annika björklund Another way of expressing gratitude is when the testator grants something to a person who previously had been in their service, for example Cecilia, in Denmark, in 1307. She gave money to two women and one man who used to be her servants.74 In 1359 Peter Nilsson, school master (i.e. a priest) in Lund, gave one pot and one salted lamb to Johannes Jute who previously was his servant (quondam famulo meo), and grain to Jakob, who also used to be his servant (quondam famulo meo).75 In 1398 Ida Petersdotter gave an altar in the cathedral in Lund, as well as landed property, to John André, who previously was a servant to her and her husband (quondam famuli).76 Interestingly enough, all these examples are from Denmark. The same tradition of remembering former servants can be found in England, where it has been suggested that this might be an indication of kinship.77 These examples could also be an indication that the life-cycle tradition is applicable to Denmark, although we have no further information about the servants’ ages, or whether they had quit their work as a servant to get married. Fifteen persons termed servants have issued their own testaments, or their masters have issued their testaments after their death on behalf of them. At least half of these persons were clearly high ranking servants of bishops, dukes, or kings, and some even had their own seal.78 These servants belonged to the upper classes although they were in someone’s service. The rest of the testament-writing servants were obviously not among the very lowest and poorest servants. Of these seven servants, four were women. 347 74 SDHK41010. 75 SDHK7629. 76 SDHK14985. 77 Goldberg 1992, p. 183. 78 Suchas SDHK3149; SDHK5452. Servants writing testaments
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