women as issuers of testaments in medieval denmark might also have their own ideas about the best use of the bequests, as we saw in Ida’s case. In both cases, however, the intention of the testatrix was eventually fulfilled, albeit not without change. The right to make a testament was not contested; the will was neither set aside, nor disrespected, nor ignored completely. Testaments often mentioned many legacies, and it seems safe to assume that most of them were in fact paid out whenever possible. This tradition would have allowed women, at least women from the social elite, a measure of power in addition to the increased influence on the distribution of their worldly possessions. This factor probably explains why a third of all lay testaments were issued by women. Diagr. 1. It is difficult to understand why the testament should lose its popularity in the Later Middle Ages. In fact, it did not. It is only if you look at the period 1401–1450 that the number of testaments seems to be falling. After that, the number rose again. The conundrum which has puzzled many historians is just a mistake. Very few researchers have looked beyond the mid-fifteenth century.30 Unfortunately, I cannot provide the numbers all the way until the Reformation; I have them only before 1500. The last half of the fifteenth century saw the numbers rise again, and there is nothing to suggest any change to that trend in the early part of the sixteenth century. Diagram 2. To sum up: The testament was a good deal more popular in medieval Denmark than the extant number suggests. It continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages. At the beginning, it was primarily used by the very top of the social elite, and it always remained a feature of this segment of society, but this is to some extent inherent in this type of document. Eventually, also the landed gentry and wealthy citizens made use of it. For the poor it was an instrument that only made sense if they were the beneficiaries of other people’s testaments, but women of the social 30 Bisgaard 2001 is the exception, but his and my numbers are different. Before the mid-fifteenth century I have found more testaments per decade than he did; for the rest of the Middle Ages, he has found more per decade. We are in agreement about the rising numbers, though. 162
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