Re: C17 dissent
Dave Postles (pot@leicester.ac.uk)
Wed, 15 Nov 1995 08:37:56 +0000
In response to Chris Harrison's query regarding the will of William Barnett of
Stafordshire (of 1602), Barnett's preamble looks like a great many of those
I've seen from Elizabethan Gloucestershire. The absence of any reference to
Jesus Christ was really quite common (at least in Gloucestershire). Further,
this language does not seem to disclose much if anything about the testator's
beliefs, since any Christian (or Jew) would believe that God created all
"mankind". The reference to "Brother John" is another matter. I haven't seen
that usage in Gloucestershire wills.
Caroline Litzenberger
Dept of History
West Virginia Univ.
clitzen@wvnvm.wvnet.edu
--