KENT. Quitclaim of land at Hawkhurst and Cranbrook, 1527

Quitclaim [formal release of title] of land at Hawkhurst and Cranbrook, from James Weynes of Hawkhurst to Gervase Mapllysden of Rolvynden

      19 Henry VIII [1527]. Vellum deed, 9½ x 5 inches, seal tag (without seal), a few tiny holes. A few words neatly underlined. With a full typed transcription and some historical notes identifying place names. An attractive deed, issued in the year Henry VIII began negotiations with the Pope for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. “Dated the fifth day of July in the nineteenth Year of the reign of our lord Henry the eighth of England and France King defender of the faith and lord of Ireland.” This document is only two years after Henry began to describe himself as ‘the Eighth’; unitl then he used only his name, like all previous English sovereigns. At this time he was still only ‘lord’ of Ireland; later he assumed the title King of Ireland. It is of particular interest to find part of the land consisting of two separate one-third parts acquired from two brothers, both described as heirs of James a Melle. This situation arose from the Kentish system of inheritance known as gavelkind, by which estates did not pass to the eldest son but were divided equally among all the sons.