THE WIDOW 251
pared to allow the making of a will so long as it was done with
the licence of the lord abbot.1
It may well be that many lords protected themselves as did the
Abbot of Ramsey on one of his manors. There a will was only
valid if made in the presence of the reeve or bailiff2—possibly as
a reminder of the lord's rights and to safeguard his interests. On
other Ramsey manors the serf was more generously treated, and
allowed to make his will without either bailiff or reeve being
present.3 Similarly, on the St Albans* manors the peasants could
make wills (presumably unfettered by the presence of the lord's
representative) which were proved before the cellarer. Those of
free men were dealt with by the superior court at St Albans
itself.4
Even with these limitations, however, the fact that wills were
encouraged by the Church, and allowed by more liberal lords, is
of considerable importance, and marked a definite stage in the
struggle for emancipation. The right to leave their personal
goods to whomsoever they would was not compatible with the
legalist's doctrines, but must have made for happiness and a
sense of security on all those manors where it flourished.
The death of the head of the family saw his wife and children
deprived of some of their goods, which were taken as "heriot"
or "mortuary", and it also left them to face the problem of suc-
cession to his unfree holdings. In theory the land belonged to the
lord and reverted to him on death, when he could re-allocate it
as he would. In very rare cases he allowed a different family to
take the holding and evicted the old tenants, but in general he
left the same family in possession, ceremonially admitting them
at the Manor Court, after due payment of gerswna and the
swearing of loyalty had been performed. Then, and only then,
could they feel safe as they saw the scribe making his entry of
the whole transaction in the Court Roll to which they could,
and did, appeal if their rights were challenged. In most manors
the widow seems to have enjoyed the privilege of holding the
tenement during her lifetime. This was called "Freebench", and
she was entitled to hold it unmolested so long as she remained
1 Vale Royal Ledger Book, 119. a Ramsey Cart, i, 477,
3 7^.1,384,4".
4 Wynslowe Rolls, 53 b. Cf. Seebohm, op. cit. 30.