The English ancestry of Reinold and Matthew Marvin of Hartford, Ct ...

98
The English Ancestry of
Surrender geven of the howsse and land at the brydge ffoote in Ramsey
accordinge to my Wyll In the presens of Thomas Hearde John Weare tenantes
and Wyllm Hearde in steede of bayly
Surrender geven of the twoe Acres of Woodd accordinge to my Wyll in the
presence of Thomas Hearde John Hayvard Tenantes and Wyllyam Heard in
stede of Bayly.
The copy of the original Will recorded at Somerset House,
London, has neither signature nor date of probate, but the
expression "beynge sycke in bodye" in the opening lines is
an indication that he was then near his death.
The bequest above to his "ffreynd Thomas Hurre . . .
Supervysor," of what, by its mention of pence, — 13^. 4//.,
may be thought a singular amount, and similar legacies of
one-half (6s. 8d.) and one-quarter that sum ($s. 4^.), which
have appeared in several of the previous Wills, seem to
deserve a brief explanation. In the reign of Edward III
there was an issue of gold coinage, called " nobles," on which
the king was represented in a ship, crowned and bearing his
shield ; this was a very popular coin and passed for 6s. 8d.
Half and quarter nobles of corresponding value were also
struck. As the relative value of gold and silver fluctuated
greatly in the following reigns, the gold coins also changed
in value and in name ;
—
the nobles became "royals" or "rials,"
but continued to bear the device of the ship.* In the time
of Henry VI a rial was worth 10s., and in that of Elizabeth,
* C. F. Keary, F. S. A., in a paper on the " Coinage of the British Islands," origi-
nally printed in The Antiquary, London, and later in the American Journal of Numis-
matics, Vol. XX, p. 31, shows that the " older nobles gave place to the ryals, which, at
first coined to be worth six-and-eight-pence, like their predecessors, were worth ten
shillings " in the time of Henry VIII, although their weight had not been increased.