janken myrdal 359 nthis article different aspects of testaments as a source for information about everyday life are elucidated. It begins by referring to two earlier studies: one about livestock as bequests, and the other on testaments as a proxy for mortality. Both cases show that testaments can be important sources, though they need to be combined with other sources. Scandinavian wills were nearly all written in a rural context. Another difference when compared with the rest of Europe is that women often issued testaments, and there is no difference between women and men when it comes to donating chattel. In other countries, for instance England, women tended to bequeath more personal property, but in Scandinavia also men gave textiles, livestock, and other items. In the late 13th century, testaments made up about one tenth of all preserved documents, but this proportion fell during the 14th century, and at the end of the Middle Ages only about 2–3% of all charters were last wills. The Swedish testaments from circa 1280 until 1380 included many bequests of personal property. This practice also occurred in other countries but in other periods. A tradition of how to organise a testament might develop regionally, and then fall out of fashion. Indeed, there are single later wills that mention items such as gold rings or horses even later, but they are quite rare. This period of about a hundred years thus allows us to study how items represent different social bonds. Also rather inexpensive articles are recorded, when handed over to servants or poor people. The items and persons mentioned were to be announced officially and written down on parchment. We can for instance conclude that among the nobility the sword was loaded with symbolic importance, and often went to a close male relative. Gold rings represented a social bond among persons in the higher echelons of society. As for livestock, cows went to women and oxen tomen. I Abstract
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=