stated to have been for some time about the Court of James I, to have been along with the physicians in ordinary in medical attendance on the King during his last illness, and present at the examination of his body after death; and to be the author of the following report.
The MS. volume which contains the report is a medical case book, or rather, with the exception of the account of the King, a mere copy of the prescriptions used for the writer's patients. There is nothing in the volume itself to identify the writer of it. The name of Marwood does not once occur in it, and on a minute examination of the volume there are circumstances that raise a suspicion whether it was really the work of a Marwood. But, it has always been believed to be so by the Marwood family — there is no record or knowledge as to how or whence the volume was derived — it had been time out of mind among the family archives — and has always been believed by its possessors, to be the work of that member of their family, who, according to a uniform tradition among themselves, was for some time in London and employed in his medical capacity about the Court of James I. The late Sir Edward Marwood Elton, Bart., the last possessor of the volume, has made the following memorandum on the inside of the cover: —
Edwd. Marwood Elton."
Be this as it may, the historic value and interest of the report is in no degree diminished. It bears intrinsic evidence of being the work of a medical man, and that its author was present during the illness of the King and at the examination of the body after death. It supplies a fuller and more connected account of the King's habits, illness, and death than has yet appeared, and it contrasts favourably with the gossiping and sensational accounts of some of the persons who were about the Court. It shows conclusively that James I died not of poison as was surmised by a few, but of a tertian ague rendered pernicious and fatal by the King's gross and generally diseased state of body, and by his refusal to submit himself to his physicians and to the medical treatment which his disease indicated, and the general condition of his body rendered necessary.1
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RELATIO BREVIS morbi et mortis cum serie causarum morbificarum serenissimi magnæ Britan. Regis Jacobi piissimæ memoriæ domini nostri clementissimi, qui vicessimo septimo die Martii Anno Domini 1625, ex hac mortali et ærumnosa ad felicem et perennem, Deo optimo maximo miserante, vita commigravit.
Serenissimo Regi partes omnes principales satis laudabili a natura temperie donatas fuisse verisimile est, ætatis tamen decursu plurimis in victu erroribus, et causarum externarum appulsu, ab illa mediocritate multum defluxisse plane constat.
Cerebrum enim humidius et calidius repletioni et catarrhis obnoxium erat, frigida et humida maxime tempestate et flante austro.
Hepar intensius calidum, bilis erat feracissimum.
Lien succo melancholico frequentius turgidus tetros vapores et fuligines expirabat, a quibus corde, reliquisque partibus vitalibus læsis, pulsus sæpe intermissio, cordis palpitatio et alia gravissima symptomata melancholica frequenter ejus majestat' affligebant.
Cor calidissimum plurimo egebat refriger[io], nec nisi aperto ære Rex unquam bene sese habuit.
ln eodem caloris excessu cum corde conspirabant pulmones fervidissimi, qui frequentissime materiam fuliginosam, atram, adustam per tussim exufflabant.
Ventriculus justo frigidior, flatu et fluctuatione ingestorum sæpissime, distentus, cruditatis manifesta signa præbuit, unde generosi vini continuus usus.
Huic partium intemperiei accedebant errata in victu quam plurima, licet omni in cibo satis moderatus erat, defectu tamen dentium cum/eum non masticabat sed integrum deglutiebat, in fructuum etiam horariorum usu gravissime offendebat, quos sine ullo ordine quavis hora diei et noctis commedebat.2
ln potu omnimodo peccavit, promiscue bibens alam, cervisiam, vinum Hispanicum, Gallicum, dulce, album, qui ipsi familiaris potus erat ut plurimum crassum et turbidum; his de causis
uberrimus vitiosorum humorum proventus accidebat, bilis scilicet in hepate, pituitæ in ventriculo, in liene melancholiæ, cum renes imbecilliores essent, et calculis et arenulis sæpius infarcti, licet urinæ
satis laudabiles apparebant, tamen pro poculentorum ingestione frequenti et quantitate insigni parcius quam par esset sæpius accidebant, unde reliqui humores maxima seri copia permisti facilius in venas et corporis habitum
transierunt, et ad artus tandem primo ortu debilissimos frequenter decumbentes dolores arthriticos excitare soliti sunt.
Rex præterea violentissimis venationis exercitiis deditus cum ante annos aliquot, ingravescente jam ætate, et præpeditus tibiarum arthriticarum imbecillitate, multo quietior redditus esset et plus justo jacens [?] excrementorum coacervationi maxima occasio data est, idque magis quod a medicamentis evacuantibus quæ debito tempore exhibita, (sine dubio naturam tanta sarcina salubriter exonerassent) ab omnibusque aliis auxiliisque medicis semper alienissimus erat. Est certo certius nisi benignissima natura ejus majestatis profusa diarrhoea sæpius sublevasset, et humoribus liquidis putridis fæditissimis maxima copia per alvum excretis, vires tanto succubiissent oneri et medicorum omnium opinione diu antehac in gravissimum aliquem morbum cum non minori discrimine multoties Rex incidisset.3
Hieme præterita solito multo erat parcior ipse fluor, nec hæmorrhoides adeo copiose noxium humorem perfundebant, neque adeo graves dolores juncturarum aut longi, sed cito
et facile evanescentes, indicium segniorem redditam fuisse naturam, viresque debiliores, unde major abundantia peccantium congesta humorum, qui, tanquam hostes ferocissimi in insidiis latitantes, cum majori impetu (occasione
data) erupturi essent, quod malum certe acceleravit Regis animus, maximis curis detentus et gravissimis distractus negotiis, dum pro pace et tranquillitate totius orbis Christiani continuo sollicitus erat, unde summa spirituum
dissipatio et virium sequuta est dissolutio.
ln tanto morboso apparatu, humorumque vitiosorum congesta colluvie, constitutione epidemica, febribus malignis et mali moris passim grassantibus, Die Martii 4to invasit febris, quæ primo insultu febrem tertianam intermittentem omnino referebat cum frigore enim et horripilatione inci[pi]ebat, post duas circiter horas succedebat
calor et in declinatione sudebat nec ultra duodecim horas perseverabat. Primis diebus mitiores erant paroxismi, putrescente tantum et accensa tenuiore bili, et febris cum ad perfectam quietem perveniret, sccuritatem polliceri
videbatur. Cum vero Rex omnium impatientissimus4, nec in principio accessionis a potu abstinere, nec in statu caloris vehementiam et molestiam sine continua corporis
jactatione et refrigeratione sustinere, neque sudorem in declinatione ullo modo perferre, imo nec a vino penitus abstinere, nec quicquam de auxiliis medicis audire voluerit, omnia vehementiora facta sunt; post tertiam accessionem
pulsus valde intermittere cæpit, alternis fere ictibus, moto in liene succo melancholico, et fluctuante in sinistro hypochondrio plurimo flatu.
Rex tristis, anxius, suspirabundus, nullo modo se consolari potuit, imo animum plane despondere visus est, medici interim ilium periculi admonebant, et ut sibi consuleret humillimis præcibus rogabant; nam licet febris ista febris sua natura non adeo videbatur periculosa, omnem tamen febrem morbum esse magnum nee vacare periculo, præsertim in sene, asserebant, et posse (nisi evitentur errata) suam naturam mutare et ex intermittente simplici duplicem aut continuam fieri.
Quibus permota sua majestas et persuasa, clysterem primo sed satis ægre admisit5, qui cum alvus esset pigrior aliquoties repetitus; urinæ aliquantulum tinctæ erant sed non pro ratione morbi, in quibus rudimenta concoctionis post quartum paroxismum apparuerunt.
Post quintum, exhibitum medicamentum leniens et benignum ex senna, rheo, tamarindis et manna satis feliciter septies vel octies illum purgabat; sanguis per hyrudines e venis sedalibus
extractus, cum a venæsectione in brachio omnino abhorreret.
Cucurbitulæ cum multa flama contra symptoma melancholicum sinistro hypochondrio adhibitæ unde se plurimum juvari sentiebat, easque aliquoties reiterari jubebat Epithema
ex cordialibus temperatis regioni cordis applicatum. Julapia refrigerantia ex decoctione hordei, cichorei, aceto-sellæ, cornu cervi, floribus calendulæ, cum syrupo de succo citri et aceto-sellæ a principio
præscripta, aliquando tin[c]tura violarum et garyophillorum spiritu vitrioli extracta, pariter et juscula alterata cum refrigerantibus et aperientibus, in quibus dissoluta magister' perlarum et corallorum salprunell'
in cervisia dissolutis. Jecori contemperantia et refrigerantia adhibitis et clysteri frequenti alvus sollicitata, quibus præsidiis contra tam morbum quam accidentia strenue pugnatum, sed — proh dolor! — superabat
remedia omnia, malum magis magisque ferociens, paroxismi deveniebant protensiores multo pleni laboris et molestiæ, sudor nullus universalis sed tantum circa caput, collum et supremum pectus copiosus ac sæpe frigidus,
pulsus celerior, crebrior, debilior factus est, et respiratio laborissima regem defatigabat, et sitis ardentissima cui cum impedita erat deglutitio a vitio ei conato, jamque ex siccitate faacium6
aucta, satisfacere copioso satis potu nullo modo licuerit, reluctante sæpius e ventriculo flatu et descendentis liquoris filum filum [sic] impetu repellente, linguæ aderat scabrities et ariditas, et ob internum
ferocissimum incendium, et præcordiorum a vaporibus melancholicis coarctationem et oppressionem, frequens in animi deliquium propensio, et licet tandem post viginti aut plures horas febris secuta sit intermissio, et
quies in pulsu, satis tamen semper affligebat viriumque secuta est prostratio, gravedo etiam sopor et urinarum incerta mutatio, in quibus apparebant signa concoctionis subito evanescentia, obscuram et occultam malignitatem
indicabant.
Post undecimum paroxismum cum de reiterando cathartico medici statuissent, alvus sponte fluxit et triginta plusquam vicibus eodem die biliosa, adusta, putrida excrevit, quod cum euphoria et aliquo virium levamine, cum factum esset, spes non exigua suborta est omnia futura leniora et sequentem paroxismum mitiorem, qui tamen contra spem et præter rationem tanta sævitia tam longo frigore et horrore et tam crudeli incendio adortus est, ut debiliores vires tam inæquali incertamini impares, post longam tamen et difficilem pugnam penitus succubuerunt, loquela defecerit et pulsus, cum dejectionibus plurimis nigris et sudore diaphoretico, in quo conflictu per quadraginta fere horas permanens, frustra tentatis omnibus auxiliis, tandem regis — regum omnium Christianissimi, justissimi, prudentissimi — piissima anima ex terreno hoc ergastulo, non sine maximo suorum omnium moerore et perfusissimis lachrimis, in æternum (?) gaudium ad Jesum Christum redemptorem evolavit, die Martii vicesimo septimo Anno Domini 1625.
Die sequenti, aperto corpore, partibusque internis diligenter inspectis, satis earum dispositio inventa est.
Jecur foris multis in locis limis et maculis lividis variegatum, intus vero exangue, pene siccum et aridum, partim a febrili calore, partim a fervidiore diu antehac contracta intemperie.
Lien magnitudine debita sed adeo laxus, mollis, male cohærens et diffluxus, ut, et ad visum et tactum plane putridus apparuerit, cruore atro et melancholico repletus erat; vesicula
fellis bile adusta, crassa, et instar atramenti nigra, turgida erat, eodem plane et colore, consistentia et foetore, cum excretis paulo ante mortem, ita ut hinc et alienes humores putrescentes in ventriculum, intestina, et
partes vicinas eructatos febrem intermittentem notham et (ut brevissimo verbo utamur) mali moris accendisse plane constat; hinc etiam diarrhoea illa foetida, putrida post undecimum paroxysmum, sitisque inextinguibilis per
totum morbi decursum persistens. Intestina tam tenuia quam crassa, livore et maculis nigris quibusdam in locis perfusa et quasi sphacelata, excrementa plurima, nigra, liquida, foetida qualia ante mortem ejecta continebant.
Ventriculus laxus, cui tam parte dextra versus cavum hepatis et vesicam bilis, quam sinistra ubi lienem respicit, manifesta incendii vestigia ab utroque viscere impressa et inusta apparebant, in concavitate fluctuabat nigra
putrilago ex assumptis atra illa bile tinctis.
Ren sinister pallidus, mollis, flaccidus, superficie inæqualis erat, cujus meatus pervii et liberi existebant; in dextro latere diiiiculter alius inventus7,
copiosissima pinguedine sepultus, adeoque exiguus et pollicis magnitudinem non superaret, nullo certo morbo diminutus sed a natura ita conformatus, e cujus cavo calculus niger satis magnus cum arenulis extractus.
Pulmone[s] plurimo atro sanguine repleti et distenti, ut sua natura erant calidissimi ideo a fervidissimo sanguine excandescentes plane inflamati videbantur.
Cor amplum, laxum, pingue, quoad substantiam et ventriculos sanum et illæsum existebat; pericardium cujus aqua penitus exsiccata et absorta erat, imensa et incredibili adipis
mole obsitum et onustum, hinc evenisse verisimile est, quod æstus febrilis in corde accensus tam difficulter extinguebatur, cum nec ab æris refrigerio tam cito et facile juvari, nec a fuliginosis vaporibus eventilari
potuit.
Cerebrum optimum fuit, multa tamen sanguine in venis, et aquea aliqua humiditate in ventriculis scatens, unde certe gravedo illa et in soporem propensio oriebatur.
Quæ omnia visa sunt et observata a medicis Regis præsidentibus et chyrurgis ejus sectionem administrantibus, ut propriis testati sunt chirographis et monstrata plurimis aliis ex cubicularibus suæ majestatis et famulis qui præsentes aderant.
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English translation of the Latin text8:
A brief account of the illness and death, with the series of fatal causes, of our most merciful Lord of most gracious memory, King James of Great Britain, who on 20th day of March in the year of our Lord 1625, departed from this mortal life for a happy and everlasting one, by the mercy of the greatest and most excellent God.
The most serene King was fortunate to have been endowed with principal body parts praiseworthy enough by nature, especially when his age was taken into account. However, in most of the course of his life an incorrect diet and the impact of external causes caused it to decline.
For the brain was rather damp and hot, and was liable to congestion and catarrh, especially in cold and very humid weather and when the wind was blowing.
The liver was more intensely hot, and bile was most fertile.
The spleen, swollen with melancholic liquid, frequently emitted offensive gases and soot, from which the heart, and other vital organs, suffered injury; while arrhythmia and palpitation of the heart, and other serious melancholic symptoms frequently afflicted His Majesty.
