Testamenty kobiet z I księgi konsystorza pułtuskiego z 1509 roku

• Authors: Ewa Starczewska

Title variants

EN

WOMEN’S TESTAMENTS FROM THE 1ST BOOK OF THE PUŁTUSK CONSISTORY FROM 1509

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses six women’s testaments from 1509 registered in the first book of the consistory in Pułtusk, which covers the years 1506-1518. The first part presents the testators’ social status and family situation. Three of the testators were noblewomen, two were burghers, in one case the testament does not specify the testator’s social class. Three of the women were married, two were widowed and one was a spinster; none of the testaments mentions any offspring. The testaments were analysed according to a questionnaire based on the fixed elements of such documents, which included: the title and invocation, the time, place and circumstances of drawing up the testament, lists of witnesses and executors, entrusting one’s soul and body, and instructions concerning one’s property. With little exceptions, the testaments discussed followed the above scheme. All but one contain a title and invocation, which specify the testator’s place of residence, adding the formula In nomine Domini Amen. All specify the time of writing the document, although the actual formulations differ. In one case, when the testament was drawn up by a notary summoned to the testator’s house, the text specifies the year of the present pope’s pontificate and the hour of its writing. Only three of the testaments name the place where they were drawn up, but all of them specify the circumstances. It is always stressed that the testators are facing death or disease; in four cases it is mentioned that the aim is to prevent disagreements between inheritors. The witnesses were usually chosen among the testator’s equals; in one case only a noblewoman’s testament was authenticated by a peasant. The witnesses and executors were relatives or neighbours, and the executors usually also had a share in the inheritance, which may have influenced their efficiency. All the testaments contain a short formula of entrusting one’s soul, but only four mention funeral arrangements. The testators were primarily concerned about legacies. Particularly important were pious legacies, which are included in five of the testaments. They were aimed at paying for exequies and Gregorian masses, and the beneficiaries were usually the testators’ parish churches. Other legacies were meant for relatives, and sometimes servants and friends. All the legacies were left to people living within a close distance of the testators (up to 20 km). The testaments described did not yet have a very elaborate form, also in comparison to men’s last wills from the same year. Only one contained a list of the debts owned by and to the testator, only one included an elaborate dating formula specifying the hour of its drawing up, only half of them specified the place where they were written down, not all contained instructions about the body. Each of them, however, reveals interesting details from the testator’s life and helps to find out what people and institutions were particularly close to her.

Keywords

EN

TESTAMENTS; WRITTEN SOURCES; WOMEN

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 313-317

Contributors

author

Ewa Starczewska

• Instytut Historyczny UW, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa