13 Myrdal 2003a, p. 110 a graph (based on an older version of the SDHK), and pp. 251–254 a list for every year. These numbers are now replaced by graph 1a. I have consulted Sara Risberg regarding the SDHKnumbers. The Large Testaments janken myrdal breaks occurred. Testaments are a crucial source for studying these patterns. Wills reflect social reality, which is obvious from what has been shown about livestock and plagues. In a period from the late thirteenth century and for a hundred years after, Sweden produced what have been labelled as “large testaments”, ones which include many bequests. Thousands of objects are mentioned, which opens a research avenue into the everyday life of different social strata. The proportion of testaments in relation to all registered charters is a starting point. In Sweden, approximately 44 000 documents have been recorded in theSDHK(2024). Most of these are extant documents, and only 5–10% refer to documents now lost. In the graphs 1a–1bbelow, the number of registered charters have been compared with the testaments as identified by Björklund.13 The proportion of testaments was high in late thirteenth century, and then the percentage fell, at first because the total number of charters increased in the latter half of the 14th century and then as the number of testaments gradually dwindled during the 15th century. The two figures show the variation in the medieval source material, year by year. Accidental occurrences play a role, and also the physical status of the preserved sources. For instance, the peak in the early 16th century can be explained by the preservation (by chance) of a large private archive. The moving average smooths out the variations to provide the general picture. (The ten-year moving average creates a series of averages in ten-year spans.) Written documents are islands in a sea of orality, and most of the distributions of legacies took place through oral agreements. A written last will, even those with a long list of legacies of personal property, record only a part of what the testator or testatrix owned. Also the persons 363
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