anja thaller 55 oblewomenin the late medieval German Empire seem to have made quite frequent use of their right to make a testament. After a brief overview of the state of research, this paper analyses selected material, formal, structural, and content-related aspects of a corpus of 46 wills of 39 women from the period between 1250 to 1520, as well as their transmission, creation, and use. Both similarities and differences in form, structure, and content, as well as in testamentary practices, can be observed, depending on a number of factors, including the wider context of the ‘Urkundenlandschaft’, the external influences such as legal and documentary traditions prevalent in different regions, the social background of the testatrix, and other individual circumstances. While form and structure provide no more than a framework, the content, intention, and function of wills are of greater importance. Noblewomen’s wills focus much on property rights, and therefore contain many more donations pro anima than emphasizing inheritance rights, which predominate in the wills of male rulers. In terms of both content and form, these documents are heterogeneous, biased, and incomplete, reflecting individual choices and subjective intentions. With the exception of notarial instruments, the documents themselves usually provide little information about the will-making process, their genesis and use, and even less about the actual implementation of the testamentary dispositions, which makes it necessary to consult other possibly accompanying documents. Late medieval German noblewomen’s wills have not yet been extensively studied and therefore offer considerable potential for further research. The analysis and comparison of their testamentary practices across modern linguistic and national boundaries, which unfortunately often limit research, can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of will-making across medieval Europe. N Abstract
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