E 231399-1548Exchequer: Treasury of the Receipt: Royal Wills
This series contains royal wills from the Exchequer, Treasury of Receipt.
They are the original wills of Richard II (1399), Henry VII (1509) and Henry VIII (1546), as well as an interim testament - the 'second will' of Henry V (1417).
E 23/4 contains an unrelated draft warrant and letters patent of the inspeximus of the Close Roll enrolment of Henry VIII's will. Two wills, those of Henry VII and Henry VIII, are essentially death-bed wills, although grounded in part on earlier drafts. One, that of Henry V, is an interim settlement, drawn up at a time when the king was about to depart on a military campaign, and is not a full testamentary disposition. The will of Richard II was drawn up in similar circumstances, on the eve of his departure for Ireland.