The very warm heart was in need of much cooling, and the King never did well except in the open air.
In the same excess of heat, the lungs most fervently conspired with the heart, and blew away sooty, black material burnt by a cough.
The stomach was rather cold, most often distended and bloated, and showed obvious signs of a regular intake of plentiful wine.
In addition to this unhealthy diet, there were very many other mistakes. Although he was moderate enough with all kinds of food, yet he was not deterred by the lack of teeth. He did not chew but swallowed his food whole. He would eat fruit at any hour of the day or night.
He did wrong by drinking indiscriminately ale, beer and wine - Spanish, French, sweet, white, and these drinks were very familiar to him indeed. This was the principal cause of the problems relating to his humours, namely, bile in the liver, phlegm in the stomach, melancholy in the spleen. While sometimes the kidneys were rather weak with stones and grit, the urine appeared to be quite healthy, yet because of the frequent intake of the drinks, and the remarkable quantity, the fluids were mixed with a very large quantity of serum and more easily passed through the veins and the frame of the body, and finally to the limbs, and so arthritic pains frequently woke him up.
The King was also devoted to the most violent hunting exercise some years ago, but with advancing age, and the affliction of arthritis, his disability grew, he became much quieter, and more passive. Lying down gave a greater opportunity for the accumulation of waste, and as a result of all the aperients he disliked the physicians and auxiliaries. It is certain that had not the profuse diarrhoea improved the condition of the King, and released a very large amount of putrid fluids, his strength would have succumbed to such a burden, and this had long been the opinion of all doctors.
When winter passed, the flow itself was much less severe than usual, and the haemorrhoids did not pass so abundantly over noxious moisture; the joint pains were not so severe or long-lasting, but vanished quickly and easily - this was a sign that his nature had been rendered weaker, and he was not so strong. A great abundance of bad humours built up - a most ferocious enemy, lurking in ambuscades, likely to break out with even greater force, when given the occasion, and this was hastened by the bad spirit of the king. Distracted by his great cares, as he was constantly solicitous for the peace and tranquility of the whole Christian world; as a result of which a very great dissipation of spirits and strength followed.
In such a diseased state, he was bombarded with evil humours, illness took hold, and a malignant fever and bad signs spread everywhere. On 4th March, a fever fell, initially an intermittent tertian ague, for it was associated with cold and horripilation after about two hours. The heat grew, and he sweated, and this continued for more than twelve hours. In the early days the paroxysms were milder, and the fever was inflamed by putrid thin bile, and when there was a pause, this seemed to promise a safe outcome. But the King, most impatient of everything, did not abstain from drink at the beginning of his paroxysm, and in that state of heat could not withstand the vehemence and onslaught without continual shaking of the body and chills; and he could not cope with the sweating. He did not abstain entirely from wine, nor did he desire to hear anything from the physicians. Everything became more vehement. After the third paroxysm the pulse began to falter; melancholic juice was moving in the spleen, and a very large puff of air drifting into the left hypochondria.
The King was sad and anxious, and sighing deeply, could in no way console himself. In fact, he seemed entirely to despair. In the meantime the physicians admonished him of the danger, and begged him with most humble entreaties to consider that although this fever by its nature did not seem so dangerous, yet they asserted that every fever presented a great danger, especially in the elderly.
Moved and persuaded by all of this, His Majesty at first submitted to an enema. As the bowel movement was sluggish, this was repeated several times. The urine was somewhat discoloured, but not in proportion to the disease, in which the rudiments of digestion appeared after the fourth paroxysm.
After the fifth time, a soothing and benign medicine of senna, rheo, tamarind, and manna cleansed him quite successfully seven or eight times. The blood was drawn out by leeches from the sluggish veins, and it completely shrank from the incision in the arm.
Cups with multiple flares were applied on the left hypochondria to counteract the melancholic symptoms on the left, from which he felt himself greatly aided; and he ordered them to be repeated several times as a poultice and to be applied to the region of the heart. Cooling juleps from the cooking of barley, chicory, apples, stag's horn, calendula flowers, with syrup of citrus juice and vinegar were prescribed at first, tincture of violets and clove oil, extracted with the spirit of the vitriol, as well as broths for cooling and opening. In these, salprunella and oysters were dissolved in his beer. Moderating and cooling substances were applied to the liver, and the bowels were disturbed by frequent enemas, protections against both disease and accidents, but — oh sorrow! the malady overcame all the remedies, and became more and more ferocious; the paroxysms became more protracted, amid great struggle and discomfort. There was now no general sweating, but only around the head, neck, and the uppermost part of the chest - copious and often cold. The pulse became faster, more frequent, weaker; and the most laboured breathing of the King made him exhausted.
And he experienced a very burning thirst, which, since swallowing was obstructed by a lesion, and from the increased dryness, it was by no means possible to satisfy the throat with a sufficiently copious drink. With him struggling for breath more often, and in the struggle resisting the flow of descending liquid, the tongue was rough and dry. On account of the most ferocious internal burning, and the contraction and oppression of the heart by melancholic vapours, there was a frequent drift into unconsciousness; and although at last after twenty or more hours the fever was followed by an intermission, and rest in the heartbeat. Nevertheless he continued to struggle. His strength ebbed away. There was a certain heaviness and sleep, and an uncertain change in the urine. Suddenly there were signs of an inability to digest. They revealed an obscure and hidden malignancy.
After the eleventh paroxysm, when the physicians had determined that the cathartic should be repeated, the bowels flowed spontaneously, and more than thirty times on the same day. It had become bilious, burnt, and rotten; but amid the euphoria some recovery in his strength had taken place, and no small hope arose, of a more lenient and a milder paroxysm to follow. It was a struggle against hope and contrary to reason amid so much cruelty, cold, horror and heat, that the weaker powers were unequal to an unequal uncertainty. And finally, after a diaphoretical struggle, which lasted for nearly forty hours, with all help given in vain, at length the most pious soul of the king — the most Christian, most just, most prudent of all kings — left this earthly prison, not without the greatest sorrow of all his people, and the deepest tears, flew to eternal joy in Jesus Christ the Redeemer, on 27th March in the year of our Lord 1625.
The following day, when the body was opened, and the internal parts carefully inspected, a satisfactory arrangement of them was found.
The liver on the outside was in many places streaked with livid spots, but on the inside bloodless, almost parched and dry, partly shrunken by feverish heat, and partly by a greater heat, long ago contracted by intemperance.
The spleen owing to its size was loose, soft, not connected, and half dissolved, so that it appeared quite rotten both to the sight and to the touch, and it was filled with dark and melancholic blood. The gallbladder was scorched, fat, and black like ink, and swollen, of the same color, consistency, and stench, as with those excretions a little before death, and from here strange putrefying fluids had inflamed the stomach, intestines, and also that the intermittent fever had affected other parts nearby. There was smelly diarrhoea, rotten after the eleventh paroxysm and the unquenchable thirst persisting throughout the course of the disease. The intestines, both thin and thick, were in some places covered with black stripes and black spots, and contained as it were sphacelata, many excrements, black, liquid, and smelly, such as when ejected before death. The lax ventricle, in which both the right side of the liver and the bile cavity toward the bladder and the left side where the spleen looks, appeared clear traces of burning, imprinted and branded on both sides of the internal organs, as if tossed in a concave black box containing black bile.
The left kidney was pale, soft, flaccid, with an irregular surface. There existed accessible and free openings; another was found on the right side, while the latter was buried in a very great abundance of fat, and was so small, not exceeding the size of an inch, diminished by no definite disease, but so conformed by nature, out of whose hollow a black coal was drawn out of a fairly large one with little grains of sand.
The lungs were filled and distended with very much black blood, as they were by their nature very hot, and therefore seemed burned with the hottest of blood, and were evidently inflamed.
The heart was large, spacious, fatty, and the chambers healthy and spotless. The liquid in the pericardium was completely dried up and had been absorbed.
It was immense, and overloaded with an incredible mass of fat, and this is likely to have occurred because the feverish heat in the heart was extinguished with such difficulty, since it could not be helped so quickly and easily by the coolness of the air, nor could it be fanned by sooty vapors.
The brain was excellent, but there was plenty of blood in the veins and some accumulation of humidity in the stomach, whence a definite chilling and propensity to sleep arose.
All these things were seen and observed by the physicians of the King who were present and the surgeons conducting his autopsy, as were testified by their own signatures and displayed to many of the other chambers of His Majesty and the servants who were present.
(end of English translation of Latin text)
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Thomas Marwood. M.D., the first of the Marwood family who settled at Honiton, was in all respects a person of great interest. Not to dwell on the lengthened period, — "nearly
foure score years," to use his own words — during which he practised physic, and the patriarchal age, 105 years, to which he attained, he is the earliest physician practising in Devonshire of whom we have any distinct
record, and he attained to such eminence in his profession that he was summoned from Honiton to London, to attend the Earl of Essex, and was made physician to Queen Elizabeth.
Dr. Marwood was descended from the ancient family of Marwood, or de Merwoode, of Westcote, co. Devon. His grand-father was John Marwood of Westcote, Esquire, who married Elizabeth,
daughter and co-heiress of John Holbeam, of Holbeam, Esq. Our physician's father, William, was their second son, and he probably accompanied his mother (Elizabeth Holbeam) to the south-eastern part of the county on her
second marriage to Robert Pollard of Honiton. Dr. Marwood was an only child. He was born about 1512, and, according to Prince,9 at Colyton. After a good education
at home he proceeded to the continent for further improvement, visited Italy, and was created doctor of medicine at Padua, then the most celebrated school of physic in the world. His name, I am told, is still to be seen among
the list of medical graduates inscribed on the walls of the lecture theatre there. Dr. Marwood commenced the practice of his profession in 1543 or 1544, for, he says in his will, "I used this profession fower yeres of
the sayd Kyng's raigne" [Henry VIII]. He is said to have settled in the first instance at Colyton, and, in 1558, he was certainly building or adding to the house at Blamphayne in that parish, where, on a chimney-piece
is still to be seen —
T.M. E.M. J.M. 1558
Eventually, however, he took up his residence at Honiton, and his selection of that town was probably owing to his connection with the Pollards and yet more with the Chichesters; his
cousin Elizabeth Marwood having married John Chichester, whose family were lords of the manor of the adjoining parish of Widworthy. Dr. Marwood is supposed to have dwelt at Honiton in a house that stood in a field on the south
side of the road and just opposite to Marwood House, where, when the railway was being made, the stone mouldings of windows and doors and the foundations of a house of some size were dug out. This land belongs, as does Marwood
House, to Mr. Charles Tucker, a descendant on the female line of the Marwoods.
Dr. Marwood's success in practice was great, to use the words of Prince — "he came to be greatly skilled in physick and chirurgerie, and was the most celebrated practitioner
of both of any in the eastern part of the county. Being very happily successful in his undertakings and withall charitable and kind in his demands and applications, he was sought for far and near." His reputation, indeed,
extended even to the metropolis, whither it was doubtless carried by the numerous distinguished Devonians in the Court of Queen Elizabeth. The Doctor was summoned to London by the Queen along with Mr. Fowler, a surgeon of
East Budleigh, to undertake the cure of the Earl of Essex, whose life was despaired of in consequence of some disease of the foot, which had baffled the skill of the first medical authorities in the metropolis. Dr. Marwood's
success with the Earl was complete: whereupon the Queen commanded he should be introduced, and her Majesty, complimenting him on his success, demanded what favour she should grant him in recompense for the signal cure he had
effected. The doctor replied, that if her Majesty would grant him a favour, one — says the account before me10 — of a very trivial character, he should
consider himself amply rewarded. The precise request is not stated, it may have been the honorary appointment of physician to her Majesty, an honour, as we learn from a monument in Honiton church — to the memory of his
great-granddaughter Bridget, relict of Edward Ford, M.B. — which was conferred on him. The Queen, struck with the modesty of the request, insisted — says a writer, "J. M. L.," in the Gentleman's Magazine11, who adds that he can vouch for the authenticity of the statement — on his accepting an estate near Honiton as his reward; a statement for which, however, I, myself, am unable, after considerable inquiry,
to find any adequate grounds. Prince's account of this event in the doctor's life is as follows: —
"But of all his performances that which follows is the most famous. Dr. Marwood with one Mr. Fowler of East Budley was sent for up to London to undertake the cure of a certain
noble Lord belonging to the Court of, and in great favour with Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory.Her Majestie's physicians had long made tryal of their utmost skill and learning upon this Lord, but were forc'd to give
him over as passt their recovery. These two persons being come to Court, after many modest excuses, with much persuasion undertook the cure, and in a short time effected it. To the great joy of the noble person and his friends;
but to the envy and vexation of her Majestie's Doctors."
Dr. Marwood, according to the family tradition, remained for some considerable time about the Court. Prince tells us, on the other hand, that —
"The Queen being fully satisfyed of the great skill and abilitys of Dr. Marwood was pleased to invite him to make his abode in or about her Court. But finding himselfe much envyed by the Court physitians he thought he was not safe there ; and so, earnestly sued for leave to return into his country, as what was much more suitable to his humour and way of liveing. And when he would not be prevailed upon to stay, he was loveingly dismissed, and nobly gratified to his hearts content."12
The doctor carried with him from London some interesting memorials of the eminent persons with whom he had been brought in contact. Among others a portrait of Sir Philip Sydney, and
a pair of Queen Elizabeth's shoes and their case. These are still in the possession of Charles Tucker, Esq., of Marlands near Exeter, by whom they were courteously shown to me in 1856.
The time of this eventful occurrence in Dr. Marwood's history was probably 1592 or 1593. About that period Essex had something amiss with his foot or feet, and was compelled to use a staff, as he mentions in a letter to Anthony Bacon.13 "Medea," writes he, "had not more sympathy of those which felt the same evils which herself did, than I have of my friend that is lame. My mischance hath made me be grave in going with a staff before my time, I would you were sure to be as soon rid of your infirmity as I am in hope to be free from this kind of gravity."14 Like most of Essex's letters this is without date, but it is placed by Captain Devereux about 1592 or 1593, and that was the time when Essex was highest in the Queen's favour, and she the most solicitous about his health and well-being. His own anticipations of a speedy recovery it would seem were not realised, and hence the summons to his aid of Dr. Marwood and Mr. Fowler from Devonshire. The wife of Lord Essex, it may be mentioned, was the daughter of Sir Philip Sydney; and the portrait of him brought from London by Dr. Marwood, may have been presented to him by Lady Essex as an acknowledgment for the cure he had effected on her husband. Sir Philip Sydney died in Oct. 1586, but the portrait bears the date of 1588, so that the legend in the family that it was given by Sir Philip himself to Dr. Marwood will not bear examination.
