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c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 6729 Min frend & mi nexte ney stondeþ aȝe me.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 155 (MED) Þe feeldes wiþ oute eny plee schulde falle to þe nexte [?a1475 anon. tr. nyeste; L. propinquiores] of þe blood.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 124 His sonne or þe next of his blude.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail XLV. 166 I wile that the lond his be, As next of my kyn ful sekerle.

a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 19 (MED) His sone or ellis the next of his blood schuld be sette in his steede.

1596 Raigne of Edward III (1897) i. sig. A3 The French obscurd your mothers Priuiledge, And though she were the next of blood, proclaymed Iohn of the house of Valoys now their king.

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. iii. 144 Was not he proclaim'd By Richard that dead is, the next of bloud? View more context for this quotation

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xix. 100 And therefore where the Custome is, that the next of Kindred absolutely succeedeth, there also the next of Kindred hath right to the Succession.

1705 E. Ward Fair Shell ii. 42 If a lawful Prince deserts his Throne, Who but the next of Blood should sit thereon?

1769 O. Goldsmith Rom. Hist. I. 13 Having previously communicated his intentions to his five next of kindred.

1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 121 South wind is my next of blood; He is come through fragrant wood.

1858 M. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw (1859) I. 248 Melmar, the present laird—I canna blame him, he was the next of the blood after hersel', nae doubt he thought she was dead and gane.

1875 Scribner's Monthly Mar. 644/1 The next of the blood prosecuted his death with great violence against the tiler.

1931 William & Mary Coll. Q. Hist. Mag. 11 107 Dudley Richardson, heir and next of kindred of the widow, Ann Shermer.