Since truncation of the text in the course of the transmission of wills is possible, and in one or two instances demonstrable, particularly in cartulary versions, it is more than likely that we do not have the full picture of donors' bequests of chattels, which were particularly vulnerable to omission. No doubt Bede's deathbed distribution of his ‘few treasures’ (quaedam preciosa) among the priests of his monastery was a typical scenario for both laity and religious, usually unrecorded. As the evidence stands, movable wealth features almost exclusively in multi-gift wills: three are royal wills, five are the wills of ealdormen, fifteen were made by thegns, nine by women, two jointly by husband and wife, and six by churchmen. The three multi-gift wills dated to the ninth century bequeath considerable wealth, but largely in the form of coin or stock; it is only in wills of the tenth and eleventh centuries that we find a wider range of movable wealth which might be characterised as personal property, including war-gear, clothing, furnishings, jewellery and items associated with hunting or travel. This chronological shift may be related to an increase in disposable wealth, but it is also likely to reflect the evolution of the written will, as tenth- and eleventh-century donors exploited its potential to encompass detailed and complex dispositions to a range of beneficiaries.

As Sheehan pointed out, the disposition of personal property was less damaging to the social group than the alienation of land.