“I will leave no debt after myself” – bequests of lesser Poland clergymen in wills from the 17th century

Wills belong to the most valuable sources associated with the Old Polish funeral ceremony, from this for making a will all adult inhabitants of the old Republic of Poland were also obliged irrespective of the state, the sex and the function performed in the society (secular or clerical). This document mainly included the regulations concerning the funeral, property records, and also list of the liability and debts of the testator. Moreover in the will we can find piece of information about social relations and the attitude of the deceased to family, relatives, friends, neighbors, servants, or also lieges.

According to the Canon Law clergymen the biggest and also the most valu­able part of personal assets left to their church and the parish which they orde­red. The dying priest also handed the considerable part of belongings over – for one's close family, journeymen and servants. Amongst written objects we can mention – devotional items, furniture, clothes, the underwear, the crockery, everyday articles, the livestock, or also farm tools. Objects mentioned in the will are attesting not only to the affluence of the testator, but also let get to know and understand determinants a daily presence of those people, as well as their emotions and mentality.

Confirmation of the last will of Vilnius goldsmith Vincent Slegel (1519). A contribution to the history of the Vilnius bourgeois elite and its ties with Poznań

In the following paper the author attemps to analyse the confirmation of the testament of the Vilnian burger – craftsman, goldsmith and town councillor – Vincenty Slegel, written in the 1519.

Like all official activities, also the opening of a will was carried out in the time and place provided by law. They were the resultant of various factors, such as the place and circumstances of the death of the testator, the time of funeral, as well as the accessibility of the will itself, witnesses to its preparation and physical presence of the official for whom the procedure of opening the will had to be carried out. In each case, there were widely available places, because the opening of a will was public. This article considers the regulations regarding the time of legal opening of a will, in particular the precedence of the funeral of the deceased testator. Next explains the factors determining the place of the opening of the will, among others, the territorial competence of state officials in this respect, the availability of the witnesses of the will and the place of its storage.