Zbornìkì šlâheckìh tastamentaǔ drugoj palovy XVI st. Vydanne ì padryhtoǔka

Abstract

The article presents the newest publication from the series – Беларусь у актавых кнігах XVI–XVIII ст. [Belarus in documents from the 16th–18th c.], devoted to the testaments of nobles and burghers from the second half of the 16th c. preserved in the National Historical Archive of Belarus. The book was prepared by Volga Babkova, Iryna Bober and Albina Alyaksandrova from the National Historical Archive of Belarus. It contains 116 documents from the years 1559 –1600, recorded in the books of municipal and nobility courts in Brest, Minsk, Nowogródek, Słonim and Witebsk, and in the municipal books of Mohylew. The volume includes all the surviving testaments except of several badly damaged ones. The author discusses the contents of the above-mentioned books and then outlines particular problems encountered in the preparation of such a publication as well as the rules of constructing indexes of names and places. She also describes the testators, the majority of whom were men (84 testaments) and members of the Orthodox Church (55). Catholics (21) were a signifi cant minority; there were also several Protestants and Muslims. Most of the testators represented the middle-rank nobility, i.e. owners of landed estates; twelve were burghers. Only ten of the testators belonged to the ruling elite: examples are members of the Sapieha and Kiszka magnate families and the mayor of Mohylew, named Esmanowicz.The author also mentions problems encountered in the preparation of another volume, which is planned to include about 140 testaments of the nobility from the district of Grodno from the years 1554 –1594, recorded in the books of the nobility court in Grodno. The structure of the group of the testator is similar to the one refl ected by the fi rst volume: among the testa-ments of middle-rank nobility there are also several testaments of the magnate elite — the Chodkiewicz and Wołłowicz families. Nineteen of the documents were written in Polish.