testamenta religiosorum – illegal charters? often give their express consent. An example was Fr. Raymond de Rue, a Dominican friar and bishop of Acre (in the Holy Land), who lived in the Dominican convent at Lausanne and acted as auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Lausanne. His extant testamentumawarded his goods to the Dominican convent at Lausanne. It included the consent of Fr. Martial Auribelli, master general of the Dominicans, and it was sealed by theofficialis of the episcopal curia at Lausanne.44 The text did not refer to any papal licence; none may have existed, or the Order may have chosen not to refer to such papal interference with its internal affairs. The Repertorium Germanicum45 mentions seven bishops with a papal licentia testandi: the Benedictine Louis de La Palude of Lausanne and six auxiliary bishops: the Cluniac Johannes at Utrecht, the Dominican Jacobus at Utrecht, the Franciscan Johannes at Lüttich (Liège), the Augustinian Hermit Johannes at Hildesheim, the Benedictine Gottfried at Osnabrück and Utrecht, the Franciscan Johannes at Speyer; and on the other hand only six other religious from Central Europe with alicentia testandi: Nikolaus Doster or Hoster of the Teutonic Order, two Benedictine nuns, the provost or prioress of Kaufungen and the abbess of Neuss, the provost and chapter of Moutier-Granval (Münster-Granfelden), the Antonite preceptor of Isenheim, and a Cistercian from Scharnebeck. To conclude: Having taken the solemn vow of poverty, religiosi were unable to make testaments in a strict sense. They could, however, obtain licentie testandi from their superiors or from the pope, and then they could make last wills concerning objects they used, usually movables such as clothes, harnesses, cups, and so on. In this broad sense religiosi could make and authenticate legal testamenta.Thetermdespropriamentaremained a peculiarity of the Hospitallers and was not universally accepted, not even by other military-religious orders. This is remarkable because the leading members of such orders were not ordainedclerici butmerelymilites laici. The testamenta religiosorumprovide us with insights into daily life among religious orders. The wealth they mentioned, usually bona 44 Modestin (2008), pp. 121–25. 45 See below appendix 3. 114
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