SMYTHE, John (Will)

The following summary of the will of John Smythe appeared in the October 1913 edition of the Badsey Parish Magazine. E A B Barnard, FSA, of Evesham, was a regular contributor to the magazine and wrote a series on “Old Badsey Wills”, in connection with his researches concerning the history of the Rural Deanery of Evesham.

The spelling of the Will under present consideration is somewhat involved, and so, for the benefit of the general reader, I give in modern form the various items of local interest appearing therein. The Will is that of:

Smythe, John, Badsey, Feast of St. Egwin¹ Abbot, 1535. (Cal. Worc. Wills, Vol. I. p. 7, f. 35.)

Body to be buried in the Chancel of Saint James's Church.

• To the High Altar of the Mother Church of Evesham 6s. 8d.
• To the bell in the new tower² 3s. 4d.
• And to the two clerks a groat apiece.
• To the Ordinary for a Trental³ of Masses 10s.
• To every church within the jurisdiction of Saint Egwin's Diocese⁴ 8d.
• To every Vicar or Curate of the same 4d. apiece to say Mass and Dirige⁵ for my soul and all Christian souls.
• To Bengeworth Church 12d.
• To gilding of the Rood Loft⁶ of Badsey 6d.
• To Sir William Marshall⁷ 3s. 4d.
• Sir Thomas Jamys "my ghostly father"⁸.

NOTES ON WILL

1. The seven solemn feasts of Evesham Abbey were Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption, All Saints' Day, the Deposition of St. Egwin (Dec. 30), and that of his Translation (Sep. 10). Probably the Feast of the Deposition is here intended.

2. The existing Bell Tower at Evesham, which Abbot Clement Lichfield was then building, Leland (Itinerary, Vol 4, page 72) writing just after the Dissolution, says that Abbot Clement had placed there "a great bell ... and a goodly clock." (See also Tower and Bells of Evesham," Chap. III.)

3. Thirty Masses.

4. By a decree of December 11, 1248, the Bishop of Worcester ceased to have any jurisdiction over the churches of the Vale (except Abbot's Morton), and they remained under the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Evesham until after the Dissolution. The Ordinary did not recover his natural rights over the Vale of Evesham until the anomaly was removed by an Order in Council, February, 1851.

5. Matins of the Dead, called also Dirige from its first antiphon "Dirige Domine Deus meus in conspectu tuo viam meam."

6. The loft or screen upon which the rood or crucifix was placed. (See "Badsey Churchwarden's Accounts," page 13.)

7. I cannot recall any other local reference to him. There were Marshalls at South Littleton at this time.

8. His confessor.