Testaments in Lübeck Law. Exemplified with the practice of Elbing from the 15th to the early 16th c.

Abstract

The article presents the practice of making testaments in towns governed by the Lübeck Law, illustrated with the mediaeval Elbląg (Elbing). The research was based on 145 surviving testaments of burghers from the 15th–early 16th c., five of them from the New Town and the rest form the Old Town of Elbing. On the basis of those documents, the author describes the practice of making and authenticating last wills, including also their physical shape, the circumstances (time and place) and the official form. The analysis has revealed that testaments made in Elbing usually followed the same two-part scheme. The first part concerned pious bequests (ad pias causas), while the second — be-quests to distant relatives and friends. The article also discusses the issue of choosing testament executors and witnesses. The analysis has shown that the 145 known last will from Elbing mention 327 executors in total. In 1/5 of them at least one of the executors was an alderman. Only some of the aldermen of that period were witnesses, some of them many times. 45 aldermen were noted only once as wit-nesses, 20 were noted twice and 10 — three times. The same persons acted as witnesses for many years, holding various offices in the municipality. Those observations may be influenced by the particular body of documents that have survived. The analysis indicates that the making and executing of last wills in Elbing in the researched period was largely controlled by the municipal council. The practice, including the custom of writing last wills by clerks, developed over time, resulting in similar forms and arrangements of contents, which in turn led to a certain conventionalization of dispositions. This, however, did not fully erase the individual character of testators’ dispositions.