will, and to help my
children, as I love and trust you," etc.

Husbands left chattels to their wives provided that they took the vow of
chastity. The will of Sir Gilbert Denys, Knight, of Syston, dated 1422,
sets out: "If Margaret, my wife, will after my death vow a vow of
chastity, I give her all my moveable goods, she paying my debts and
providing for my children; and if she will not vow the vow of chastity,
I desire my goods may be divided and distributed in three equal parts."
On like terms wives were appointed executrices. William Edlington, Esq.,
of Castle Carlton, in his will dated June 11, 1466, declares: "I make
Christian, my wife, my sole executor on this condition, that she take
the mantle soon after my decease; and in case she will not take the
mantle and the ring, I will that William my son [and other persons
named] be my executors, and she to have a third part of all my goods
moveable."

Such is the frailty of human nature that even when widows accepted the
obligation of faith and chastity in the most solemn manner, the vow was
occasionally broken. This will hardly excite surprise when we consider
the youth, or comparative youth, of some of the postulants. Mary, the
widow of Lewis, King of Hungary, was only twenty-three at the time of
her profession. Our English annals yield striking instances of promises
followed by repentance. Thus Eleanor, third daughter of King John, "on
the death of her first husband, the Earl of Pembroke, 1231, in the first
transports of her grief, made in public a solemn vow in the presence of
Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, that she would never again become a
wife, but remain a true spouse of Christ, and received a ring in
confirmation, which she, however, broke, much to the indignation of a
strong party of the laity and clergy of England, on her marriage with
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester." Another delinquent was Lady
Elizabeth Juliers, Countess of Kent. When her first husband died, in
1354, she took a vow of chastity before William de Edyndon, Archbishop
of Canterbury. Six years later she was wedded privately and without
licence to Sir Eustace Dabridgecourt, Knight. As the result, the
Archbishop of Canterbury instituted proceedings against her, and she was
condemned to severe penance for the remainder of her life. In the light
of these examples it is unnecessary to observe that the infraction of a
vow so strict and stringent brought the utmost discredit on any widow
wh