anja thaller A look at how the process of will-making is reflected in the documents will round off these observations. Of course, the process depends very much on the individual situation and the form chosen. Notarial documents, as usual, provide more procedural details than sealed charters, which focus on the results. Other writings produced in this context could certainly shed more light on the process, since each will is “part of a documentary network in which it [is] the focus of various other writings: codicils, copies of itself,”57 approvals, inventories, as well as marriage contracts and other agreements. The making of the will and the act of issuing is usually preceded by a process of reflection of varying length, possibly involving discussions with heirs and trusted persons,58 the engagement of a scribe or notary, and probably the drafting of the main contents on a piece of paper or parchment, using lists or other writings as aids to memory.59 With regard to content, it is important to consider that family members or others may have influenced or even pressured the testatrix in their favor.60 Although the protocol-like character of notarial documents tends to reproduce the sequence of acts and the orality of nuncupative wills to a greater extent, as in the case of Mary of Burgundy’s will, which reflects a repeated order of the testatrix’s instructions followed by her husband’s replies,61 it is possible that the scribe or notary influenced the wording beyond the use of specific terminology and formulae. However, at the end of the procedure, the text was often read aloud. The testatrix confirmed it by expressing her consent orally, by signing with her own hand, and/or by having her seal affixed. 57 Bertrand 2019, p. 296. 58 An example is illustrated in Breyvogel 1999, pp. 71f; see also Zeiler 2023, pp. 108f, 220– 227. 59 On the different contexts in which parchment and paper were used in the late Middle Ages, see Meyer et al. 2015; Dijkhof 2020. 60 In this respect, the influence of (mendicant) confessors has been particularly studied. See e.g. Signori 2001, pp. 6–17. For a dispute between Henriette of Montbéliard, countess of Wurtemberg, and her sons over her last will that led to her imprisonment, see n. 58. 61 No. 32: Item requisivit et rogavit […] –ipse […] annuit atque consensit. 67 Genesis and Use
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