From the Living to the Dead. The Principles of Testamentary Succession among Medieval Nobility in the Czech Lands and Hungary

In the present paper, the authors attempt to give a basic explanation of one of the titles of inheritance, while they focus mainly on medieval noble testaments as documented in charters of Czech and Hungarian origin from the late 12th to the early 14th century. General observations on limitations of testamentary succession and specifi c features of medieval testaments are accompanied by the analysis of preserved documents. While in the Czech lands this refers mainly to a collection of mostly recipient charters, in Hungary the analysed documents are the charters produced in offi ces of quasi-public notaries, i.e. places of authentication that functioned from the beginning of their activities on the territory of Slovakia. The unique material going back to the origins of medieval written culture in both lands allows us to reconstruct the path and conditions leading to the issuing of testament and it also enables us to compare the developmental lines of the two neighboring Central European countries, which is a part of the fi nal evaluation.In the present paper, the authors attempt to give a basic explanation of one of the titles of inheritance, while they focus mainly on medieval noble testaments as documented in charters of Czech and Hungarian origin from the late 12th to the early 14th century. General observations on limitations of testamentary succession and specifi c features of medieval testaments are accompanied by the analysis of preserved documents. While in the Czech lands this refers mainly to a collection of mostly recipient charters, in Hungary the analysed documents are the charters produced in offi ces of quasi-public notaries, i.e. places of authentication that functioned from the beginning of their activities on the territory of Slovakia. The unique material going back to the origins of medieval written culture in both lands allows us to reconstruct the path and conditions leading to the issuing of testament and it also enables us to compare the developmental lines of the two neighboring Central European countries, which is a part of the fi nal evaluation