Will of William Houlder, husbandman, 1614

This is a transcript of the will of William Houlder, husbandman, dated 3 March 1613/4. He was buried on 8th June and the will proved on 4th August 1614.

His simple will begins with a pious preamble, 'First and above all other things I give and bequeath my soul to Almighty God my creator and redeemer and, assuredly believing by the death and passion of my lord and saviour Jesus Christ, to have full pardon and remission of all my sins and offences and to be one of the elect children of God', which, with its emphasis on the passion of Christ and its use of the phrase 'elect children of God' suggests a Calvinist theology. Yet he also left 4d to the cathedral church of Hereford, once a standard formula of Catholic wills and not uncommon until the late 16th century,,but a more surprising survival into the early years of the seventeenth.