huwpryce The archbishop’s confirmation was presumably a precaution in response to the will’s potentially precarious status in breaking with previous custom, especially as Anian does not seem to have obtained alicence from Edward I. A final dating clause shows that the archbishop’s confirmation was made at Chartham, near Canterbury, on 19 March 1289, a month after the will had been declared. To conclude. As the earliest surviving Welsh will, Anian’s testament has been seen as representing a new beginning. Yet it was equally part of a longer process in Wales since the twelfth century leading to the adoption of the canonical will as developed in England, and its significance can only be fully understood when viewed in that context. Moreover, while it is possible that written wills were made in Wales earlier in the middle ages, none have survived, and the account of the bequests of Gruffudd ap Cynan is the closest we come to evidence for distinctive Welsh will-making practices. 439
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