That the vow was restricted to the obligation of perpetual chastity, and
in no way curtailed the freedom and privileges which the vowess shared
with other ladies, is demonstrated by the contents of various wills,
like that of Katherine of Riplingham, dated February 8, 1473. Therein
she styles herself an "advowess"; but, having forfeited none of her
civil rights, she devises estates, executes awards, and composes family
differences. This is quite in the spirit of St. Paul's words: "If any
widows have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at
home, and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable to
God."

Allusion has been made to the ring as the symbol of the spiritual
espousal. As such it was the object of peculiar reverence, and its
destination was frequently specified in the vowess's will. Thus in
"Testamenta Vetusta" we find the abstract of the will of Alice, widow of
Sir Thomas West, dated 1395, in which the lady bequeaths "the ring with
which I was spoused to God" to her son Sir Thomas. In like manner
Katherine Riplingham leaves a gold ring set with a diamond--the ring
with which she was sacred--to her daughter Alice Saint John. To some
vowesses the custody even of a son or daughter appeared unworthy of so
precious a relic; and thus we learn that Lady Joan Danvers, by her will
dated 1453, gave her spousal ring to the image of the Crucifix near the
north door of St. Paul's, while Lady Margaret Davy presented hers to the
image of Our Lady of Walsingham.

In certain instances the formality of episcopal benediction was
dispensed with, a simple promise sufficing. As a case in point, John
Brackenbury, by his will dated 1487, bequeathed to his mother certain
real estate subject to the condition that she did not marry again--a
condition to which she assented before the parson and parish of
Thymmylbe. "If," says the testator, "she keep not that promise, I will
that she be content with that which was my father's will, which she had
every penny." But, in compacts or wills in which the married parties
themselves were interested, the vow seems to have been usually exacted.
Wives sometimes engaged with their husbands to make the vow; and the
will of William Herbert, Knight, Earl of Pembroke, dated July 27, 1469,
contains an affecting reminder of duty--"And, wife, that you may
remember your promise to take the order of widowhood, so that you may
be the better maistres of your owen, to perform my