Browse Items · Jewish Women's Wills : A Collaborative Premodern Collection

Wuhsha the Broker: Fustat, c. 1100

Wuhsha's Will from Goitein, A Jewish Business Woman 229-232.pdf

This is the will of the famed Jewish businesswoman known as "Wuhsha the Broker" (Wuhsha al-Dallala), whose given name was Karima. Although it is not dated, the informal document was written in the hand of the cantor and court clerk Hillel ben Eli,…

Tags: burial, business, charity, funeral, image, material culture, orphans, synagogue, transcription, translation

Unknown: Egypt, c. 1100

This woman's will was recorded by the well-known court clerk and scribe Halfon ben Menashe, who was active from 1100 to 1138 CE. It is written in Judeo-Arabic. DESCRIPTION FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT: Will of a woman. In the hand of Ḥalfon b.…

Tags: burial, clothing, image, material culture

Unknown: Egypt, c. 1000

The unnamed testator was Karaite, and testated while pregnant. The will is recorded in Hebrew (the first half) and Judeo-Arabic (the second half, included many of the bequests).DESCRIPTION FROM PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT:Recto: Fragment of a Karaite…

Tags: image, jewelry, Karaite, material culture, pregnancy, transcription

Tolosana, widow of Benvenist de la Caballeria: Zaragoza, 1418

Tolosana was a member of the de la Caballeria family, a wealthy and prestigious Zaragozan family, and married a relative named Benvenist, who was a financier to two Aragonese kings. Together they had seven children (two boys, five girls). Five of…

Tags: clothing, conditions, convert children, love, material culture, servants, transcription, widow

Stella, widow of Farachio De Bulfarachio: Caltabellotta, 1491

STELLA widow of Farachio de Bulfarachio.pdf

Stella is the widow of Farachio De Bulfarachio, also known as Nissim ben Shabbetai Abu-l Faraj, a Arab-Spanish rabbi.

In her will, the widow Stella names her son Jeremiah as her universal heir. She leaves to her daughter Channa, wife David de…

Tags: clothing, Flavius Mithridates, material culture, mourning cloth, transcription, widow

Sisa, wife of Chyaymus de Buxisa: Caltabellotta, 1458

Sisa names her three grandchildren, Moyses, Xalomus, and Sisa, as her universal heirs. Her son Borach Buxixa is named her guarantor ("fideiussorem particolarem").

Sisa leaves clothing as bequests. She also leaves a cape (caputeum) to Yosep de…

Tags: clothing, material culture, oil, synagogue, transcription

Simcha, widow of the late Giacobbe Siciliano: Rome, 1557

This will of a lonely Jewish widow was recorded by a Jewish notary in Hebrew, either by Leone (father) or Isach (son) Piattelli.TRANSCRIPTION:In the Scola Siciliana, in the women’s gallery, Simcha, widow q.m Giacobbe Siciliano, on her deathbed, gives…

Tags: material culture, shroud, synagogue, widow

Reyna, widow of Juce Abenardut: Zaragoza, 1470

Reyna was married to the physician Juce Abenardut, and had three daughters with him. The Abenardut family was a famous medical family in Aragon. Juce had predeceased Reyna, and had named her his universal heir in his (undated) will. In her own will,…

Tags: material culture, widow

Perna, widow of Jacob de Asesio: Caltabellotta, 1462

The widow Perna testates while ill, and names her two daughters (Chyassona, widow of David de Ixe; and Fadalona, wife of Moxe de Pulvirecta) as her universal heirs.

Clearly a wealthy woman with many assets, Perna leaves many material objects to…

Tags: business, clothing, material culture, oil, silver, synagogue, transcription

Parnatissa tu Carteru: Crete, 1379

Parnatissa seems to be a widow. She had two daughters, Cali (widow of a man named Sabatheus, and mother to a daughter named Anastassu) and Parmya (married to Samerya de Rodo, i.e. from Rhodes, and mother to a girl named Cali?).

Parnatissa names…

Tags: material culture, oil, synagogue

Palomba, widow of the late Samuele di Monte Pascolo(?): Rome, 1560

Palomba, testating while in the house of another widow, leaves her meager possessions to the confraternity known as the Compagnia di Ghemilut Hasadim, which, among other activities, cared for the ill, as it seems to have cared for Palomba. (See also…

Tags: bed, clothing, confraternity, material culture, widow, witness

Oro, wife of Samuel Rimok: Monzón, 1463

TRANSCRIPTION from BLASCO ORELLANA et al. Dona Oro.pdf

Oro, the wife of a scion of a well-known family, dictates a long Hebrew will in early summer of 1463 when is she healthy, as she says, in both body and mind. The introductory materials have Oro insisting that, in the bad times in which she lives, no…

Tags: clothing, finials, material culture, synagogue, transcription

Laura, widow of Elia di Perugia: Rome, 1626

Laura dictated her will to the Jewish rabbi/notary Salamone di Santoro da Pitigliano, and he recorded it in Italian. Detailed Description from Kenneth Stow: Laura di q.m Moise Abbina, widow of q.m Elia di Perugia, alias di Pinto, writes her will and…

Tags: confraternity, kaddish, lamp, material culture, synagogue, universal heir

Lachayna, widow of Sabet Cuyno: Trapani, 1464

Lachayna came from a wealthy family with business interests across the Mediterranean.

As was common in Sicilian wills in this period, Lachayna first declares that she wants to be buried in the Jewish cemetery of her city. She also left a measure…

Tags: burial, clothing, manumission, material culture, oil, redemption, slave, synagogue, widow

Kerana, wife of Linchiachus: Crete, 1317

Kerana testates during an illness, and names her mother Herini as her executor. She leaves her daughter Kali 10 hyperpera. She also gives Kali a home that Kerana had received from her own mother. She also leaves money for expenses for her son…

Tags: burial, material culture, real estate

Jamila, widow of Jento Arrueti: Zaragoza, 1415

Jamila had married the cobbler Jento Arrueti, and together they had two daughters. One, Orosol, remained Jewish. One, Violante, abandoned her husband and was baptized Christian. Her three children (Jamila's grandchildren) did not become Christian.…

Tags: conditions, confraternity, convert children, material culture, transcription, widow, Yom Kippur

Grazia, wife of Angelo, daughter of Leuccio di Tivoli: Rome, 1617

Grazia dictated her will to the Jewish rabbi/notary Simone de Castelnuovo, who recorded it in Italian. At the time of her will dictation, Grazia was married but had no children. The vast majority of her few goods she left to the Compagnia di Ghemilut…

Tags: clothing, confraternity, inventory, kaddish, material culture

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