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Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
May 13,
1605

PROB 11/105, 214 verso

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PROB 11/105, 214 verso
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Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.

Terms of use
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education.  Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225   Fax: 020 8392 5266.

Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
Date: May 13, 1605
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 11/105, fol. 214v-215r
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Item Creator
Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Item Title
Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
Item Date
May 13, 1605
Repository
The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call Number
PROB 11/105, 214v

PROB 11/105, 215 recto

View Image Assets
PROB 11/105, 215 recto
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.

Terms of use
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education.  Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225   Fax: 020 8392 5266.

Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
Date: May 13, 1605
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 11/105, fol. 214v-215r
View online bibliographic record

 

Item Creator
Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Item Title
Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
Item Date
May 13, 1605
Repository
The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call Number
PROB 11/105, 215r

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, London, England.

Terms of use
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.
Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education.  Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225   Fax: 020 8392 5266.

Document-specific information
Creator: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
Title: Will of Augustine Phillips, Gentleman of Mortlake, Surrey
Date: May 13, 1605
Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UK
Call number and opening: PROB 11/105, fol. 214v-215r
View online bibliographic record

 

Alan H. Nelson, "Augustine Phillips' last will and testament: registered copy," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/358.

The National Archives, PROB 11/105. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/358.

Augustine Phillips was a long-time member of the same playing company as William Shakespeare – the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men. Phillips’s will, dated May 4, 1605, provides insight into two important aspects of the company’s operations. First, it provides a nearly complete roster of the King’s Men in May 1605. Second, provisions of the will provoked lawsuits which help document the history of the Globe playhouse.

Shown here is the registered copy of Phillips’s will, probated May 13, 1605. A marginal notation at the conclusion, dated May 16, 1607, reveals that John Heminges, the first of four overseers, enacted Phillips’s proviso that if his wife Anne should remarry, executorship of the will would pass to the overseers. It was Heminge’s intervention which triggered at least two lawsuits. (To learn more about membership of the company and the two lawsuits, please refer to the “original” copy of Augustine Phillips's will.) 

This registered copy is held in the PROB 11 series. “Probate” is the legal process of confirming the existence, validity, and effectiveness of a will, as explained in “Wills in Shakespeare’s England.” In the case of Phillips, the date of the will was May 4; the exact dates of his death and burial are unknown; the date of probate was May 13. The relative dates of the will and of probate help to establish an approximate date of death. Phillips must have died on or after May 4, but on or before May 13, 1605.

Semi-diplomatic transcription

[This transcription is pending final vetting]

[Image 1: PROB 11/105, fol. 214v]

Testamentum Augustini Phillips,

In the name of God Amen The foureth day of May Anno Domini 1605
And in the yeres of the raigne of the our soveraigne Lorde Iames by the grace of god Kinge
of England Scotland ffraunce and Ireland defendor of the faith &c that is to say of England
ffraunce and Ireland the third, and of Scotland the eight and thirtith I Augustyne Philipps
of Mortlack in the Countie of Surrey gent’ being at this presente sick and weake in bodie, but of
good and perfect minde and remembraunce thanckes be given vnto allmightie god, do make ordaine
and dispose this my presente testament and last will in manner and forme following That is to saie
ffirst and principally I commende my soule into the handes of almightie god my maker saviour and
redemer, in whome and by the merrites of the second person Iesus Christe I truste and beleive assuredly
to be saved, And to haue full and cleire remission and forgivenes of my synnes, And I comitt my
bodie to be buried in the chauncell of the parish church of Mortlack aforesaid, And after my bodye
buried and ffunerall charges paide, Then I will that all such debtes and duetyes as I owe to anye
person or persons in righte or in conscience shalbe truely paied, And that doen then I will that all
and singuler my goodes chattelles plate houshold stuf iewelles ready money and debtes shall be deuided
by my Executrix and Overseers of this my last will and testament into thre equall and indiffe=
rent partes and porcions, whereof One equall parte I giue bequeath to Anne Phillippes my
my loving wife to her owne propper vse and behoofe, One other parte thereof to and amongest my
thre eldest daughters Mawdline Phillipps Rebecca Phillipps and Anne Phillipps equally emon=
geste them to be deuided porcion and porcion like, and to be paied and deliuered ^vnto them as they and
every of them shall accomplish and come to their lawfull ages of twentie and one yeares or at their
daies of marriage, and euery of them to be others heire of their saide partes and porcions, yf any of
them shall fortune to dye before their saide severall ages of twentie and one yeres or daies of marr
iage, And the other parte thereof I reserve to my self and to my Executrix to performe my legacies
hereafter following Item I giue and bequeath to the poore of the parish of Mortlack aforesaid fyue
poundes of lawfull money of England to be distributed by the Church-wardens of the same parishe
within twelve monethes after my decease, Item I giue and bequeath to Agnes Bennett my
loveing mother duringe her naturall life every yere yearely the somme of fiue poundes of lawfull
money of England, to be paied her at the fower vsuall feastes or termes in the yere by my
Executrix out of my parte and porcion reserved by this my presente will, Item I giue to my brothers
William Web and Iames Web, if they shall be living at my decease, to either of them the somme
of tenn poundes a peece of lawfull money of England to be paid vnto them within thre yeares
after my decease, Item I giue and bequeath to my sister Elizabeth Goghe the somme of tenne
poundes of lawfull money of England to be paied her within one yeare after my decease, Item I will
and bequeath vnto Myles Borne and Phillipps Borne two sonnes of my sister Margery Borne to
either of them tenn poundes a peece of lawfull money of England to be paied vnto them when they
shall accomplish the full age of twentie and one yeares, Item I giue and bequeath vnto Tymothie
Whithorne the somme oftwenty poundes of lawfull money of England to be paied vnto him within
one yere after my decease, Item I giue and bequeath vnto and amongest the hired men of the comp=
any which I am of which shall be [hired men] at the tyme of my decease the somme of fiue poundes of lawfull
money of England to be equally distributed amongeste them Item I giue and bequeath to my
fellowe William Shakespeare a xxxs peece in gould, To my fellowe Henry Condell one other xxxs
peece in gould To my seruante Xpofer Besone xxxs in gould, To my fellow Lawrence ffletcher xxs
in gould, to my fellow Roberte Armyne xxs in gould, To my fellowe Richard Cowley xxs in gould, To my
fellowe Allexander Cooke xxs in gould, To my fellowe Nicholas Tooley xxxs in gould, Item I giue
to the Preacher which shall preach at my ffunerall ^the some of xxs Item I giue to Samuell Gilborne my late
apprentice the somme of xls and my mouse coulloured velet hose and a white taffity doublet a black
taffity suite my purple cloake sworde and dagger And my bace vyoll Item I giue to Iames Sandes
my apprentice the somme of xls And a Citterne a Bandore and a Lute To be paide and
deliuered vnto him at th’expiracion of his terme of yeares in his Indenture of apprentishoode Item my
will is that Elizabeth Phillips my youngest daughter shall haue and quietly enioye for terme

