janken myrdal Both in Denmark and Sweden the total number of registered (known) documents increased from about 50 in the middle of 13th century to around 150–200 annually in the second half of the 14th century (and in the15th century, approximately 200). Norway had a different trajectory. The annual number of registered documents in the first half of the 14th century was about 60, and then fell to around 40 in the second half of that century.22 Changes in the total number of documents can thus not be used as an explanation for the wax and wane of large testaments. A confluence of multiple causes contributed to the process. One factor is that the Church advocated for the right to give land for the salvation of the soul, and to include many bequests of personal property was a way to gain acceptance for testaments. Conflicts regarding a cleric’s right to dispose over property was a reason for a priest to make a will. A third factor was a gift-culture, highlighting personal bonds with the help of specified objects.23 We can make a comparison with England, where testaments listing many objects were quite common in the tenth century, and then disappeared; but in the thirteenth century they had a revival.24 InDouai in northern France, testaments with movables grew in importance from the late 13th century and throughout the 14th century, with a peak in the early15th century.25 Regional customs of how to organise documents varied over time, and in accounting we find similar variation. The famous English manorial accounts from the 13th and 14th centuries can serve as a case in point, as they are without any real counterparts in other coun367 DN4475; 1381 DN2468; 1389DN4 564; 1397 DN11 93; 1400DN16 42; around 1410 DN11 117, 1422DN2668; 1427 DN5 579; 1430DN5 597. I have also noted single or a few movables from 1286; 1280–99; 1309; 1309; about 1320; 1349; 1355; 1358; 1361; 1363; 1373; 1379; 1383; 1389; 1396: 1413; 1415, 1430. To register all wills with single objects one would instead have to examine every document in the edition series Diplomatarium Norvegicum(DN). 22 Myrdal 2009, pp. 78–79, graphs over charters and letters in Denmark and Sweden 1250– 1400 and Norway 1319–1400. The Norwegian demise has societal causes, and the selection is somewhat limited, but here is not the place to delve into this topic. 23 In Myrdal 2014 I discuss these factors. 24 Sheehan 1963, pp. 101–103, 282. 25 Howell 1996, pp. 3–10.
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