"Dr. Marwood," continues Prince, "having returned to his former abode and habitation at Honiton, lived there in great esteem and love many years after, even to the time of his death, where he was very successful in his practice and did soe much good to most people that applyed themselvs to him, that he is often mention'd among antient people to this day with great honour and affection. And haveing been soe long a practitioner of his faculty, even beyond the common period of humane life upon earth, it can't be thought strange he should leave a considerable estate behind him to his posterity. Although not so considerable as some others more rapacious or tenacious than himself, haveing the like opportunity, would have made it."
The venerable old doctor made his will the 14th Sept., 1617, and dying on the 18th Sept., 1617, was buried on the 22nd, just within the porch of Honiton Church (St. Michael's) as he had directed in his will. "And," adds he in his will, "I entreate my sonne John Marwood to cause to be engraven uppon the sayed Tombe the tyme I was borne which was in Kyng Henry the Eight's raigne; my profession whilest I lived and the daye of my ffunerall, and that I used this profession fower yeres of the sayed King's Raigne untill the fifteenth yere of Kynge James his happie Raigne, so that in the whole I used yt allmost fower score yeres, with suche other phrases as he shall thincke fitt and convenyent." This natural wish and entreaty of the old doctor was however disregarded, why, it would be difficult to imagine, and on his tomb we read —
who practis'd Physick and Chirurgery
above LXXV years; And being zealous
of good works did by his will give
certain Houses and Lands to the poor
of Honiton for ever. And being aged
above a Hundred and five years he
departed in the Catholick Faith 18th
of September, A.D. MDCXVII."
The doctor had three wives. Of the mother of his children nothing is known, but probably she was the E.M., with the date 1558, on the chimney-piece at Blamphayne. On the 16th April,
1599, he married, at Honiton Church, Dorothy Searle, widow.15 Of her I find no further record; she did not long survive, for the old doctor in 1606, being then
94 years of age, ventured on another marriage,16 which is thus recorded in the Honiton Register: —
"1606. Feb. 2. Tho: Marwoode and Temperance Thatcher."
He left her the executrix of his will and residuary legatee under it. She survived for many years and dying, 9 Oct. 1644, was buried in the same tomb with her husband. On it we read: —
said Thomas Marwood who died the 9th October
Anno Domini 1644."
Dr. Marwood left three sons and one daughter: Thomas, John, Henry, Joan.
I. Thomas Marwood, the eldest son of the old physician, was, we are told by Prince, of Northleigh. His will, dated 14 May, 1619, was proved at Honiton 7 July the same year. Effects sworn not to exceed £1217 16s. 4d. He left a wife Joan; two sons, Thomas and Theophilus, and two daughters Bridget and Ellen. The last-named was married to Clement Bowage of Northleigh.
[A] Thomas, the eldest son of the above, was of Bucknoll in the parish of Northleigh. He was party to a deed
of feoffment, dated 5 Septr 1656,' instancing that the charitable desire of his grandfather, Thomas Marwood, might be continued for ever, and that all doubts
touching the disposition of the lands and houses left by him to the poor of Honiton might be removed; conveyed to Francis Sourton, then rector, and to other inhabitants of Honiton and their heirs, the aforesaid premises, upon
trust, to perform in all things concerning them the will of the said Thomas Marwood his grandfather. His own will, in which he is described as Thomas Marwood of Northleigh, in the county of Devon, gentleman, dated 15 Octr, 1660, was proved 29 March, 1661. He was buried at Northleigh.17 Elizabeth his relict died 2 April, 1674, and is also
buried in Northleigh Church. On a flagstone there we read — " Here lyeth the body of Elizabeth Marwood, widow, of Northleigh, died April 2, Anno Dom. 1674." Thomas Marwood, by Elizabeth his wife, had two sons
— Daniel and James; and three daughters — Bridget married to — Kirby; Sarah married to — Bowdage; and a third, whose name is not recorded, married to — Collins.
[a] Daniel, of Hamberhayne in the parish of Colyton. He died s.p.18 His will, dated 4 July, 1692, in which he describes himself as "aged and weak" was proved 6 Sept. 1693. He leaves to the poor of Colyton £5 and to the poor of Northleigh £5. He was buried in Colyton church, 22 March, 1692, and in the chancel, close by the altar rails, was his memorial.
[b] James. He succeeded, on his brother's death, to Bucknoll in the parish of Northleigh. He is buried at
Colyton, and on a stone in the north aisle, close to the transept step, we read — "Here lyeth the body of James Marwood, late of the parish of Northleigh, Gent., who died ye 28 of February, Anno Dom. 1697.” He left two daughters co-heiresses — Elizabeth, marrd to John Sesse, and Grace; and they, by indenture dated 16 August, 1699, for the fulfilling the pious and charitable intentions of James Marwood their father on his death-bed, granted
certain lands in Northleigh, the yearly rents and profits of which "are to be distributed on St. James's Day to such of the poor of Northleigh as are not chargeable to the parish.
[B] Theophilus, the second son of Thomas Marwood of Northleigh, by his wife Joan, was of Dunkeswell, and in possession of an estate there, the lease of which was granted by James I, 20 July, 1610, to Thomas Marwood, of Northleigh, Gent.
II. John Marwood. Vide infra.
III. Henry Marwood was the youngest son of the old physician Thomas Marwood. He was of Watchcombe in the parish of Colyton, which he held under his brother, John Marwood. By his first wife Alice, who was buried at Colyton, 11th Decr, 1618, he had four sons — Henry, Hugh, John, James, and a daughter Temperance. He married 2ndly, at Colyton Church, 19 Octr, 1619, Bridget, dr of John Stroud of Parnham and relict of Peter Blackaller. She survived a few weeks only, and was buried in Colyton Church, where she is commemorated on a flat stone by the following black-letter inscription: — "Hic jacet corpus Bridget Marwood secundæ uxoris Henrici Marwood, Gener., et filiæ Johannis Stroud de Parnham, qui obiit tertio die Januarii, 1619." Henry Marwood himself was buried at Colyton, 19 May, 1627.
[O] Hugh, baptd at Colyton, 24 Feb., 1603.
[P] Temperance, baptd at Colyton, 27 Feb., 1605.
[Q] John, baptd at Colyton, 27 Nov., 1609.
[R] James, baptd at Colyton, 26 Aug. 1617.
II. John Marwood, "Ge't. Phisitio'" as he is styled on a stone chimney-piece in the house he built at Honiton, was the second
son of Dr. Thomas Marwood the physician to Queen Elizabeth. Of his education nothing is known. Neither do I find anything recorded of him in his medical capacity, and was it not for the inscription at Marwood House, where
he he is designated "Gent. Physition," there would be nothing to show that he belonged to the faculty of physic. He was living at Blamphayne in the parish of Colyton 15th February, 1602, when his son Peter was buried
at Colyton,20 and so too, was he, in 1605, when his son James was baptized there.21 He was of
Colyton the 7th March, 1616 the date of an indenture made between him and Peter Lenthall of "Mounckton," by which he purchased of the said Lenthall a piece of land in Honiton, on which he proceeded to build the house
at first known as the "great" house, but now named Marwood House. This house was finished in 1619, and in the parlour on the chimney-piece, deeply graven, may be read —
JOHN. MARWOODE. GE’T. PHISITIO’. BRIDGET. WIFE. BUYLDED
Dr. Marwood did not long survive, and there is nothing to show that he ever resided in this house. I would suggest that it was built for his son Thomas, the "loyal physician,"
who is known to have lived in it, and who may have done so almost from the first. It was probably given to him vita patris, for it is not mentioned in John Marwood's will, nor in that of his relict and residuary legatee Bridget. In all this he would but have been following the example
set him by his father, and in his own special behoof; for the old doctor built the house at Blamphayne — had his own initials, and those presumably of his wife, deeply cut on a chimney-piece there — and had already
given possession of the house to this John, his second son, at the earliest date we hear of him.
Dr. John Marwood, who, as we have seen, was settled at Colyton (Blamphayne) as early as 1602, was still of Colyton 14th May, 1619,22
and so too the 21st April, 1626, the date of his own will. In it he desires to be buried in the church of Colyton, and was so if the entry in the Colyton Register is correct, on the very day he made his will, viz., the 21st
April, 1626.23 A flat stone in Colyton church, adjoining to that of Bridget Marwood — quæ obiit, 3rd Jan., 1619 — the inscription on which is no longer visible, but, with the Marwood arms, is supposed to mark the place of his interment. He leaves by his
will to the poor of Colyton three pounds, but nothing to Honiton, the name of which town does not once occur in it. The will was proved in London 24th Dec, 1626, by his relict Bridget, whom he left executrix and residuary
legatee. She made her will in 1642, and describes herself as "of Blamphayne within the parishe of Coliton." The will was proved in London 7th Oct., 1646, by her eldest son, John Marwood. In it are bequests to the
poor of Colyton, of Northleigh, and of Widworthy, but none to those of Honiton, which town, as in the case of her husband, is not even named in the will. Their direct connexion with Honiton and interest in it was evidently
not great. There is, in fact, nothing to show that this Dr. John Marwood ever resided in Honiton, although his father, the physician to Queen Elizabeth, and his own medical son Thomas, the "loyal physician," both
did so.
Dr. John Marwood left by his wife Bridget three sons and four daughters: — John; Thomas; James: — and Temperance, married at Colyton 6th Jan., 1635,24 to Roger Thomas, of Widworthy, gent.; Grace, buried at Colyton 16th Jan., 1629;25 Joanna, said to have married John Newbery; and Ellen.26
[f] John the son of the above John Marwood of Blamphayne, by his first wife, was "of Beer." He succeeded to much of the property of his cousin John Marwood, M.D., of Honiton (vide infra), who died a bachelor in September, 1685, and as part of it to Marwood House and its contents. John Marwood, "of Beer,” was buried at Colyton 13th Dec, 1687.28 I can learn nothing of his wife; she doubtless died before him. He left a son and two daughters; Robert; Mary; and Bridget. The will of this John Marwood, dated 2 Dec, 1687, was proved at Exeter, 3 Feb., 1687. He gives to his two daughters Mary and Bridget his eighth of "the Barke called the 'Hannah' of Topsham" and £200 to be paid at twenty-one, and gives power to his executors to raise other monies for his daughters, not to exceed £800 for each. He leaves £5 to the poor of each of the parishes of Honiton, Colyton, and Widworthy, and small legacies to divers friends and servants; "to each one of my cosens of the first degree one gold ring of the value of 10s." To his sister-in-law Joane Moxham he gives a gold ring, and desires that she should have the tuition, government and bringing up of his said daughter's and of his son Robert, and to be allowed yearly such monies as shall be sufficient for the payment thereof. The testator appoints his (half) brothers, James Marwood and Thomas Marwood, and his kinsmen, Tristram Bowdage of Exeter, Tristram Bowdage, the younger, of Northleigh, and Nicholas Harris of Talaton, executors in trust for the benefit of his son Robert Marwood. In the inventory of his effects, 17 Dec, 1697, we see: — "In the parler of the house at Honiton 1 table board &c. £2 6s. 8d. — total £374 15s. 0d.; "the whole indicating that the testator had a large house at Honiton and at Beer.
[δ] Robert, the son of the above John Marwood of Beer, was "of Cookshayes," where he built a commodious house in 1702, and made it his abode.29 He made his will 2 July, 1733, and by it gave to the poor of Beer twenty shillings a year for ever. Dying 13 July, 1733, æt, 57, he was buried in Widworthy Church, in the south transept of which there is a handsome monument to his memory, with the following inscription: — "In Memory of Robert Marwood of Cookshays Esqr who died the 13th day of July 1733 aged 57."
[ε] Mary, died unmarried and was buried at Northleigh, 25 Jan., 1744.30
[ζ] Bridget succeeded eventually to Cookshayes and the remainder of her brother's property. Shortly before her death she gave to the church of Widworthy a handsome chalice and flagon for the Communion. She died unmarried and intestate 9 Dec, 1759, æt. 79, was buried at Widworthy, and is commemorated on her brother's monument thus: — "Also of Mrs Bridget Marwood, his sister, of the same place, who dyed the 9th of December 1759 aged 79." John Marwood of Blamphayne, by his second wife Frances Bernard, had three sons and two daughters.
[g] James, as will be seen in the pedigree subjoined, was a grandson of John Marwood, the "gent, physician," and a great-grandson of the venerable physician to Queen Elizabeth, and he followed them in adopting physic for his profession. He was born in 1656; on the 24 March, 1676, was entered as a commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, and as a member of that house proceeded A.D. 21 Oct., 1680; A.M. 8 June, 1683. His degree of Doctor of Medicine was taken not at Oxford, but probably at some foreign University. It is doubtful whether he ever practised his faculty — if he really did so, it was at Honiton, and for a short time only. He purchased the Sutton estate, and having built thereon a commodious house, made that his future residence. Dying there, the 27 Oct., 1722, aged 66, he was buried in Widworthy church. He is commemorated on a monument in that church, which is inscribed as follows: —
[h] Thomas was the second son of John Marwood of Blamphayne, by Frances, his second wife. He outlived his two brothers, James and Benedictus, and succeeded to most of their property. Succeeding to Sutton in 1722 he made that his abode for the future, and dying 21 March, 1748, aged 88, was buried in Widworthy church. Thomas Marwood married Joan, the daughter of John Hutchings, Esq., of Allor, in Upottery. She died in 1741, and was buried with others of her family in Upottery church. On her father's monument there we read: — "Here lye ye Bodies of —— Joan, his daughter ye wife of Thomas Marwood Esqr. of Sutton in ye parish of Widworthy, who dyed April 7th 1741, aged 82." Thomas Marwood of Sutton, by his wife Joan Hutchings, had a son James, and a daughter Mary.[η] James. He was entered a Commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, 3 March, 1710-20. He did not go on to a degree, and removed his name from the College books 24 Jan., 1721-2. On the 27 July, 1734, he married at Chaffcombe, co. Somerset. Sarah, the daughter and heiress of Samuel Sealy of Avishays, Esq.,31 and so added that property to the large estates he inherited from his father, &c. He made Avishays his residence, and died 3 April, 1767, but was buried at Widworthy. His monument, in the north transept, by Bacon and in his happiest style, is inscribed: —
"James Marwood Esqr. died 3 April 1707 aged 65." His relict, Sarah, continued to reside at Avishays, and dying in 1797, aged 85, was buried at Widworthy. Her monument, in the north transept, bears the following inscription:
James Marwood of Avishays had by his wife Sarah, one son and four daughters.
