marie bláhová immovable property and needed to manage it. The process by which the nobility was formed and how it acquired immovable property for hereditary possession began in the 12th century; it was legalised by the Statutes of Duke Conrad Otto in 1189.6 The nobility was therefore the first social group that could bequeath property and make relevant testaments.7 Even after the issue of Conrad’s Statutes, the possessions of the nobles were restricted by the ruler’s entitlement to escheat.8 The escheat was definitely abandoned in Bohemia at the end of the 15th century (1497); in Moravia, it was removed almost a century later (1587).9 For this reason, the approval of the ruler would have been emphasised in last wills and donations in case of death, or the last will could have been confirmed by the ruler’s charter or at least by the ruler’s seal attached to it. The legal environment of Bohemia, whose political representation resisted the written codification of law throughout the Middle Ages, was for a long time satisfied with the oral declaration of legal measures before witnesses. This also applied to last wills. The earliest documented bequest was made orally by Prince BřetislavII in the presence of a bishop and priests, as attested by the author of the oldest Czech chronicle, the dean of the Prague episcopal chapter, Cosmas (ca. 1045–1125). The prince is said to have entrusted the bishop to distribute the Polish tribute and whatever else he found in the prince’s chamber to the monasteries. He bequeathed to his young son his trumpet and javelin; as for the rest, the prince is said to have stated, “it is not for me to give him anything else”. This case, of course, did not concern real estate, but the prince’s personal property.10 303 6 Codex iuris Bohemici, I, pp. 53–57. The older literature is summarized, and a detailed analysis of this document is given, by Jan 2017, pp. 3–29. 7 Cf. Šebánek 1965, p. 288. On testaments in medieval Czech lands, cf. especially Boháček 1974, pp. 480–484; Boháček 1975, pp. 100–105; Štachová 2011, pp. 36–44; Štachová 2012. – The diplomatic side of the oldest wills was dealt with in Hlaváček 2008, pp. 105–119. 8 On inheritance law in the Czech lands in the Middle Ages, cf. Rauscher 1922. 9 On the escheat, cf. Rauscher 1922, pp. 49–56. 10 Bretholz – Weinberger 1923, III:13, p. 174; English translation Bak – Rychterová 2020, p. 321. Cf. Charvát 2000.
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