Published: 2023-05-29

Confessions of an adulterer. The last will and testament of Sigismund, a lawyer from Lviv (16th c.)

Marta Knajp
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM71.2023.1.002

Abstract

The paper analyses the last will of Sigismund, a lawyer and advocatus (Polish: wójt, German: Vogt) of Kulykiv (Polish: Kulików), drawn up in Lviv in 1551, in which the testator confessed to many years of adultery. The author presents the problem of a person leading a lifestyle that did not comply with the applicable norms and rules and that individual’s functioning in the urban community. The paper also looks at the application of inheritance law in Lviv and how the city authorities viewed the testator’s complicated family situation. The author presents material possessions
owned and legated by Sigismund at the same attempting to estimate their value. Furthermore, the author draws attention to the testator’s unusual nickname, rarely
found in written records, and the legal professions practised by Sigismund. The Appendix contains the edited source text.

Keywords:

last will, Lviv, adultery, relations, assets, law, 16th century

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Citation rules

Knajp, M. (2023). Confessions of an adulterer. The last will and testament of Sigismund, a lawyer from Lviv (16th c.). Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 71(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM71.2023.1.002

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