James Thomas Benedictus Marwood was baptized at Chaffcombe 8 June, 1746. He became insane about the age of twenty-one, and dying unmarried at Avishays 20 Feb., 1811, was buried at Widworthy. His monument is in the south transept and bears the following inscription: —
With him the Marwoods of Honiton in the male line terminated.
Sarah Bridget, baptized at Chaffcombe 3 Jan., 1747. She was married first to Henry Stevens of Cross, Esq.; and secondly, 13 Jan., 1818, at Weymouth, to John Inglett Fortescue of Buckland Filleigh, Esq. She died 27 Oct. 1821, and is commemorated on a mural tablet in the church of Little Torrington.
Frances, baptized at Chaffcombe 9 April, 1749. She married Edward Elton, Esq., of Bristol, and of Greenway, co. Devon. She died in Nov., 1780.
Mary, married to the Rev. George Notley of Combe Sydenham Hall, co. Somerset. She died 3 June, 1829.
Bridget was baptized (privately) at Chaffcombe, 17 Dec, 1755. She was married to James Huyshe Wolcott, Esq., of Lyme, co. Dorset, and died 10
March, 1835.
[θ] Mary, the only daughter of Thomas Marwood of Sutton by his wife Joan (Hutchings), was married to William Tucker of Coryton, Esq.
[i] Benedictus, the third son of John Marwood of Blamphayne, by his second wife Frances Bernard, was of Hornshayes, in the parish of Colyton. He purchased the manor of Widworthy of the Chichcsters. He died 28 August, 1745, aged 82 ; was buried at Widworthy, and is commemorated, on the same monument, with his two brothers, James and Thomas.
[k] Mary, baptized at Northleigh 1 June, 1666.
[l] Bridget, the younger daughter of John Marwood, of Blamphayne, by his second wife Frances Bernard, was born in 1668. She became the wife of Edward Ford, of Honiton, M.B. He was the son of Edward Ford, of Honiton, gent., and was born in that town in 1655. He was entered at Wadham College, Oxford, 19th July, 1673, and as a member of that house proceeded A.B. 19 May, 1677; A.M. 27 Jan., 1679, and M.B. 15 May, 1683." Returning to his native town he practised his faculty there with distinguished reputation for many years. Dr. Ford died 15 Nov., 1717, aged 62, and was buried, after an interval of three weeks (as the Register of Ottery St. Mary shows), at Ottery on the 6th December following. His altar tomb, in Ottery churchyard, near the west porch, bears the following inscription:
Bridget Ford survived her husband many years, and dying 3 March, 1746, aged 78; was buried in her great-grandfather's vault in Honiton church. A mural monument to her memory in that church bears the following inscription: —
[F] Thomas Marwood, M.D., the so-called "loyal physician" was the second son of John Marwood, "Gent. Physician," by his wife Bridget. Of his history but little is known with certainty. He is reported to have graduated at Padua, as did his grand-father, the old physician to Queen Elizabeth. On the 25 Nov., 1622, he was married, at Honiton, to Mary Thatcher;32 on the 6 Nov., 1623, their elder son was baptized at Honiton, and in 1626 their younger son.33 I infer from such facts as I can gather that Marwood House in Honiton, built by John Marwood and Bridget his wife in 1619, was intended for this their younger son, who probably occupied it from the first, or nearly so. In it he had the honour of receiving, and entertaining, Charles I, in 1644. The king reached Honiton on Thursday, the 25 July, 1644, slept at "Dr. Marwood's a physician," as it is stated in the Iter Carolinum, and went on to Exeter the following day. The King returned through Honiton on Monday, 23 Sept., dined in that town, probably in the house of our physician, and then proceeded on to Chard.34 To this royal visit, a descendant of the Marwoods on the female line, and the last of the family who resided in Marwood House, — the Rev. W. J. Tucker, A.M., who died there 26 Dec, 1830, — alludes in his poem, Honiton Hill [4to. Bath, 1812], as follows:
We meet with Dr. Marwood as churchwarden of Honiton in 1663. He was buried at Honiton 4th April, 1667. He had made his will 10 July, 1664. It was proved at Exeter by his relict and sole executrix
"Marie" 11 Sept., 1667. He bequeaths to the poor of Honiton £3. The inventory of his goods, &c, contains the following: — "In ye Closet adjoining [Parlour] — Books, Physicall drugs, a press, glasses, mortars and pestles, boxes, distillatories, one chair and cushion, scales and weights, and other small utensills— £40."
His relict Mary or Marie, as she is called in his will, was buried at Honiton 31 March, 1671.36
The above are the facts about Dr. Thomas Marwood, that are fairly substantiated. But I must now mention the traditional statements concerning him. He is reported in the family to have been for some considerable time in London, and about the Court of James I, in the practice of his faculty. The King is said to have bestowed on him a freehold estate in the neighbourhood of Honiton, in recompense of his services, and the grant thereof is said to have been at the Rolls Chapel Office. Now, there is in the Public Record Office [Patent Roll, 8 James I, Part xxv, No. 6] a grant to one Thomas Marwood, but it does not answer to the traditionary account of it. It is the lease of Dunkeswell Grange, near Honiton, to Thomas Marwood, of Northleigh, gent., for thirty-one years next after the death of Margery Coplestone and Hugh her son, the then lessees. The property contained by estimation 120 acres appertaining to the Grange. The consideration paid to the king was £12 13s. 4d., and it was to yield yearly to the king, his heirs and successors, £6 6s. 8d. The lease is dated at Westminster 20 July, 1610.37 If this referred to our present Dr.Thomas Marwood it would go to show that he was in London and about the king as early as 1610; but he was then a mere boy, presumably, as I infer, about ten or twelve years of age. Again, I do not once meet with him in association with Northleigh, and would therefore suggest that the lease of Dunkeswell Grange was granted to his uncle Thomas Marwood [qui obiit 1619], who was unquestionably of Northleigh, on which assumption38 this grant could scarcely have any bearing or connexion with a medical attendance on James I, for there is no reason to suppose that this Thomas Marwood, of Northleigh, was a physician.
Our doctor is further reported to be the author of the MS. volume, from which the above report of the illness, &c, of James I, has been printed. Whoever was the writer of the volume, was in London in 1625, in the autumn of 1628, in 1630, 1631, 1633, 1634 and 1635, and in professional connexion with many distinguished people — with Sir Julius and Lady Cæsar, the Earl and Countess of Bath, Sir Richard and Lady Leigh, Lady Grosvenor, Sir Martyn and Lady Lumly, Lady Swinnerton, Sir John and Lady Miller, Sir John Gill, Sir Thomas Midleton, Lord Petre, the Countess of Berkshire, &c, &c.; and associated with the leading and favourite physicians of the time, with Sir William Paddy, Sir Theodore Mayerne, Sir Simon Baskerville, Drs. Argent, Andrews, Clement, Wright, Ridgley, &c. The more carefully I examine this MS. the more doubtful do I become of its being the work of Dr. Marwood. I am fully alive to the weight to be attached to the fact that this volume had been time out of mind in the possession of the Marwoods, and that tradition, for which there is generally some foundation in fact, has always ascribed it to our "loyal physician." But if, in the absence of confirmation from without, there is internal evidence against the traditionary belief, it must in accordance with the soundest canons of criticism and of evidence be given up. Neither the name nor the initials of Marwood can be found in the volume, but the letters D. B. occur repeatedly in it. If they refer to the writer, which is not improbable, and he was a physician, I should have little hesitation in referring them to Dr. David Beton [or Bethune], a Scotchman, who was high in favour with James I, was one of the King’s physicians in Ordinary, and was much about his person, as he was also about Charles I. But I would on the whole suggest that the volume is really neither more nor less than the daily entry-book of a leading and fashionable Apothecary in London, containing the copies in extenso of the prescriptions he compounded for the physicians who patronized and the persons who employed him. He may even have been "Apothecary to the Person." As such he would have been in immediate attendance on the King,. as glysters and cupping had to be employed. Or, lastly, the report of the illness and of the post mortem examination may have been merely copied by the writer of the volume from the notes of one of the many physicians who were present throughout. It is clear that the author of the Report was a medical man, and one thoroughly conversant with the habits of the king and the whole course of his illness. I have no doubt that this MS. volume came into the possession of Dr. Marwood, and has been in the family ever since. At a time when forms of complex prescriptions were more regarded than they have been during the last century or more, such a Thesaurus Medicaminum, or repertory of prescriptions, as is this volume — and these, too, of the most eminent physicians of the time — must have been considered valuable by a provincial physician, and have been of frequent use to him in the way of reference and suggestion. When, or under what circumstances the MS. came into the hands of Dr. Marwood there is nothing to show. But what then, after all, of Dr. Marwood's medical attendance on James I, and of the freehold estate said to have been given to him by the King? I must leave it as I found it, a family tradition, which my inquiries neither confirm nor confute.
Dr. Marwood made his will the 20 August, 1685, and dying the following September, in the 62nd year of his age, was buried at Honiton on the 18th of that month,42 but there is neither monument nor inscription there to commemorate him. He gives by his will to the poor of Honiton £10; to his apothecary, William Levermore, £10, and his house in Honiton, Marwood House and its contents, to his cousin John [of Beer], the eldest son of his uncle, John Marwood [of Blamphayne], deceased.
[n] Henry Marwood, the second son of Thomas Marwood, the loyal physician, by his wife Mary Thatcher, was baptized at Honiton in 1626.43 On the 17 Nov., 1647, being then twenty-one years of age, he bound himself apprentice to Robert Lawson, a citizen of London, and in the Apprentice Book of the Merchant Taylor's Company we read: — "17 Nov., 1647. Henricus Marwood, son of Thomas Marwood of Honiton, in the County of Devon Dr of Physicke bound apprentice to Robert Lawson of the Livery" and in the Freeman's Book of the same Company: — "6 Decr 1654. Henry Marwood made free by servitude." He died after a comparatively short but prosperous career in London in Nov., 1675, aged 49. His will, made on the 16 Nov., 1675, was proved in London, two days after, on the 18th. He leaves his brother, John Marwood [M.D.] of Honiton, £1000, makes him his residuary legatee, and bequeaths to him £100, to be laid out in lands of inheritance, the rents of which were to be applied yearly, on the feast of St. Luke, towards the relief, help, and succour of poor, honest, and aged persons living in the town and parish of Honiton, that had been industrious and painstaking labourers, and had by reason of age or infirmity become unable to labour, in such shares and among such numbers as the trustees appointed for the bequest should seem meet."
[G] Peter, son of John Marwood, Gent. Physician, by his wife Bridget, was buried at Colyton 15 Feb., 1602.
[H] James Marwood, the youngest son of John Marwood the "Gent. Physician” by his wife Bridget, was baptized at Colyton 27 Feb., 1605. He inherited under his father's will inter alia Watchcombe Common and Crocomb, and, under his mother's will, property at Widworthy. He had a son James, baptized at Colyton, 18 Nov., 1656,44 who presumably was buried at Colyton 9 March, 1686.45
Marwood House, in which Charles I. slept the 25th July, 1644, in his progress towards the West— an Elizabethan or Jacobean building to which reference has been so often made in the preceding pages — is the chief if not only object of historical interest in Honiton. It is still in good condition and but little altered from what it was originally. A small court was taken in to form the present staircase, and a pantry and dressing-room added, some fifty years ago, by the present owner, Charles Tucker, of Marlands, Esq. The only alterations externally were made many years before by the then owner, the Rev. W. J. Tucker, A.M., rector of Widworthy, the last descendant from the Marwoods who resided in the house. He unwisely removed the stone mullions of the windows and substituted wooden ones. The house is otherwise in its original state. Built in 1619 by John and Bridget Marwood, it became the residence of their son Thomas Marwood, the "loyal physician," who had the honour of receiving and entertaining Charles I in it in 1644. From the loyal physician it passed to his elder son John Marwood, M.D., who made it his abode, and dying in September, 1685, bequeathed it and its contents to his cousin John Marwood [of Beer], who entered into possession and made his will 2 Dec, 1687. He had three children, Robert, Mary, and Bridget; the first named succeeded to Marwood House. He died in 1733, and left his sisters his coheiresses. Mary died unmarried in Jan., 1744, and so, too, did Bridget, 9 Dec, 1756. Her cousin, James Marwood of Sutton, succeeded to the property, and on the 25 Dec, 1764, sold Marwood House and some land in Honiton to his nephew, the Rev. William John Tucker, A.M., afterwards rector of Widworthy. He made this house his residence and died in it 20 Dec, 1830. Under his will, Marwood House and its contents passed to his nephew Charles Tucker, of Marlands, Esq., the present owner.
WILLS
I.
Will of Thomas Marwood, Physician and Chirurgeon of Honiton.
TESTAMENTUM THOME MARWOOD (fo. 116, Weldon).
