The person(s) possessing the right to make a presentation to a benefice. The patron could be a private individual, a lay corporation (such as the mayor and corporation of a borough), an ecclesiastical corporation (such as a dean and chapter of a cathedral) or a collegiate body (such as an Oxford or Cambridge college or a school such as Eton College). The right of patronage could be held as personal property, or in virtue of the office held by the patron. Under certain circumstances, it might be forfeited for one or more occasions to another individual or body (see lapse, option, sequestration). Patronage might be exercised in trust for patrons who were minors, or who had been declared mentally unfit. In some cases patronage was shared between several patrons, who might appoint jointly to the living, who might each appoint to a portion of a living (see mediety, portion), or who might take it in turn to exercise the patronage.