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

Widow of Yefet b. Sabagh: Fustat, c. 1126

This widow, whose name remains unknown, appears in at least two dispositive documents, constituting three shelf-marks. That is to say, she testated an original will, which is in one piece. A revision exists as two fragments that have been re-joined…

Tags: image, real estate, servants, transcription, widow

Vidale, wife of Moses son of Galipapa: Huesca, c. 1300 CE

The will of Vidale is known from a responsa of the famed Sevillian rabbi Yom Tom Asevili, the Ritva. She names two executors, her husband Moses son of Galipapa, and her brother, Solomon ibn Albnad. Among the charges given to her executors is to…

Tags: charity, dowry, marriage, married, orphans, Ritva, transcription, translation

Unknown: Fustat, 1006

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT:Deathbed declaration, AD 1006. ORC 7/10/86 [P]. The document is a deathbed declaration, made by a woman whose name is not preserved. The upper part of the document is missing, but the…

Tags: burial, conditions, image, Jerusalem, real estate, synagogue, timber, transcription

Unknown: Egypt, c. 1100

This Geniza document is missing both the beginning and end of the will, and thus the testator's name is unknown, as is the exact date. It is written in Judeo-Arabic by the well-known court clerk and scribe Halfon ben Menashe, who was active between…

Tags: charity, image, real estate, transcription

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

Suna, widow of Charon Cuyno: Trapani, 1434

Among her bequests, Suna left money to community leaders, and loaves of baked bread to the confraternity of the Jews for the sake of her soul.

Tags: charity, confraternity, food, synagogue, transcription

Sterella, wife of Boniaqui: Marseille, 1399

TRANSCRIPTION: FF. In nomine domini amen. Notum sit et cetera annodomini Millesimo CCClxxxxviiii die vii mensis Novembris circa terciam. Notum sit et cetera quod cum nil sit certius morte quamvis eius hora sit dubia et inserta idcirco ego Sterella…

Tags: image, synagogue, transcription, witness

Stera, wife of Challuri de Challuri: Trapani, 1486

Stera, who had been widowed and then remarried to a still-living husband at the time of testation, first ordered that she be buried in the Jewish cemetery of Trapani. The concern with burial, and the choice to place it first, seems to be a preference…

Tags: guardian, mental illness, minor child, transcription

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

Sittuna, daughter of Avraham the Parnas: Egypt, undated

FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT: Fragment of a will of the teacher Sittuna bat Avraham the parnas. She leaves a property to the son of her sister's daughter, who will pay her funeral expenses out of the income of this property, and her personal…

Tags: image, transcription

Sitt al-Ahl, daughter of Abū l-Munā al-ʿAṭṭār al-Iskandarānī, wife of Abū Naṣr al-Ḥalabī al-Tājir: Fustat, 1143

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT: Deathbed will of a rich woman, made during the absence of her husband. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 26 Iyyar 1454 Seleucid, which is 13 April 1143 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b.…

Tags: burial, funeral, image, marriage, protection, slave, transcription, translation

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

Sara, widow of Davi of Cabestany: Perpignan, 1286

Sara married Davi of Cabestany, a major moneylender of Perpignan, and together seem to have had three sons: Mosee, Bonsenyor, and Profet. Davi predeceased her.

In her will, she leaves nothing to her sons, since ostensibly they had already been…

Tags: charity, conditions, dowry, transcription, widow

Ricca, wife of Manuel Balam: Sciacca, 1436

Ricca leaves bequests to the synagogues of Sciacca, Trapani, and Caltabellotta. As is typical in these Sicilian sources, the synagogue is called a "miskita" (i.e. mosque). She also leaves money to marry off Jewish orphan girls, along with bequests to…

Tags: codicil, dowry, married, orphans, synagogue, transcription

Regina, widow of Bondia Coras (or Cresques?): Puigcerdá, 1306

TRANSCRIPTION:Regina uxor Bondia Coras Iudei condam, licet sim infirma etc., meum facio et condo testamentum de bonis meis, ordinando etc. [deleted: in quo constituo]. In primis iubeo corpus meum sepeliri.Et iubeo dari Iuceff Choen C solidos, quos ei…

Tags: bed, charity, synagogue, transcription, translation, witness

Browse Items (44 total)