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, I Thomas Marwood of Honyton in the Countie of Devon phisician and Chirurgian beyng whole of mynde and perfect of remembraunce (all thankes honor glorie and praise, be giuen vnto my most mercifull Lord god Creator Redemer and Sanctifier with his only guifts of all faithe fullie trusting in his gracious mercey and in nothing els in this present worlde but only in his blessed merecy which mercey gracious Lord I most humblie praye and beseeche the to giue me that I maye have grace faithfullie for suche a tyme as I haue here in this pilgrimage and mortall life to contynewe thie true and faithfull servaunte Good Lord from the bottome of my harte I beseeche the to pardon me of all my synnes and wickedness which I have committed against this Divine maiestie in thoughte worde and Deede sithenee the Daye of my Creation vnto this present hower and time and shall do the rest of my life for which I crye unto the hartilie for merecy from the vttermost of my power. And nowe of suche worldlie goodes as god hathe lent me ffirst I give vnto Robert Searle Hugh Searle Christofer Searle Priscilla Searle sonnes and Daughter of xpofer Searle late of Honyton aforesaied Deceased fyve shillinges a peece to be payed by my Executrix within one quarter of a yere next after my Decease Allso I giue to all may poore kynred twelve pence a peece Item I giue and bequeathe for euer to the poore of Honyton one peece or parcell of Lande called Grubble haye set and beyng in Honiton togeather with the seuerall Rents of one Clapps tenement Peter Pearses Tenement and the tenement wherein one John Bussell Joyner nowe Dwelleth the saied peece of Lande to be sett and Lett by my executrix or assignes and the profitts thereof togeather with the saied Rents to be by my sayed Executrix or her assignes Distributed trulie amongest them in manner and forme folowing viz: On euery good fridaye after service in the fore noone at the Curche or churche porche of St. Michaells or else at All Hallows and likewise on euery Sainct Thomas Daye before Christyde by equall portions, to be Done with theise thankes giuings vnto god for his gracious mercey and blessings vizt: on good fridaye this psalme to be songe or sayed O Lord tourne not away thie face from hym that lyeth prostrate &c. And on every St. Thomas Daye: I lift my harte to the: My god and guyde most iuste, &c. This to be Done in thankesgiving to god for his benefitts and blessinges as aforesayed. Item I giue all suche howses and gardens as the Belringers with thappurtnances nowe hould and all profitts thereunto belonging after the expiraeon of theire estates and the estate of one Clapp to this only intent and purpose folowing that is to saye, at the end and expiration of their sayd estates my executrix or her assignes to place eight of the poorest and ympotentest persons within the towne of Honyton in the sayed howses or fewer according to the Discretion of my saied Executrix or her assignes And the saied howses to be Devided to and for theire vses equallie at the appoyntment of my saied executrix and her assignes: And my Request is that the Cunstables and the wardens of All halloues do shewe their favoure and best willing helpe to see this my will to be performed And for theire paynes I giue to eache of them sixe pence a peece on euery good fridaye to be paed out of the Grubblehay And my will is yf any be admitted into theise sayed howses that be at any tyme Disordered and will not frequent the churche on such Dayes as Divine service shalbe sayed or to be a Drunckard or swearer or any other notorious offender, and in this case proued that he be excluded out of the house and an other of better behavyoure placed in his roome, or yf any of them do keepe any yll Companye abroade or any yll Company do haunte theire howses they shalbe likewise put out of theire roomes and others placed in their places. My will allso is that no suspected person there be admitted to abide Also yf any doe refuse to come once euery daye in one of the Roomes of the saied howses at the appoyntment of my executrix or her assignes or the Constables and Churchwardens aforesayed for the tyme beyng and all togeather in theire knees to praye vnto the Almightie and to giue hym thankes for his manifold guifts so lovingly bestowed vppon them that person I saye shall be put of allso and an other placed in his roome. And that the saied howses gardens and peece of Lande shall continewe as aforesaid vnto the vses of the poore for euer Item my will is that Mr George Searle of Honyton aforesayed merchaunt shall haue twentie pounds ymmeadiatly after my Deathe in Consideration whereof he or his assignes togeather with the Constables for the tyme beying shall yerelie Distribute unto the poorest people of the towne of Honyton Twentie shillinges on the fridaye next before the ffeast of Pentecost during the terme of thirtie six yeres nowe next ensewying And after that tyme my will is that the sayd poore people shall haue the moytie or halfendeale of the yerelie rackt Rent of a certaine peece of ground called Beare parke payable and to be payed by Margaret Thatcher her executors or assignes: which moneys to be Distributed amongest the poore as aforesayed by the sayed George Searle and his assignes togeather with the Constables Churchwardens and Overseers of the poore for the tyme beyng during the tearme aforesaid And after the expiration of the saied tearme the sayed George Searle or his Assignes to take and Convert the Sayed twentie poundes to the vse of the poore people that shalbe so placed in the howses abouesayed for euer: And further my will is that yf the sayed George his executors or assignes or suche person or persons as he shall appoynte for this purpose after his Deathe togeather with the Churchwardens and Constables of the sayed towne of Honyton for the tyme beyng Doe not trulie and iustlie Distribute the sayed moneys so to be Distributed as aforesayed That then the sayed moneys shall be and remayne vnto the poore of the seuerall parishes of ffarways Norleighe and Widworthie for euer. Item I giue and bequeathe vnto Thomas John and Henrye Marwood my sonnes and to Johane my daughter three silver spoones a peece to be Deliuered vnto them within twentie Dayes of my deathe Item I give vnto John Marwood and Henry Marwood my sonnes and Johane my daughter Twentie poundes a peece to be payed in manner and forme folowing viz. My Sonne Henry to be payed within one yere after my Deathe and my Daughter Johane to be payed within twoe yeres of my Deathe And my Sonne John to be payed within three yeres after my Deathe by my executrix. All the Residue of my goodes and chattells whatsoeuer not yet given nor bequeathed (after my Debts payd and my ffunerall chardges Dischardged) I giue and bequeathe vnto Temperance my wife whome I Do make my sole executrix to see this my last will and testament trulie performed and yt my bodye may be buryed in the Churche of Honyton a litle within the porche with a Decent Tombe of a convenient heighte vppon my grave at the chardges of my executrix. And I entreate my sonne John Marwood to cause to be engraven vppon the sayed Tombe the tyme I was borne which was in Kyng Henry the Eights raigne: my profession whilest I lived and the Daye of my ffunerall, and that I vsed this profession fower yeres of the sayed Kyngs Raigne vntill the fifteenth yere of Kynge James his happie Raigne so that in the whole I vsed yt allmost fower score yeres with suche other phrases as he shall thincke fitt and Convenyent. In witnesse whereof I the saied Thomas Marwood haue to this my last will set my hand and seale, the fourteenth Daye of September Anno Dn'j one thowsand sixe hundred and seaventene et Anno Regni Regis Jacobi nunc Angliæ &c Decimo quinto Scotieq' Quinquagesimo primo In the presence of those witnesses hereunder written By me Thomas Marwood, John Holcombe, John Searle, John Collins.
PROBATUM fuit testamentum suprascriptumn apud London coram venli viro D'no Johanne Benet milite legum doctore Curie Prerogatiue Cantuariensis mag'ro custode sine Co'iss'ar' legitime constituto vicesimo quinto die mensis Novembris Anno Domini millesimo sexcentesi'o Decimo septimo Iuramento Temperantie Marwood Relicte dicti Defuncti et executricis in eodem Testamento nominat': Cui commissa fuit Administræ'o bonorum Jurium et Creditor' dicti Defuncti De bene et fideliter administrando etc ad sancta Dei Evangelia vigore Commissionis in ea parte al's emanat' jurat'
II.
Will of John Marwood, "Gent. Physitian."
TESTAMENTUM JOH'IS MARWOOD (fo. 118, Hele.)
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, I, John Marwood of Coliton in the Countie of Devon gent being weake and sicke in body but sound and perfect in mind Doe make and declare this my testament and last will in manner and forme following ffirst I give and bequeath my soule into the hands of allmightie god my Creator and only Saviour by whose death and passion I doe fully assure myselfe to inherite the Kingdome of Heaven and everlasting life And my body to bee buried in ye church of Colyton Item I give to the poore people of the parish of Colyton three poundes to bee distributed to such persons as my Brother Henry Marwood shall thinke fitt Item I give and bequeath vnto my Sonne John Marwood yearely for the terme of ten yeares from the daie of my death the some of twentie pounds yearly the same to be paid quarterly by my Executrixe during the said terme by even porcons and at the end of ten yeares my will is that vpon payment of one hundred pounds by the said John my Sonne to my Executrix That then my said Executrix shall paie or cause to bee paid yearely during her life the some of fortie pounds a yeare to my said Sonne John quarterly by even porc'ons as is aforesaid And if my Executrix shall fortune to die wthin the tearme of ten yeares Then the said yearly Some of twenty pounds shall goe towards the raising of porc'ons for my daughters hereafter named Item more I give bequeath and absolutely devise vnto my said Sonne John Marwood presently upon my wives death or marriag daie weh first shall happen All those messuages lands Tenements Closes peeces and p'cells of land hereafter named that is to saie All my messuag or tenement wherein I now dwell called Blamphain my tenement called Tinckhain one close weh I bought of ffrauncis Calley called Woodlands one meadowe weh I lately purchased of John Whitemore and his Sonne called home mead cont' two acres one meadawe called Stockley meade cont' iiij acres sometyme p'cell of a tenement called Hamberhaine one little meadow now in the possession of Anstice Michell vid' or her assignee one other Close or p'cell of ground called Stockley Close cont' iij Acres one close called Rycroft wth a little close adioyning to the lower end of the same conteyning by estimation vj acres one peece of meadowe ground called chalemore cont' iiij akers and the reverc'on and inheritance of one house orchard and garden now in the possession of Robert Batstone one other Close of land lying adioyning to the said orchard called good land cont' iiij acres two other peeces of ground lying at the higher end of goodlands called Will-leys cont' vij acres and the reverc'on of the Mannor of Northover wth all and every theire and either of theire appurtenances Rights and members and alsoe all my Estate Right tytle terme interest and demaund whatsoever soe fully amply and freely as I myselfe now haue or hereafter maie might or ought to haue or enjoy the same or any or either of them or any p'te thereof Togeather wth all ye writings Evidences and conveyances weh doe concerne the same or any p'te thereof Item I give and bequeath and absolutely devise unto my Sonne James Marwood the reverc'on fee and inheritance of all that messuag or tenement weh I lately purchased of Josua ffrancklyn gent now in the possession of Will'm Syme al's Dorchester and Benjamin ffrancklyn theire or one of theire assignee or assignes togeather wth all that Close of land weh I bought of John Thomas gent conteyning by estimac'on xvj acres. And all that house now in the teanure of William Cribb and Rob't Crabb And alsoe all that Com'on or comon ground called Watthcomb com'on p'cell or belonging to one tenement now in the teanure of my brother Henry Marwood contayning by estimac'on thirtie acres bee it more or lesse and one moore or marrish ground called Rekerham Moore and two other closes called Walloues weh three closes of land bee p'te of the tenement now in the tenure of Anstice Michell vid’ And alsoe all my estate Right title and demaund of in and to the same Togeather wth all writings concerning the same Item I give and bequeath vnto my Sonne Thomas Marwood All that tenemt wth thappurtenances called Wacthcomb al's Crocombe except the com'on belonging to the same formerly bequeathed to my Sonne James weh tenement is now in the teanure of my brother Henry Marwood To haue to him imediatly after my brother Henries Death vntill the end and terme of one and fiftie yeares vnder such rents and services as are due and payable for the same Item I give and bequeath vnto my daughters Temperance Grace and Johane and to each of them two hundred and fiftie pounds apeece to bee paid them when they shall accomplish the age of one and twentie yeares or at their daies of marriag respectively if my Executrix shall thinke Fitt And if any my Daughters happen to die before they accomplish the age of xxi yeares or bee married Then my will is her or theire porc'ons deceased shall remaine to her or them surviveing equally Item I give and devise to my Sonne James after the terme of ten yeares after my death the reverc'on fee and inheritance called crocomb wth thappurten'nc's To haue to him his heires and assignes for ever Item I give to my said Sonne John Marwood my silver Salt and vnto my said sonne Thomas Marwood my best Silver bole and to my sonne James Marwood my second best Silver bole. Item I give to my Sonne in lawe John Newberry my silver Cupp and to his Sonne John Newbery my godson one of my best silver Spoones and my second best silver Spoone to my Sonne Thomas his Sonne my Godsonne PROVIDED that my will is that my wife shall haue the vse of the plate aforesaid vntill her death or marriag weh first happen Item I give to each of my s'rvants now resident in house wth mee ten shillings apeece except Ann Slocker and vnto William Manly ten shillings Item I give to Ann Slocker sixe shillings and eight pence Item all the rest of my goods Chattles and debts due to mee not formerly given and bequeathed of what kind or condic'on soever it bee and in whose hands or custody soever the same bee I give and bequeath to my welbeloved wife Bridgett whom I doe make my Executrix of this my last will and testament and hereby revokeing all former and other wills whatsoever heretofore by mee made. And I doe hereby intreat and upon my blessing require my two Sonnes John and Thomas Marwood and my Sonne in lawe John Newbery to bee my Overseers and to bee aiding and assisting to my Executrix and to doe theire best to see this will performed In witnes whereof I haue herevnto putt my hand and Seale the xxith daie of Aprill A'o Regni D'ni n'ri Caroli R’ nunc Anglie &c. Se'do One thousand sixe hundred twentie sixe.
JOHN MARWOOD Sealed and d’d in the presence of vs Edward Hollwill John Marwood Edm. Clode.
PROBATUM fuit Testamentum suprascriptum apud London . . . . Vicesimo quarto Die mensis Novembris Anno Domini Millesimo sexcentesimo vicesimo sexto Juramento Bridgittæ Relicte et Executricis in huiusmodi Testamento nominat' cui commissa fuit . . .
III.
Will of Bridgett Marwood of Blamphayne.
TESTAMENTUM BRIDGITTÆ MARWOOD (fo. 141, Twisse.)
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I Bridgett Marwood of Blamphaine within the parishe of Coliton within the County of Devon widdowe, being sicke and weake of body, but perfect and sounde of minde and memorie thankes be to Almightie God doe make and declare these presents beinge my last Will and Testament and first I giue and bequeath my soule into the hands of Almightie God my Creator Trustinge and beleeveinge through the meritts of Jesus Christ my Saviour and redeemer to obteyne remission of my sinnes and with him to raigne in Glory and my body I comitt to the Earth to be Christianly buried And for my worldly goods wherewth it hath pleased God to blesse me and the estate that hee hath given me I giue and devise the same in manner and forme followeinge that is to say ffirst I giue to the poore people of Coliton forty shillings Item I giue to the poore people of Norleigh twenty shillings Item I giue to the poore people of Widworthie thirty shillings Item I giue to my sonne Thomas Marwood twenty pounds and I giue to his Children fforty shillings a peece to be paid within twoe yeares next after my death Item I giue and devise to James Marwood my Sonne and to his heires of his body lawfully begotten and to bee begotten All that Messuage and Tenement with the appurten'nes and all the howses Meadowes Leases pastures, feedings Com'ons and Commodities to the same belonginge now in the tenure or occupae'on of one John Combe or his Assignes lyeinge or beinge within the parishe of Widworthie in the said County of Devon which I purchased of Beniamine ffranklin Gent And for default of such issue of the body of the said James Marwood I giue and devise the same to my sonne John and to the heires of his body lawfully begotten and to be begotten and for default of such issue of the body of the said John I giue and devise the same To my sonne Thomas Marwood and to the heires of his body lawfully begotten or to be begotten and for default of such issue of the said Thomas to the right heires of me the said Bridgett for ever Item I give to my said sonne James Marwood fower score pounds to be paid on the five and twentith day of March next after my Death Item I give to my said sonne James my second best feather bedd my second best payre of blanketts my best redd and greene Coverlett my greene rugg my thirde best payre of sheets my pillowe and pillowtie and six of my silver spoones Item I give him tenn poundes a yeare to be paid yearely by my Executor or his Assignes Item I giue to my Daughter Ellen forty pounds and I give tenn pounds to Ellen her Daughter my Grandchild and I giue alsoe to the residue of her Children forty shillings a peece to be paid within twoe yeares next after my death out of such debts as are due vnto me Item I giue vnto my daughter Temp'ance to be paid within two yeares next after my death Item I giue to my Daughter Johan to make vp the porc'on given her by her father and her uncle Sampson soe much as shall make the same porc'ons vnto six hundred pounds to be paid and sett over on the five & twentith day of March next after my death out of such debts as are owed vnto mee except the debts of Edward Michell only Item I giue her one hundred pounds more to be paid within twoe yeares next after my death if shee the said Johan soe longe shall happen to liue Item I giue to William Manly and Edward Manly tenn shillings a Peece Alsoe I giue to the said William Manly ten shillings a yearely to be paid to him dureng his life Item I giue to David Hie twenty shillings and to Ralph Darke five shillings and to Ellen Wise twenty shillings All the residue of my goods and Chattells not before given and bequeathed I wholely giue devise and bequeath vnto my sonne John Marwood whome I make my whole and sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament charging him duely to performe the same accordinge to my true intent and meaninge In witness whereof I the said Bridgett Marwood haue caused these presents to be made and haue herevnto sett my hand and seale the day and yeare aboue written The marke of Bridgett Marwood. Acknowledged signed and sealed in the presence of Thomas Calley The marke of Agnes Calley.
