EN
The article is based on 250 testaments from the years 1628-1794, preserved in the Diocese Archive in Plock. This material allows the author to consider the issue of individual choices made by the individual in the act of making the last will. An individual attitude can be expected in decisions concerning the disposition of one's property and the organization of one's funeral; it can be asked, however, if it was also reflected in the testator's mentality, religiousness and worldview, which surfaced in testaments. Synod regulations influenced the contents of last wills, but it did not have an immediate impact on their structure and formulation. Those could have been inspired by the widely accepted convention of the last will, which did not differ much across various social groups. Although no ready form of a clergyman's testament was discovered, it cannot be excluded that such forms existed; perhaps they could be found in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ars moriendi guides. The layout of Plock clergy testaments is the same as that of laymen's last wills. It should be noted, however, that in modern times the testament was an evolving type of text, whose function and form changed. Before its typical structure was established, it had probably been much simpler. The invocations were short and the religious accents very limited. In the period of introducing the Trent regulations it was probably primarily an instrument of property disposition. It was only later that priests started to include in testaments their reflections on man's destiny and relation to God. Text conventions and the expression of personal reflections viewed as two partly conflicting aspects of the last will can be best traced in the invocations. The testaments of Plock clergymen reveal some motifs, known also among laymen, concerning the human condition, its sinfulness and dependence on God's will. There are numerous mentions of God's severe judgement, of Christ's sacrifice to cleanse human sins and of the intercession of the Holy Virgin and the saints. One of the most frequent testament conventions was to open the section on funeral instructions with a formula about committing one's body, as a mortal element, to the earthly order. It is worth considering by what criteria some formulations are judged as reflecting personal experiences and impressions, while others as based on stereotypical notions. Apart from the researcher's intuition there seem to be no objective ways of differentiating. When analyzing the role of legal norms, stylistic conventions, mentality and individual reflections in clergymen's testaments, one is reminded of a colourful patterned textile, whose complicated weave is hidden from the viewer. A clergyman's last will interweaves personal reflections with the sentences and phrases of religious treaties once read, of sermons once heard or delivered, of other people's testaments once read. Further research on the subject can be facilitated by a better insight into the notions, ideas, emotions and customs of the people of those times, as well as into their ways of expressing themselves in writing. Therefore, their cultural background should be studied more extensively, including for instance the popular religious texts which were intended to be read in private. Perhaps such studies will disclose their individual views to us. In the testaments analyzed for the purpose of the study the individual aspect was not always prominent. It was clear in the documents quoted in the article, but in many others it gave way to clichés. This probably resulted not from the limitations imposed by legal norms, but from the overwhelming literary and stylistic conventions. The author tries to draw the reader's attention to the beliefs, perceptions and feelings which transcended social status barriers and differences in circumstances. It may be supposed that the situations in which last wills were made, such as the testator's illness, exhaustion, fear of epidemics, wish to die a good death and fear of sin in the final moment, curbed his individuality, making him look for stereotypical formulas, which were safer due to being widely used or accepted by the Church.