Testamenty wojskowych poległych i zmarłych na Wołyniu w XVII w.

Abstrakt

ON TESTAMENTS OF SOLDIERS WHO DIED OR FELL IN VOLHYNIA IN THE 17TH C.

The article is based on 18 testaments of soldiers of different ranks, who fell during battles and campaigns, or died of wounds, diseases and other, less common causes. There was only one surviving original testament in the corpus, included in the municipal book of Dubno at the end of the 17th c.; the others were known from records in Volhynian municipal and court books. The analysis of these last wills indicates that not all the testators could count on a decent burial — this depended on their fi nancial standing and situation in life. Many of them came from impoverished low-class nobility and military service was their only source of income. It is known that the pay was moderate and often much delayed, and that it was quite common in those days to live on credit and be in debt, which is confi rmed by the Volhynian testaments. A special group were those who did not own any land or fi nancial resources; they died being members of regiments, usually leaving debts that exceeded the worth of their modest belongings, therefore settling their liabilities and providing a decent burial was a problem. Local soldiers of lower ranks were usually buried at their families’ expense. Offi cers were usually buried in their family estates; then it was usually their relatives that had to pay for a funeral ceremony adequate to the status of the deceased person and his family. Some of the testaments include fragments close to inventories; they list the movable prop-erty debts and liabilities, which allows for a rough estimate of soldiers’ financial position. Some testators manifested their faith; some of the documents refl ect soldiers’ emotional attitudes to the possible death.