Where there's a will

Stephen Deal|Metro11 April 2012
The Weekender

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For two of the wealthiest and most famous writers of their day, they were a bit on the stingy side.

On his death bed, William Shakespeare left wife Anne Hathaway his 'second-best bed', while Jane Austen gave her brother just £50 in her will.

Napoleon Bonaparte, by comparison, was a bit more generous - bequeathing his entire estate to the French people.

These fascinating insights can be gleaned from the wills of some of the most famous figures in European history, which have just gone online for the first time. Papers signed by such luminaries as Oliver Cromwell, Sir Christopher Wren and Isambard Kingdom Brunel are available on the website of the National Archives.

The Bard's testament has caused excitement because it contains three of only six known copies of his signature and also displays the typical Elizabethan handwriting.

In his will, signed on March 25, 1616, he left his wife the bed and some other furniture, his daughter Judith a silver bowl and his son-in-law everything else.

He also asked for his fortune to be split between his family and the poor people of Stratford-upon-Avon.

The document is among a million wills

written between 1384 and 1858. More than 100 of the most notable are now online. Admiral Lord Nelson, who signed his will in May 1803, opted to leave his telescopes and binoculars to his 'late captain and worthy friend, Capt Hardy',

I n 1 8 1 7 , Pride And Prejudice author Jane Austen bequeathed the bulk of her wealth to her sister, Cassandra Elizabeth, with orders that £50 should be given to her brother Henry.

Time Team presenter Tony Robinson praised the project, saying: 'I've no doubt it will turn into a cult website. We can all be researchers in our own homes.'

Visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

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