PROBATUM fuit Testamentum suprascriptum Apud London . . . . Septimo Octobris Anno Dominj Millesimo sexcentesimo quadragesimo sexto Juramento Johannis Marwood filij n'rali et l'timo [sic] d'c'æ Defunctæ . . .
IV.
Will of Thomas Marwood, the loyal physician of Honiton.
IN THE ARCHDEACONRY COURT OF EXETER.
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, The tenth day of July in the year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and four, I Thomas Marwood of Honiton in the County of Devon Gentleman being somewhat weak and sikly of bodie but of good and perfect memorie thanks be given to Almighty God revoking all former Wills by me made doe make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following that is to say first and prinsipally I doe willingly and freely give and render into the hands of God my Maker redeemer and sanctifier my Spirite weh of his fatherly goodness he gave me and my body I leave to Christian Buriall committing it to the earth from whence I came Item I give and bequeath unto the poore people of the Town and parish of Honiton the summe of Three pounds to be distributed amongst them according to the discretion of my Executrix and Overseers here under named Allso I doe give and bequeath unto my servant Ruth Smeath tenne pounds of lawful English monie to be paid unto her within three months after my death and unto every other of my servants that shal be living and dwelling with me at the time of my death tenne shillings a peece. Item I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonne Henry Marwood three hundred pounds of good and lawful English monie to be paid unto him out of my lands in fee simple and my Annuities and Chattle Estates in manner following that is to say two hundred pounds thereof within six months next after my decease and one hundred pounds residue thereof within twelve months next thereafter following and if default of payment thereof or of any parte thereof shalbe made then my Will is that my sonne Henry Marwood his executors or administrators shall forthwith after such default enter into my said lands and tenements with thappurtenances and have receave and take as well the rentes issues and profitts thereof as allso my said Annuities to his and theire only use and benefitt until hee or they shalbe fully satisfied and paid as well of the said three hundred pounds as allso of such damages as he or they shall sustaine or be at or by reason of such default of payment thereof. Allso I doe give and devise unto my Sonne John Marwood and his heirs for ever all my lands and tenements whereof and wherein I stand seised in possession or have an expectancie in reversion of any estate of Inheritance or ffee simple provided that Marie my wife doe hold and enjoye and take and receive all the rents issues and profitts of the said lands and tenements during the terme of her naturall life if she continue soe long a Widdow Also I doe give and bequeath unto my said sonne John his executors and assignes all Annuities Chattle estates and household goods belonging to me provided allso that my said Wife doe hold and enjoye all the said Annuities and Rentes and profitts of the said Chattle estates during soe many years as she shall live a Widdow and unmarried and have allso the use and occupation of the said household goods during the same tyme Provided allso and my is that if my said wife shall happen to marrie then that my sonne John shall forthwith have into his owne hands and possession all my aforesaid lands tenements Annuities and Chattle estates and household goods and shall yearly and every yeare during the life of my said wife pay out of the same for and towards the maintenance and lyvelyhood of my said Wife the summe of Fortie pounds of lawful English monie at the feasts of St. Michaell the Archangell the Birth of our Lord God the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Marie and the Nativetie of St. John Baptist by even and equal portions to com and be after such marriage as aforesaid All the rest of my goods and chattels after my debts and ffuneralls paid and performed I doe give and bequeath unto Marie my now Wife whom I doe make sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament and for her assistance in the performance of this my Will I do appoint my brother John Marwood and Mr. Edwward Fford and Mr. Tristram Stoning of Honiton my Overseers to see this my Will performed. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seale ——— THO. MARWOOD (Seal) ——— Signed sealed and declared by the said Thomas Marwood to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of ——— THO. FFORDE ——— J. FFORDE ——— WILL’I LOWMAN ———
11th September 1667. Proved in the Archdeaconry Court of Exeter by the Oath of Marie Marwood, Widow, the Relict, the sole Executrix Effects £1494 7s. 0d. The Inventory contains the following entry:—
In ye Closet adjoining (Parlour) Books, Physicall drugs, a press, glasses, mortars and pestles, boxes, distillatories, one chair and cushion, scales and weights, and other small utensills. Total as above. £40.
V.
Will of Henry Marwood, citizen and merchant tailor of London.
TESTAMENTUM HENRICI MARWOOD (fo. 113, Dycer).
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN The Sixteenth day of November Anno D'ni 1675 And in the Seaven and Twentyth yeare of the Raigne of our soueraigne Lord Charles the second by the grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland King Defender of the faith &c I Henry Marwood citizen and merchantailor of London being sick and weake in body but of sound and perfect mind and memory Praised be Almighty God therefore And calling to mind the uncertainty of this transitory life doe make and ordeine this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme following That is to say ffirst and principally I comend my Soule into the hands of Almighty God my Creator and of Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer By whose mercy and meritts I beleeve and doe assuredly hope to obteine free pardon and remission of all my sinnes and Offences and to inheritt amongst the Elect the Joyes and fruition of eternal life my Body I committ to the Earth to be decently buryed in Christian manner at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named in sure and certeine expectacon of a ioyfull Resurrection at the last Day And my Will and mind is And I doe hereby give will and appoint the sume of Ore hundred and ffyfty Pownds of lawfull money of England to be expended and laid out by my Executors hereafter named in and about my funerall solempnity in such manner as to them shall seeme meete And that my worthy and deare freind Mr John Stoning Minister of St Anne Blackffryers London doe preach my funerall sermon And that my said Executors doe reward him for his paines therein as to them shall be thought convenient And as for touching and concerning such Goods Chattells Debts and Estate as it bath pleased God of his exceeding bounty to lend mee in this world I give will devise and bequeath the same as fulloweth That is to say ffirst I will that all such Debts as I shall truly owe at the time of my decease shall be paid according to Equity and good Conscience nd after my Debts and funerals paid and discharged Then all the residue of my Goods Chattells Debts and Estate to mee belonging or in any wise apperteyning I give and bequeath as followeth That is to say ffirst I give and bequeath vnto my deare and loving brother Mr John Marwood The sume of One Thousand Pounds of lawfull money of England To be paid vnto him within the space of Twelve Kalendar46Monethes next after my decease Item I give and bequeath vnto my loving Cosen Richard Newbery now lyving with mee the sume of ffower Hundred Pownds of lawfull money of England To be paid vnto him within the space of Two yeares next after my decease Item I give and bequeath vnto Samuel Williams my now servant the sume of One hundred and ffyfty Pownds of like lawfull money of England To be paid vnto him within the said space of Two yeares next after my decease And my Will is And I doe hereby desire and entreat my said Cosen Richard Newbery and the said Samuel Williams and either of them to be ayding and assistant to my Executors herevnder named and to either of them in adiusting of Accompts with my Chapmen and getting in the Debts due and owing vnto mee Item I give vnto my aforesaid good freind Mr John Stoning the sume of Tenn Pownds of lawfull money of England Item I give and bequeath the sume of One Hundred Powndes of lawfull money of England To be paid vnto my aforesaid loving brother Mr John Marwood within Six Monethes next after my decease vpon speciall trust and confidence neuertheles in him the said John Marwood reposed And to the intent and purpose That he the said John Marwood his heires executors or administrators shall and doe with all the convenient speed he can or may lay out the said sume of One Hundred Pownds in the purchasing and paying for Lands of Inheritance of a good and indefesiable Title in Law And cause and procure the same to be well and sufficiently in Law As by Councell learned in the Law shall be reasonably advised or devised conveyed setled and assured to and vpon him the said John Marwood and such other able and sufficient persons as he shall nominate and appoint and theire heires foreuer In Trust and vpon speciall confidence That the cleere Rents issues and profitts of the same Lands so to be purchased. and conveyed annually arising and accruing after all Charges and expences shall be satisfyed and paid to the Trustees from time to time and at all times foreuer hereafter touching the trust in them reposed shall be applyed and paid yearely and every yeare foreuer On the ffeast day of St Luke in every years for and towards the reliefe help and succoure of poor honest and aged persons lyving within the Towne and Parish of Honiton in the County of Devon where I was borne that have been industrious and paines taking Laborers and by reason of age or other bodily Infirmityes become unable to labour and not to any other persons The same to be shared parted and devided by such parts and shares to and amongst such number as to the said Trustees or the survivors or survivor of them or the maior part of them or the survivors or survivor of them and theire heires shall from time to time and at all times hereafter think most meets and convenient and conceive most charitable Item I give and bequeath vnto my honoured Aunt Mrs Northcott my loving Cosens Mr Daniell Marwood the Two Sonnes of my Cosen Mr Tristram Bowdage and Mr Daveney my worthy freinds John Sanford Esquire and his wife John Lawson Doctor in Phisick and his wife Mrs Susanna Nodes Widdow George Nodes Esquire and his wife Edmund ffeild Esquire and his wife William Boteler Esquire and his wife Mr George Draper and his wife Mr Beniamin Smart and his wife Mrs Jane Nodes Mr John Nodes Mr Charles Nodes Sr Thomas Putt Mr Huckle my now Apprentices ffather Mr James Perrott the elder Mr Samuel Hinton and Mr William Sterne one of the sonnes of his Grace Richard Lord Archbishopp of Yorke and to euery of them One Ring of Gold of the value of fforty shillings to weare in remembrance of mee Item I give to my loving freinds Mr William Warne Scryvenor and to Mr David Abbott and his wyfe ffyve Pownds a peece of lawfull money of England Item I give to Mr ***47 Coppin and to the Two daughters of the aforesaid Mr David Abbott and to every of them a Ring of Gold of the value of Twenty shillings Item I gyue to my Godsonn Thomas Pendleton sonn of Mr Thomas Pendleton One peace of Plate of the value of Tenn Pownds of lawfull English money which I desire my Executors to buy and delyuer vnto him Item I giue to Elizabeth my now maid servant ffyve Pownds to buy her mourning Item in case the aforesaid Mr Huckle shall and doe imediately after my decease take Richard Huckle his sonn my now Apprentice from my Executors and delyuer up to them the Indenture of his Apprenticehood and discharge them of him and all Charges and damages that shall or may relate to him or his becoming my App'ntice in any wise Then I give vnto him the said Mr Huckle the sume of One hundred Pownds of lawfull money of England being somuch I had with the said Richard Puckle when I accepted him to be my Apprentice Item my Will and Mind is And I doe hereby will and appoint my Executors herevnder named and either of them to take out of my Estate and keepe and deteine to theire own vse and vses somuch lawfull money of England as shall be sufficient to recompence pay and discharge all such Charges Damages and necessary Expences as they or eitther of them shall pay suffer or susteine in and about the Execution of this my Will Item I give and bequeath vnto my loving Cosen Mr Thomas Blackmore and my good freind Mr John Bateman the sume of Threescore Pounds a peece of lawfull money of England desiring them to take vpon them the Execution of this my last Will and Testament And I giue and bequeath vnto my very loving friends Mr Christopher Pitt and Mr Thomas Pendleton the sume of Tenn Pounds a peece of lawfull money of England to buy them Mourning The rest and residue of all and singular the Goods and Chattells Debts and Estate whatsoeuer to mee belonging or in any wise apperteyning after my Debts and ffuneralls paid and Legacyes discharged I freely giue and bequeath vnto my aforesaid loving brother John Marwood and I doe hereby make and ordeine the said Thomas Blackmore and John Bateman ioynt Executors of this my last Will and Testament not doubting but they will faithfully performe the same according to the Trust in them reposed And forasmuch as a Considerable part of my Estate is in Debts due and owing vnto mee by Chapmen and other persons my Will is And I doe hereby fully impower my said Executors to compound for any Debt or Debts owing to mee if they or either of them shall see cause so to doe and make such Agreement with any of my Debtors for any Debt due to mee as to them shall seeme meete And I doe hereby will and appoint my said brother John Marwood to allow of such Composicon or Agreement so to be made accordingly And I doe hereby appoint and intreate my said good friends Mr Christopher Pitt and Mr Thomas Pendleton to be Overseers of this my said last Will and Testament and to be ayding and assistant to my said Executors in the execution thereof In witness whereof I the said Henry Marwood the Testator to this my last Will and Testament haue sett my hand and seale given the day and yeare first aboue written—HENRY MARWOOD. These presents conteyning Six sheets of written Paper To each and every of which the said Henry Marwood hath sett his hand and was by him signed sealed published and declared for and as his last Will and Testament the day and yeare first aboue written in the presence of vs whose names are herevnder written vizt: this word (Twelue) being first interlined in the second sheete—John Stoning Henry Clerke Ser. John Clerke his servant.
