† corse-presentn.
Obsolete.
A customary gift due to the clergy from the chattels of a householder at his death and burial; a mortuary.
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the world > life > death > obsequies > [noun] > funeral expenses > gift due to clergy
corse-present1394
mortuarya1400
1394 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 185 I wyte for my corspresent the best garment that I for my body ordand.
1497 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1869) IV. 124 My best horse, with bridell, sadill, and oder apparell, in the name of my mortuary corspresand.
1529 Act 21 Hen. VIII c. 6 Mortuaries, otherwise called corse presentes.
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour l. 4479 in Wks. (1931) I He did nocht bid thame seik nor craif Cors presentis nor offerandis.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxix v The parson and vicar wyll haue for a mortuary, or a coarse present, the best thynge that is about the house.
1659 H. L'Estrange Alliance Divine Offices 459 Mortuaries..because they were usually represented with the corpse at the burial, were therefore called corpse-presents.
1767 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. (new ed.) II. 425 It was antiently usual in this kingdom to bring the mortuary to church along with the corpse when it came to be buried; and thence it is sometimes called a corse-present.
1777 J. Brand Observ. Pop. Antiq. (1870) II. 199.
1882 F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills 139 Sometimes called Mortuary, Corse-present, or Foredrove.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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