INTRODUCTION. 



The following abstracts of Inquisitiones post mortem are taken 

 from those that are still extant in the Public Record Office, 

 London, for the county of Wilts, from the commencement of the 

 reign of King Charles I. The original documents are in Latin, 

 and the advantage of these readable English abstracts, which 

 supply all the information which the originals themselves contain, 

 will be generally appreciated. They are taken from the Series 

 known as " Chancery Inquisitions," and have been collated when- 

 ever necessary with the transcripts sent into the Court of Wards 

 and Liveries. 



It will be convenient to give some particulars respecting these 

 Inquisitions or inquests, which it must be borne in mind are quite 

 distinct from the inquests still taken by the coroner in order to 

 ascertain causes of death. Inquisitiones post mortem were con- 

 cerned only with the property held "in chief" by the deceased, 

 and were requisite in order to ascertain the feudal rights which 

 accrued to the Crown upon the death of any tenant in chief. 

 Until the practical abolition of the service of knight serjeantry 

 in 1645 — it was not formally abolished until the accession of King 

 Charles the Second in 1660 — the Crown was entitled to levy 

 certain feudal exactions, into the details of which it is hardly 

 requisite to enter here. When the heir-at-law was a minor he 

 became a ward of the Crown. This was turned into a source 

 of profit, being often sold for hard cash, for it was a privilege of 

 considerable value, meaning the right not only to receive the 

 rents and profits of the property during the ward's minority, but 

 also the right of finding a spouse for the youthful heir. When 

 the heir attained his majority he then became the subject of further 

 feudal exactions, for on suing out his ousterlemain, that is, delivery 

 to him by the Crown of the lands for which he was in ward, he 



