For the Greater Glory of My Soul and Memory

Barbara Harris examines chantries (endowments established to finance prayers for the souls of persons specifically named by the donor), almshouses and schools that English aristocratic women built between 1450 and 1550. The primary material comes from wills, tablets and inscriptions in churches and buildings, charters, and the records of 16th and 17th century antiquarians. The paper will argue that women built these institutions for a combination of secular and religious motives. The beneficiaries were required to pray for their souls and the souls of members of their families in perpetuity. But all of them were also monuments to their and their families’ wealth and lineages. They were designed to perpetuate the memory of their ancestors and contribute to the glory of their descendants.