nprinciple testaments could only be made by someone who owned properties. This was a problem for members of the clergy and especially for members of religious orders. The clerici were forbidden to dispose of properties which belonged to their benefices, but otherwise they couldmake testamenta. For religiosi and religiose that was different, because they had solemnly vowed poverty, chastity, and obedience. Personal belongings they used were properties of their religious houses or orders. If they madetestamenta, such documents could be regarded as illegal. But only the Hospitallers strictly avoided the termtestamenta and spoke of desproprimenta instead, that is, declarations about the spolia of their members. Some examples are discussed in the paper, and one licence issued by the Master and Convent on Rhodes in 1511 to dispose of spolia is edited. The other great military-religious order, the Teutonic Order, acceptedtestamenta, and so did probably most other orders. Another possibility for religiosi andreligiose was to ask the papal curia for licentie testandi. This paper discusses suchlicentie from the period between 1316 and 1415 (following Daniel Williman) and from the Repertorium Germanicumbetween 1378 and 1484. Remarkably, about one half of the known papal licentie concerned bishops who werereligiosi. In highly centralised orders such as the Dominicans and Franciscans almost all papal licentie testandi went to bishops; in orders without such centralisation, e.g. Benedictines and Augustinian canons, it was only between one fourth and one third. By obtaining licences either from the popes or from their own superiors, religiosi found a way of making legal testamenta. I karl borchardt 105 Abstract
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