THE DISPOSITION OF THE ESTATES
It seems the real rub which under-laid the charge of witchcraft was her late husbands’ generosity to her and her son from her first marriage. The first spate of questions about the settlement of their estates I asked came from my February 2020 session:
Were either of Alice Kyteler’s second and third husbands, Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle, pressured in any way to leave all or part of their worldly goods to her son from her first marriage?
NO
Was it simply that William Outlawe Jr. was good at working his way into the hearts of his stepfathers, and that is why they remembered him in their wills?
WRONG QUESTION
Did William Outlawe Jr. exert any pressure on his stepfathers to leave him money or property in their wills?
NO
Did Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle remember William Outlawe Jr. in their wills, simply because it seemed like the right thing to do?
WRONG QUESTION
Did Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle leave William Outlawe Jr. money or property in their wills, simply out of personal affection for him?
WRONG QUESTION
Were Adam le Blund’s and Richard de Valle’s wills deliberately tampered-with, changed, or forged, so that William Outlawe Jr. was a recipient of their largesse?
WRONG QUESTION
Did Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle leave William Outlawe Jr. money or property in their wills because they feared what would happen if they shut him out of their wills?
WRONG QUESTION
Did Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle show such generosity to William Outlawe Jr. in their wills because they did not wish to leave everything to someone else?
NO
Did William Outlawe Jr. successfully persuade Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle to name him an heir in their wills (i.e., did he talk them into it)?
NO
Okay, so maybe this rather hostilely-phrased line of questioning was a little too laced with suspicion. So many have assumed Dame Alice Kyteler was a heartless gold-digger, that it seems to me her son has been given a pass. Surely his ability to be left property by his step-fathers bordered on witchcraft! When I returned to the issue in May, a less-hostile tone of questioning went better and got right to the point:
Did Adam le Blund and Richard de Valle leave William Outlaw Jr. property in their wills because it struck them as right and proper to do so?
YES
Did they leave him property in their wills out of any affection they felt for his mother?
YES
So Alice Kyteler was capable of making a good marriage and being a good wife to her husbands. Though I didn’t ask about Sir John le Poer, it’s reasonable to speculate he may have left Dame Alice and William Jr. property for the same reasons. Given the degree to which her former brothers-in-law in powerful positions tried to protect her from Ledrede, it’s clear she was capable of endearing herself to others as well. That indicates an amiable personality, not just a cold, calculating one. A woman who is an utter pill to deal with isn’t likely to be married four times.