Life after death: uses in practice in the fifteenth century

Abstract

This article documents a considerable increase in the percentage of manorial lords in fifteenth-century England who had enfeoffed their lands in use (trusts). Enfeoffments to use were the principal mechanism that enabled manorial lords to resettle their lands. The recent publication of inquisitions post-mortem for 1483–5 and wills for 1479–86 reveal how uses proliferated. Long-term uses appear to have been quite rare. Panels of feoffees were diminished by deaths and were rarely replaced by new panels. The article demonstrates how the uses were employed. While evasion of feudal incidents was a prime aim, this research shows how uses enabled deceased manorial lords to spend their landed incomes for religious purposes, for the benefit of spouses, daughters and younger sons subject to their conditions, and to postpone the succession of heirs for years and even decades after the lord’s death.