thérèse de hemptinne & els de paermentier nual mass for himself and his wife Mary of Champagne upon each death anniversary.9 Given their nature as unique records of a testator’s last will, testaments can be defined as unilateral legal acts that take effect only after the death of the testator, implying that they are revocable until that time.10 When analysing testamentary practices, it is essential to make a distinction between ‘the sum of what the testator wishes to happen on his death (will)’ and ‘the document by which a person directs his or her estate to be distributed upon death’ (testament).11 As for the counties of Flanders and Hainaut, we shall discuss the documentary production of six last wills made by the counts and countesses during the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries: the wills of Count Ferrand, first husband of Countess Joan of Constantinople (March 1231);12 of Countess Joan herself (December 1244);13 of her sister Margaret of Constantinople, who succeeded her as countess (1257, 1273);14 of Mahaut de Béthune, wife of Count 449 9 DiBeID13098. Other examples from the following decades: DiBeID30191, 30198, 35530, 37052, 22806, 35965, 21534. 10 Descamps 2011, p. 48. See also Godding 1990, p. 284. 11 Korpiola & Lahtinen 2018, pp. 18–19. Cárcel Ortí 1994, pp.107–108, n. 428: «Le testament est un acte de dernière volonté, passé dans des formes légales (…), par lequel le “testateur” dispose de ses biens après son décès et notamment procède à la désignation d’héritiers et l’affectation de legs»... «Un codicille est une clause ajoutée à un testament pour en modifier un article antérieur ou y adjoindre une disposition nouvelle». 12 DiBe ID18967 (Lille, Archives départementales du Nord (ADN), B444/534). 13 Preserved in an inspeximus of B., provost, and J., dean of the Chapter of Saint Peter’s in Lille (March 1245): DiBeID31152 (Lille, ADN, B444/809); DiBeID22500 (testament of Joan); DiBeID31151 (December 1244, codicil of Countess Joan, preserved in aninspeximus of the bishops of Cambrai, Tournai, and Arras (Lille, ADN, B444/808). 14 Initial testamentary dispositions of November 1257: Duvivier 1894, II, n. 181, pp. 508–510 (Lille, ADN, B445/1993); inspeximus of the previous act by the bishops of Cambrai, Tournai, and Arras (February 1259) (Lille, ADN, B445/1194; testament and codicil (transfix) of Margaret (November 1273): Hautcoeur 1873, I, n. 182, pp. 194–206 (Lille, ADN, B445/ 1811); testamentary additions made by Countess Margaret in favour of her daughter Mary (February 1278) and the abbey of Flines (May 1278): Hautcoeur 1873, I, n. 200 et 201, pp. 221–222 (Lille, ADN, 31H14/219 and 220). – Definition and protagonists The thirteenth-century last wills of the counts and countesses of Flanders and Hainaut
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