ABSTRACT
The processes of will-making and property transm1ss1on examined in the previous chapter took place within social and geographical networks which both reflected and defined the life-worlds of testators, their executors and legatees. These networks provided financial, legal and moral support for their members and helped to shape flows of goods, people and ideas as well as moulding local and regional markets, cultures and identities. Most importantly in the context of this volume, they formed the context in which property was owned and its meanings created or reinforced, and in which property management and transmission took place. And yet we know relatively little about these networks, beyond the commonplace that they were comprised of family and friends. What role did these two sets of people play and how did they connect with each other in spatial and social terms?
