Published: 2015-01-01

Some remarks on editing burgher testaments from the region of Sandomierz (16th-18th c.)

Katarzyna Justyniarska-Chojak

Abstract

The edition of testament from the municipal books of the Sandomierz region, entitled “Wszyscy śmiertelni jesteśmy i dlatego rozrządzamy majętności swoje”. Wybór testamentów z ksiąg miejskich województwa sandomierskiego (XVI–XVIII wiek) [“We are all mortal and thus dispose of our property”. A selection of testaments from the municipal books of the Sandomierz region (16th–18th c.)], was published in Kielce in 2014. Its aim was to collect the wills of in-habitants of small towns. The volume includes mostly the wills of burghers from small towns, in addition to some testaments from Sandomierz, the largest town of the region. The source edition comprises 76 testaments registered in the municipal books of the former voivodship of Sandomierz between the 16th and 18th c., 43 made by men and 29 by women. In four cases the edition includes subsequent versions of wills made by the same person. Most of those documents were written down by municipal clerks and then registered in the municipal books after the testator’s death. In six cases the wills were presented to the offi ce by relatives or executors. or or   testators dictated their wills in person in the municipal court. The volume also includes documents connected with executing last wills, e.g. probate in-ventories, records of dividing the estate among the heirs, or accounts of the cost of burial cer-emonies recorded in the municipal books. Unfortunately, in the records from the Sandomierz region there are few cases of a will and a probate inventory concerning the same person or a will and a record of its execution. The selection includes fi ve cases when probate inventories were made in addition to the will, at the request of the testator or of the heirs. Probate inventories were often treated as integral part of testaments and were recorded together with them in municipal books, only separated by a heading. In three cases the edition includes a will and a testimony of the division of the estate among the heirs. There is only one case when the record includes not only a will and a probate inventory but also a detailed account of the funeral ex-penses and the executor’s account of his actions.The materials were selected in order to provide an insight into all the aspects of the functioning of the inheritance law in towns and to highlight the wide spectrum of issues that can be researched on the basis of testaments and probate inventories. These sources collected in one volume allow historians to compare changes made by testators in their subsequent wills or to investigate the circumstances which induced such changes.

Keywords:

16th-18th century - Poland, Sandomierz-region (Poland), Polish bourgeoisie, testaments of burghers, editing of testaments

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Citation rules

Justyniarska-Chojak, K. (2015). Some remarks on editing burgher testaments from the region of Sandomierz (16th-18th c.). Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 63(4), 637–646. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/khkm/article/view/880

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