MEMORANDUM That I the aforesaid Henry Marwood doe make this present Codicil to my aforesaid last Will and Testament And doe will the same to be annexed and added to my last Will and Testament and taken as part and parcell thereof in forme following That is to say ffirst whereas I haue giuen to my Cosen Daniell Marwood in and by my Will One Ring of Gold of the value of fforty shillings Now I doe hereby giue vnto the said Daniell Marwood Three Pounds more of lawfull money of England Item I giue to my freind John Pringe the yonger One Ring of Gold of the value of fforty shillings Item I giue to the Poore of the Parish of St Gregory London ffyve Pounds of lawfull money of England To be distributed to and amongst them by the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poore of the said Parish for the time being as they in theire discretions shall think fitt Item my Will is That my Executors doe imploy my aforesaid Cosen Richard Newbery in and about the recevying and getting in my debts And I giue vnto the said Richard Newbery the sume of Twenty Pounds per annum for and during the terme of ffyve yeares to be reckoned and accompted from the day of my death The same to be paid to him Quarterly by ffower equall payments in euery yeare The first payment to be made and to begyn at the end of one Quarter of a yeare next after my decease which I intend as a Compensacon for his paines in getting in my debts In Witnes whereof I the said Henry Marwood the Testator haue to this Codicill sett my hand and Seale Gyven the Sixteenth day of November Anno D'ni 1675 And in the said Seaven and Twentyth year of the Raigne of our soueraigne Lord King Charles the second of England &c. HENRY MARWOOD. Signed sealed published and declared in the presence of vs--John Stoning Henry Clerke Ser. John Clerke his servant.
PROBATUM fuit huiusmodi Testamentum cum Codicillo annexo Londini . . . . Decimo Octavo die Mensis Novembris Anno D'ni Millesimo Sexcentesimo Septuagesimo Quinto Juramentis Thomæ Blackmore et Johannis Bateman Executorum in huiusmodi Testamento nominatorum Quibus Com'issa fuit . . . .
VI.
Will of John Marwood, M.D., of Honiton.
TESTAMENTUM JOHANNIS MARWOOD (fo. 153, Cann).
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN the twentieth day of August in the first yeare of the raigne of our most gratious Soveraigne Lord James the second by the grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland King defender of the faith &c. Annoqe Dom'i one thousand six hundred eighty five I John Marwood of Honiton in the County of Devon Gentleman being of good and perfect memory praised bee God calling to mind the uncertainty of my life (revokeing all former wills by mee made or declared) doe make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and forme following first I commend my soule into the hands of Almighty God my heavenly father and my body to the earth to bee buryed in decent manner by my Executrix hereafter named Item I give to the poore of the parish of Honiton tenn pounds Item I give to every servant that shall bee dwelling in house with me at the time of my death five pounds Item I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my Cousin John Marwood eldest sonne of my Vncle John Marwood deceased and to his heires and assignee for ever the Mannor of East Meare lying and being within the parish of Tiverton in the County of Devon aforesaid with all and every of its appurtenances and the Revercon and Revercons rents suites and Services thereof from the day of my death Item I doe give unto my said Cosin John Marwood and to his heires and assignee for ever all other my Lands and Tenements whereof and wherein I stand seised in possession or have any expectancy of revercon of any estate of Inheritance or ffee Simple and alsoe I doe give and bequeath unto my said Cousin John Marwood his Executors and assignee all my Chattles estate in Honiton and elsewhere and all the Table boards Chaires Stooles and bedsteeds which now are in and which were belonging to the house wherein I now live in my ffather's lifetime and one bed performed in the Parlour Chamber which was my brother Henry Marwoods late of London deceased and the Chaires Sutable to the Curtaines of the bed and Six Drum Chaires Item I give unto my Cousin John Ham sonne of William Ham late of Halberton Gent deceased three hundred pounds and to the three daughters of the said William Hame one hundred pounds a peece to bee paid them by my Executrix as hee and they shall attaine their severall ages of one and twenty yeares and in case that either of them doe dye before they attaine their age of one and twenty yeares then the Legacy given him or her shall remaine and bee, to the Survivors of them equally to bee divided betweene them Provided allwaies and my will is that if he the said John Ham within six Moneths after hee shall attaine the age of one and twenty yeares as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect to make and to deliver to my Cousin John Marwood aforesaid a full cleare and absolute release of all right title interest clayme and demand whatsoever which hee or his heires may or might have or pretend to have of in and to the mannor of East Meare aforesaid or of in and to any part parcell or member thereof by reason that William Ham ffather of the said John Ham did purchase the said Mannor of East Meare for mee with my mony and to my use but in his owne name and shortly after dyeing did not before his death by any writeing under his hand regrant and assure the said Mannour unto mee and my heires as he ought and intended to have done as by divers depositions taken did Appeare or if the heires of the said John Ham in case hee shall happen to dye before hee attaine the said age of one and twenty yeares shall within the time aforesaid neglect or refuse to make and deliver to the said John Marwood a full and absolute release of all title claime and demand whatsoever of in and to the said Mannor of East Meare as aforesaid that then the said Legacye and Legacies given them and either of them shall not bee paid by my Executrix but the said legacies to all and every of them shall bee utterly frustrate and void Item I give unto ffrances Marwood my Aunt forty shillings and to James Thomas Benedict and Bridgett Children of the said ffrances fforty shillings a peece to bee paid them within six monethes after my decease if they bee of the age of one and twenty yeares or as soone as they or either of them shall attaine that age Item I give unto Peter Elizabeth and Mary the three children of my Cosin Peter Cole one hundred pounds a peece to bee paid them by my Executrix as they shall attaine their age of one and twenty yeares and in case that either of them doe dye before they shall attaine their said age of one and twenty yeares then the Legacy hereby given him or her shall remaine and bee to the Survivors or Survivor of them Item I give unto Elleno ….. 48 the now wife of Edward fforward one hundred and fifty pounds to bee paid within one yeare next after my decease Item I give to Mary now wife of David Abbott Sixty pounds and to Hugh Baker of Honiton thirty pounds and to my Cosin Daniell Marwood tenn pounds and to Mr Joseph Northcote tenn pounds and to William Levermore Apothecary tenn pounds all which Legacies my will is shall bee paid by my Executrix within one yeare after my decease and my will and desire is that David Abbott my Tenant shall have six months time after my decease for the Ridance and Carying away his goods all the rest of my goods moneys and Chattels after my debts and Legacies paid and funerall performed I doe give and bequeath unto my Cosin Mary Goldsworthy now wife of Samuell Goldsworthy of Honiton whome I doe make and ordaine whole and sole Executrix of this my last will and testament desireing her to perform the same In witnesse whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale the day and yeare first above written—JOHN MARWOOD.
Signed sealed published and declared to bee my last will and testament after the Interlineing the word (estates) and the words (the same) in the presence of Rogr Andrewes Daniell Goldsworthy Ann Serell.
PROBATUM fuit hui'mo'i Test'um apud London vicesimo nono die mensis Decembris Anno Domini mill'imo sexcen'mo Octoge'mo quinto . . . Juramento Mariæ Goldsworthy ux' Samuelis Goldsworthy Extis in d'c'o test'o nominat' Cui Comissa . . . .
VII.
Will of Thomas Marwood, of Northleigh.
TESTAMENTUM THOMÆ MARWOOD (fo. 49, May).
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, the ffifteenth day of October in the twelveth yeare of the Raigne of our most gracious Soveraige49 Lord Charles the second by the grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland Kings Defender of the faith &c I Thomas Marwood of North leigh in the County of Devon genttleman revokeinge all former wills by mee at any time heretofore made Doe now make and ordaine this to bee my last Will and Testament in manner and forme followinge ffirst I bequeath my soule into the hands of Almighty God my maker hopeinge assuredly by the all sufficient merritts of Jesus Christ my saviour to bee made partaker of Everlasting life And my body I commend to the Earth whereof it is made and touching my worldly goods where God in mercy hath endowed mee with I dispose of them as ffolloweth I give and bequeath vnto Daniell Marwood my sonne halfe a crowne. Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto each and every of my Grandchildren two shillings a peece. Alsoe I give vnto my daughter Bridgett Marwood three hundred pounds of lawfull English money to bee paid her by mine Executrix herevnder named in manner and forme followinge (that is to say) one hundred pounds within the space and time of one yeare next after my decease one hundred pounds more within the space and time of two yeares next after my decease And one hundred pounds residue of the said three hundred pounds within the space and time of three yeares next after my decease Alsoe I give and bequeath unto James Collins my Grandchild all those two closes with their appurten'ncs one of them called by the name of Hayes and the little orchard thereunto adioyninge and the other called Halson meade in all conteigning by estimacon three acres bee it more or lesse being part and parcells of Clace Clapps tenement scituate in North leigh aforesaid for and dureinge all my estate and interest therein the said James Collings payinge or allowinge out of the same premises vnto my Executrix forty pounds when hee shall accomplish the age of sixteene yeares Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto Elizabeth my wife all that my Messuage and Tenement with thappurten'ncs wherein I doe now live called or knowne by the name of Bucknoll for and dureinge the terme of her life if shee live vnmarried and after her decease or marriage of the said Elizabeth my wife then I doe give and bequeath the said Messuage and Tenement with the Appurtenncs vnto James Marwood my sonne for and dureinge all the estate and Interest therein then to come and vnexpired Alsoe my will is that the said Elizabeth my wife shall have and make vse of all the goods in the house dureinge her life and afterwards to remaine vnto James Marwood my sonne Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto the said James Marwood my sonne all those several Closes and parcells of land and the dwellinge house therevpon and orchard with their appurten'ncs being the third part of Clace Clapps Tenement in North Leigh aforesd exceptinge the two Closes before given vnto James Collins Immediately after my decease dureinge all the estate terme and Interest therein to come and vnexpired Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto the said James Marwood my sonne all that one other Messuage and Tenement with thappurtennces called alsoe or knowne by the name of Bucknoll wherein one John Pearse lately dwelt and which I lately purchased of Sr Peter Prideaux Baronet scituate in North leigh aforesaid for and dureing all the estate terme and interest therein to come and vnexpired Hee the said James Marwood my Sonne yielding and payinge out of the said Messuage and Tenement vnto the said James Collins my grandchild the same of one hundred pounds of lawfull English money when hee shall attaine to the age of sixteene yeares the which hundred pounds is and shalbee in part of satisfaction of such moneys as my Executrix is to pay the said James Collins when hee attaines the age of sixteene yeares All the rest of my goods and Chattells whatsoever not before given bequeathed or disposed of my debts and legacies paid and funerall expenses p'formed I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth my wife whom I doe make and ordaine sole Executrix of this my last will and Testament In Witness whereof I have herevnto set my hand and seale yeaven the day and yeare first above written 1660.—THOMAS MARWOOD
Signed sealed && published and by the said Thomas Marwood declared to bee his last will and Testament In the presence of Ambr. Cleake The marke X of ffrancis Shilds Francis Cleake.
PROBATUM FUIT TESTAMENTUM suprascriptum apud London . . . . vicesimo Nono die mensis Martij Anno D'ni Millesimo sexcentesimo sexagesimo primo Iuramento Elizabethæ
Marwood Relictæ dicti defuncti et Executricis in h'mo’i testamento nominat' cui comissa.
VIII.
Will of Daniel Marwood of Colyton, Gent.
TESTAMENTUM DANIELIS MARWOOD (44 Coker).
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN I Daniell Marwood of Coliton in the County of Devon Gent being aged and weake but of good memory (blessed be God for it) doe hereby revoke all former Wills by me made, and I doe make and ordaine this my last Will and Testament as followeth ffirst I comend my Soule to God whoe gave it to me hopeing for Salvation in and by the meritts of my Saviour Jesus Christ And my body to the earth whereof it was made to be therein decently interred in a Christian like manner And as to the worldly Estate which it hath pleased God to bestow upon me I doe hereby dispose of the same as followeth that is to say I doe hereby Will give and devise unto my Sister Sarah Bowdage All that Leasehold Tenement in the parish of Northley and County of Devon in which one William Michell formerly lived and which I bought of the late Lord Petre and all my Estate therein Item I give unto my kinsman Tristram Bowdage sonne of my said Sister Sarah Bowdage and to his Heires for ever all my Estate in Offwell in the said County called Combe now in the Occupacon of my Brother James Marwood Alsoe I give unto my said kinsman Tristram Bowdage all my Tenement in Northley aforesaid formerly Clapps Tenement at Water now in the possession of Thomas Whitt and all my Estate therein Item I give and devise unto my said Sister Sarah Bowdage all my Estate in Coliton in the said County for the terme of fforty yeares next after my decease if she live soe long she paying out of the proffits thereof Tenn pounds yearely unto my Sister Bridgett Kirby so long as my said Sister Kirby shall live And I doe hereby give and devise unto my said Sister Bridgett Kirby the said yearely payment of Tenn pounds soe long as she lives Item I give unto my said Sister Bridgett Kirby All that my Tenement in Dalwood in the County of Dorsett called Woodhayes in which Humfery Swetland now liveth dureing the terms of her naturall life Item I give and devise unto my kinsman Thomas Bowdage Sonne of my said Sister Sarah Bowdage all my Leasehold Estate called Hamberhayne in Coliton aforesaid from and after my said Sister Sarahs decease dureing all my Estate therein and terme of yeares to come Alsoe I doe give and devise unto my said kinsman Thomas Bowdage and to his Heires for ever All my Lands and freehold Estate in Coliton aforesaid after his Mothers decease Item I give and devise unto my said kinsman Tristram Bowdage and to his heires for ever all that my Tenement called Moorehayes otherwise the Marsh in Killmington in the County of Devon now in the possession of John Clarke Item I give unto my Cosen Sarah Bowdage daughter of my Sister Sarah all that Tenement in Shute in the said County of Devon called Kilhayne wherein John Newton lived for and dureing the terms of her life Item I give unto Joane Crabb now liveing a servant at Hamberhayne Tenn pounds if she be living there at my decease Item I give unto Elizabeth Roost another servant now lyveing at Hamberhayne Tenn pounds if she be liveing there at my decease Item I give to the poore of the parish of Coliton aforesaid ffive pounds And I give to the poor of the parish of Northley aforesaid five pounds to be distributed and paid by my Executrixe herein after named All the rest of my Goods and Chattles not before given and bequeathed (my debts Legacies and funeral charges being first paid) I give bequeath and devise unto my said Sister Sarah Bowdage whome I doe hereby make and ordains my Whole and sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament And I doe hereby Release and forgive unto Mr Thomas Rogers of Curry Malett in Somersettshire Nicholas Sampson at Coliton Samuell Sampson his sonne and Emlyne Cooke of Coliton Widow all such Debts sume or Sumes of money which shall be owing or due to me from them or any one of them at the time of my death by any waies or meanes whatsoever In Witnes whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and Seale the fowerth day of July in the yeare of our Lord one Thousand six Hundred ninety and Two—DANIELL MARWOOD Sealed Published and declared in the presence of John Sampson Robert Turner The marke X of Joane Crabb The marke X of Elizabeth Roost John Holwill Nich. Tompson Phillip Michell Junr.