[Image 2: PROB 11/105, fol. 215r]

of her naturall life my house and lande in Mortlack which I lately purchased to me, Anne my
wife, and to the saide Elizabethe for terme of our lives, in full recompence and satisfaccion
of her parte and porcion which she may in any wise challenge or demaund of in and to any
of my goodes and chattels whatsoeuer, And I ordaine and make the saide Anne Phillips
my loving wife sole executrix of this my presente testament and last wyll Prouided alwaies
That if the saide Anne my wife doe at any tyme marrie after my decease: That then and
from thenceforth shee shall cease to be any more or longer executrix of this my last will
or any wayes intermedle with the same, And the saide Anne to haue noe parte or porcion
of my goodes or chattels to me or my executors reserved or appointed by this my laste will
and testament, And that then and from thenceforth Iohn Hemynges Richard Burbage
William Slye and Timothie Whithorne shall be fully and wholly my executors of this
my last will and testament, as though the saide Anne had neuer bin named, And of the
execucion of this my presente testament and last will I ordaine and make the said Iohn
Heminges Richard Burbage William Slye and Timothie Whithorne ^ouerseers of this my present
Testament and laste will, And I bequeath vnto the saide Iohn [missing: Heminges], Richard Burbage and
William Slye to either of them my said overseers for their paines herein to be taken a bole
of silver of the valew of five poundes a peece In witnes wherof to this my presente
Testament and laste wyll I the said Augustine Phillips haue put my hande and seale the
day and yeare above wrytten A. Phillips. Sealed and deliuered by the saide Augustine
Phillips
as his laste will and testamente in the presence of vs Robert Goffe William Sheaperde.
Probatum fuit suprascriptum testamentum apud London coram domino Iohanne Bennett
milite legum doctore surrogato venerabilis viri domini Iohannis Gibson militis legum etiam doctoris
curie Prerogatiue Cant’ magistri custodis siue Commissarij legitime constituti decimo tertio
die mensis Maij Anno domini millesimo sexcentesimo quinto Iuramento Anne relicte dicti defuncti
et Executricis in huiusmodi testamento nominati Cui commissa fuit Administracio bonorum iurium et
creditorum eiusdem defuncti de de bene et fideliter administrando eadem Ad sancta dei Evangelia iurat’

[Image 2: Marginal notation in lower right]

Postea decimo sexto die mensis Maij
1607 probatum fuit testamentum huiusmodi
Iuramento Iohannis Hemynges vnius
executorum sub condicionibus in dicto testamento
nominatis Cui &c de bene &c iurat’
Reservata potestate similem Comissionem
faciend’ Richardo Burbage Williamio Williamio [sic for Williamo]
Sly et Timotheo Whitehorne executoribus
etiam in dicto testamento sub condicionibus
predictis nominatis cum venerint eam
petitur Probacionem testamenti dicti defendantis
alias nomine Anne Phillipps relicte
et executricis in dicto testamento nominatis expirat
pro[u]t racione matrimonij pro que
nulla et invalida ad omnem iuris
effectum pronunciat’ vt ex actis
liquet

Written by Alan H. Nelson. 

Sources

Samuel Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare: a Documentary Life (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975): 204.

David Thomas, Shakespeare in the Public Records (London: H.M.S.O., 1985): 12.

E.A.J. Honigmann and Susan Brock, eds., Playhouse Wills, 1558-1642 (New York: Manchester University Press, 1993): 72-5.

Last updated February 1, 2020