thérèse de hemptinne & els de paermentier 445 tartingfrom a collection of some thirty-odd charters, this article focusses on the richly documented testamentary practices at the comital court in Flanders and Hainaut during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, a period largely marked by female rule and turbulent political circumstances that had a major impact on the comital treasury and hereditary succession in both counties. This typologically diverse corpus of charters drawn up in anticipation or in execution of the testaments of Countess Joan and her husband Ferrand, of Countess Margaret, her son Guy de Dampierre and his wife Mahaut de Béthune, and Margaret’s grandson Robert de Béthune, give us good insight into how their ‘budget for the afterlife’ (Korpiola & Lahtinen 2018) and the salvation of their souls were carefully organised to avoid conflicts among their successors and surviving relatives. This especially applies to Countess Margaret, whose succession was already arranged shortly after her access to the throne in 1246 and would eventually lead to the separation of the two counties after her death in 1280. In addition to the actual content of the testaments covered by this study, which mainly consists of settlements of debts and bequests in favour of religious and charitable institutions, the testamentary dossiers also reveal some interesting insights about the different parties involved in the preparation, probates, and execution of these wills (ecclesiastical dignitaries, sovereign princes, relatives); the motivations behind the selection of the testamentary executors; the oral testimonies and oaths that accompanied the implementation of the testator’s last will; as well as their material production, form (carta, notitia, inspeximus), and tradition. Finally, it will be demonstrated that these testaments can hardly be considered as static records of one’s piety or ultima voluntas with regard to the transfer of movable and immovable property but, rather, must be S Abstract 1 Following the definition of Jacques Le Goff, the ‘long thirteenth century’ covers the period roughly between 1180 and 1330. Le Goff 1960, p. 192.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=