PROBATUM fuit h'mo'i Testamentum apud London sexto die mensis Septembris Anno D'ni Millesimo Sexcentesimo Nonagesimo Tertio coram venerabili et egregio viro d'no Richardo Raines milite Legum Doctore Curiæ Prærogativæ Cantuar mag'ro Custode sive Com'issario l'time constituto Juramento Saræ Bowdage ux' Tristram Bowdage Executricis in dicto Testamento nominat' cui Comissa fuit Administratio omnium et singulorum bonorum jurium et creditorum dicti defuncti de bene et fidel'r Administrando eadem ad Sancta dei Evangelia vigore Comnis jurat'.
I desire, in conclusion, to acknowledge the obligations I am under to J. A. C. Vincent, Esq., for permitting me to print seven of the above wills from copies of them in his collection; to W. H. H. Rogers, Esq., F.S.A., for the loan of his excerpta from the Colyton Registers, and for much other assistance; to J. B. Gould, Esq., of Exeter; and to the rectors of Widworthy, Northleigh, and Chaffcombe, for extracts from the Parochial Registers and for copies of Monumental Inscriptions in their respective churches.
WILLIAM MUNK.
For a copy of “Marvodia” as scanned, see
https://archive.org/details/b21933984
1 Fuller in his Church History writes: — "King James fell sick at Theobalds, of a tertian ague, in spring; for a King rather physical than dangerous. But soon after his ague was heightened into a fever; four mischiefs meeting therein. First, the malignity of the malady in itself had to be cured: secondly, an aged person of sixty years' current; thirdly, a plethoric body full of ill humours; fourthly, the King’s averseness to physic and impatience under it."
2 "Truly," says Bishop Goodman, "I think King James every autumn did feed a little more than moderately upon fruits; he had his grapes, his nectarines, and other fruits in his own keeping, besides we did see that he fed very plentifully on them from abroad. I remember that Mr. French of the spicery, who sometimes did present him with the first strawberries, cherries, and other fruits, and kneeling to the King had some speech to use to him — that he did desire his Majesty to accept them and that he was sorry they were no better, with such like complimental words, but that the King never had the patience to hear him one word, but his hand was in the basket." — The Court of King James the First, by Dr. Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, from the Original Manuscripts; by John S. Brewer, A.M., 2 vols. 8vo., Lond, 1839, vol. 1, p. 409.
3 "After this eating of fruit," writes Bishop Goodman, "his body fell into a great looseness, which although while he was young did tend to preserve his health, yet now being grown toward sixty it did a little weaken his body." — Vol. i, p. 409.
4 "He had always conceived such a repugnance to physic, that the doctors even in his worst attack were unable to persuade him to have recourse to it," — Aulicus Coquinaræ in "Secret History of James I," vol. ii, p. 237.
5 It is to this period of the illness probably that Arthur Wilson, a contemporary writer, refers when he says: — “The King that was very much impatient in his health was patient in his sickness and death." — Quoted by Jesse "Memoirs of the Court of England during the reign of the Stuarts," vol. i, p. 114. And Fuller, having mentioned the King's averseness to physic and impatience under it, as among the obstacles to his recovery, adds — "Yet the last was quickly removed above expectation, the King contrary to his custom being very orderable in his sickness." — (Church History, Book x, Cent. xvii). How little foundation there really was for these statements may be gathered from the Medical Report above.
6 JM: faucium?
7 In the Harleian MS. 383, there is a copy of a letter from Mr. William Neve to Sir Thomas Hollande, concerning the embalment of the body of James I. The writer says: — "The King's body was about the 29th March disbowelled and his heart was found to be great and soft, his liver freshe as a young man's — one of his kidneys very good, but the other shrunke soe little as they could hardly find it, wherein there was two stones. His Lites and Gall blacke: judged to proceed from melancholy. The semyture of his head so stronge as they could hardly breake it open with a chesill and a sawe, and so full of braynes as they could not upon the openinge keepe them from spilling; a great marke of his infynite judgment." — Ellis's "Original Letters illustrative of English History," vol. iii, p. 183. And Mead in a letter to Sir Martin Stuteville writes: — "When the body was opened by the physicians, they found his heart of an extraordinary bignes, all his vitalls sound, as also his head which was very full of braines; but his blood was wonderfully tainted with melancholy, and the corruption thereof supposed the cause of his death." — Ellis's "Original Letters," ut supra.
8 The translator declared himself unfamiliar with Tudor medical Latin, and had an incomplete knowledge of Tudor beliefs about the body and humours. Still, I believe this rough translation will give the reader a sense of the original. Perhaps sometimes the translator been somewhat free with his translation, sometimes a bit too literal.
9 To Prince, the author of the "Worthies of Devon," we owe much of what isknown of the first Dr. Marwood. His account of the Marwoods has never beenprinted. It forms a part of the MS. in the handwriting of Prince and ready prepared by him for the press, of a second volume of the Worthies, which has not yet been published. It belonged formerly to J. F. Gwynn, Esq., of Ford Abbey, near Chard, and was purchased at the sale of the Ford library by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., of Middle Hill, and is now in his collection at Cheltenham. But Prince is notoriously inaccurate. He was credulous, and recorded all he heard, no matter how improbable. In dates and descents he is especially to be suspected, and not less so in this particular instance of the Marwoods than in many other parts of his published and unpublished writings. The Rev. Dr. Oliver of Exeter, the learned author of the Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis, one of the most painstaking and accurate of men, writing to me on the 22nd Oct., 1855, in reference to this account of the Marwoods by Prince, says: "You mention a second volume of Prince's Worthies in MS. I wish the first was amended, for it is lamentably incorrect. Not that I agree with a note, in an old hand, written in a folio copy of 1701 (belonging to old Mr. Gilbert Dyer, our great bookseller) of the Worthies — 'A lustful drunken priest and an ignorant Historian and Herald.’ But he provokes me by his 'gross 'carelessness and slovenliness. In fact, he hated labour. On 21 April, 1681, he was promoted to the vicarage of Berry Pomeroy and enjoyed it until his death, 9 Sept., 1723, so that he had an abundance of leisure for correcting and revising."
10 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxiv, part i, p. 3,
11 Ut supra.
12 "As to Mr. Fowler" (writes Prince) “'tis reported, and in those parts generally believed, when he came to take his leave of the Court, her Majestie did bid him ask her what favour he pleased and it should be granted him. Hereupon he humbly replyed to this purpose: that a certain poor woman and a neighbour of his was wont to sell good Ale, a cup of which now and then was a great refreshment to him: but that the Justices of the Peace in those parts, out of ill will, denied her the liberty soe to doe. All therefore he said which he humbly craved of her Majestie was only a Licence for the woman to sell drink. This was speedily granted in authentick form and with plenary authority. When Mr. Fowler returned home from Court, he bids the woman sell ale again, withall telling her he would discharge her in despite of the Justices, cost what it would. Upon this assurance she undertook it; and being soon after convicted for it, was bound over to answer it at the next Quarter Sessions of the County. The good woman appearing accordingly, was threatened in a severe manner for her contempt of authority. All she had to reply was, that Mr. Fowler ordered her soe to doe and promised to bear her out in it. Mr. Fowler being call'd and examined in the matter, said twas true, and he would justify, what he had done. At which the Bench grew disgusted and began to consult of a fit Punishment for so high a misdemeanour. Hereupon Mr. Fowler produces his Licence — an order from the Queen — which greatly surprised and soon quashed them all. This story how ridiculous or improbable soever it may look is believed and reported for undoubted truth, by credible persons in those parts unto this day."
13 Bacon MSS, 653, 227.
14 Lives and Letters of the Devereux Earls of Essex. By the Honble. Walter Bourchier Devereux, 2 vols., 8vo, London, vol. i. p. 292.
15 1599, Apr. 16. Tho. Marwodde, Physit., to Dorothy Searle, widow.— Honiton Reg.
16 His age, marriage, &c, are not unprecedented. Whitaker [History of Whalley, p. 320] writes: — " James Starkie who seems to have succeeded to the estate in 1678 died 1706, aged103 or 105, for in the Register of his Burial the figure is not distinct. His widow survived him nearly 60 years, so that from the birth of her husband to the death of the wife must have been a period of 160 years. It is equally remarkable that his first marriage was late in life and that he had issue by his fourth wife when nearly 100 years old. " Sera, venere, inexhausta pubertas," is a wise observation of Tacitus, and strikingly verified in the instance before us.”
17 Does the following inscription on a flagstone in Northleigh Church refer to him, or to his father ? Probably to him, as it .seems to be of about the same date as the memorial of Elizabeth Marwood: Here lyeth ye body of Thomas Marwood of Northleigh, gen., . . . [all the rest is obliterated.]
18 Presumably he was married and had a daughter, as we find in the Colyton Register of Burials: " 1678. Dec, 20. Elizabeth, dr of Mr Daniel Marwood."
19 Daughter too of his step-mother
20 1602. Feb. 15. Peter son of John Marwood of Blamphayne. — Colyton Reg.
21 1605. Feb. 27. James, son of Mr John Marwood, Blamphayne. — Colyton Reg.
22 See will of his elder brother Thomas.
23 1626. April 21. John Marwood of Blamphayne, gent.—Colyton Reg.
24 "1635. Jan. 6. Roger Thomas of Widworthy gent, to Temperance dr of Bridget Marwood widow." — Colyton Reg.
25 “1629. Jan. 16. Grace dr of Bridget Marwood widow." — Colyton Reg.
26 Her name is not in her father's will. In her mother Bridget Marwood's will, anno 1642, we read: "I give to my daughter Ellen forty pounds and I give ten pounds to Ellen her daughter my grandchild and I give also to the residue of her children forty shillings apiece to be paid within two years next after my death" Did not this Ellen marry a Northcott?
27 Mary, was baptized at Northleigh 1st June, 1666. In the Colyton Reg. we read: "1666. Mary dr of Mr John Marwood of Blamphayne baptized at Northleigh 1 June." She probably died young, as her name does not again occur.
28 1687. Dec. 13. John Marwood of Beer, Gent. — Colyton Reg.
29 “Cookshayes” as I learn from W. H. H. Rogers, Esq., F.S.A., the learned author of "The Sepulchral Effigies and Monumental Sculpture of Devon," "is a weird old place, standing lonely up a beautiful valley, with old yew trees and a garden, in the corner of which is a summer, or rather I believe it was a music-house, and on the top an astrolabe as a sun-dial. A certain 'Madame Murr'nd,' as the country folk call them, is said to walk its precincts occasionally in the moon-light."
30 1744. Mrs Mary Marwood of Widworthy was buried 25 January. —Northleigh Reg.
31 “1734 July 27. James Marwood of Widworthy esqr. and Sarah Sealy, dr of
Samuel Sealy esqr, of this Parish." — Chaffcombe Reg.
32 1622. Nov. 25. Thomas Marwoode and Mary Thatcher. — Honiton Reg.
33 1626. — Henry, the son of Mr Thomas Marwood Physician. — Honiton Reg.
34 Iter Carolinum. "1644. July. Thursday the 25th to Honiton Dr Marwood's,
a physician, one night."
"1644. Septr . Monday the 23 to Chard Mr. Bancrofts: at Honiton dinner." —
Collectanea Curiosa, vol. 2, pp, 434 &, 436
35 JM 2021. A longer extract from the poem:
“Here Marwood liv'd, my mother bore that name;
Pardon the boast: t'was from that line I came,
Still on the house he built, his name is seen,
The fam'd Physician to the Virgin Queen:
Inviolate his loyalty he kept,
Under his roof the royal Martyr slept.”
36 "1671. March 31. Mrs Mary Marwood widow." — Honiton Reg. of Burials.
37 The original Lease is in Latin, of which the following is an abstract: —
Lease of Dunkeswell Grange, co. Devon, for thirty-one years granted to THOMAS MARWOOD of Northley, Gentleman, after the death of Margery Coplestone and Hugh her son.
The King in consideration of the sum of £12 13s 4d in hand paid by Thomas Marwood of Northley in the county of Devon gentleman (per Thomam Marwood de Northley in Comitatu nostra Devon' generosum) demises to him all those parcels of land, meadow & pasture with the appurts. — containing by estimation 120 acres — appertaining to the Grange called Woulfourchurche Graunge otherwise Dunkeswell Graunge otherwise Deepe Graunge (parcel of the King's manor of Dunkeswell and Bower-haires in said co.) together with common of pasture upon Dunkeswell Downe, Woulfourchurche Downe and Wolstone Downe (lately belonging to the manor* (sic) of Dunkeswell now dissolved) and all houses &c. Except all large timber, woods, underwoods, mines & quarries To have hold and enjoy all & singular the premises (except as before) to the said Thomas M. his heirs and assigns from the time of the death of the survivors of Margery Coplestone late wife of John Coplestone** deceased and Hugh Coplestone son of said John and Margery up to the end of the term of thirty-one years then next ensuing & fully to be completed. Yielding yearly to the King his heirs & successors £6 6s. 8d. at Michaelmas the first payment to begin at that feast which shall next fall after he (T. M.) his ex'ors or assigns shall or ought to enjoy the said premises. Covenants as to repairing hedges, ditches, ice. Witness the King at Westminster the twentieth day of July [1610]. — Patent Roll, 8 James I, Part 25, No. 6.
* Monastery.
** Lease for lives granted to Coplestone 8 Dec. 1590.
38 I am strengthened in this impression by a statement in Lysons' [Devonshire,
p. 170], and confirmed by several documents in the Public Record Office, that the site and manor of Dunkeswell, granted originally to John Lord Russell, having reverted to the Crown, was at a subsequent period in the possession of Theophilus Marwood and Hannibal Rowe. Now, Theophilus Marwood was, as will be seen in the subjoined pedigree, the younger son of this Thomas Marwood, of Northleigh, qui obiit 1619.
39 1623. Novr. 6. John the son of Mr Thomas Marwood.— Honiton Reg.
40 1644. Mart : 12. Joannes Marwood, Anglus, 20. P.
41 Prince wrote his account of the Marwoods about 1702, for, speaking of Eustachius de Merwood anno 27 Hen. III., 1242, he adds, "now above 460 years ago "—ergo 1702
42 1685. Sepr 18. John Marwood, gent. — Honiton Reg. of Burials.
43 1626 …. Henry the son of Mr Thomas Marwood, Physician. — Honiton Reg.
44 1656. Novr 18. James the son of James Marwood. — Colyton Reg.
45 1686. March 9th. James Marwood gent. — Colyton Reg.
JM 2021 - 2 stray footnotes. Not clear where in text they belong.
1 The playhouse and ground were advertised for sale in 1661. Mercurius Politicus, Feb. 14-21.
2 Vestry Minutes, St. Saviour's.
47 Sic
48 Sic.
49 Sic.
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