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

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

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

Fermosa, the widow of Juce Axevili: Zaragoza, 1418

Living life in Zaragoza, Fermosa and her husband had two children, a daughter named Astruga who predeceased her, and a son named Acach who converted to Christianity and became known as Juan de Embun. Astruga left a daughter, Merian. Merian would be…

Tags: charity, conditions, convert children, transcription, widow

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

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

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

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

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

Baladre, widow of Yaakov ben Haninai: Girona, 1325

This will is part of the so-called "Girona Geniza," which is a collection of Hebrew documents which were preserved because they were reused as book bindings. Baladre's will was part of the binding of a notarial register belonging to the notary…

Tags: bed, burial, charity, clothing, debt, Girona Genizah, image, material culture, orphans, servants, transcription, translation, tutor

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

Blanca, widow of Bernat Falcó: Girona, 1437

TRANSCRIPTION from PLANAS MARCE blanca widow of bernat ferrer girona.pdf

Blanca was a conversa who had perhaps been baptized in the aftermath of the Disputation of Tortosa (1413-1414). She and her husband had been married as Jews, and then converted, as evinced in the husband's will. (See Planas Marcé, 656 for more on…

Tags: burial, conversa, 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

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

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

Channuna, widow of Magalufus de Galiono: Sciacca, 1482

The widow Channuna, like most Jewish women represented in this collection, testated while sick. As the common boilerplate from Sicily has it, she testated while lying in bed.

Channuna leaves her grandson Magalufus the house in which he is living,…

Tags: conditions, dowry, house, synagogue, tari, transcription

Bullara, widow of Xibitellus de Cafisi: Sciacca, 1482

Bullara, a widow, records her will when she is sick.

She names her grandson Sadiolus Sieli her universal heir. She leaves bed-related goods to her granddaughter Luna. She also leaves other female loved ones clothing and textile goods.

Bullara…

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

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

Browse Items (44 total)