Dublin Core
Title
Wuhsha the Broker: Fustat, c. 1100
Subject
Karima, daughter of Ammar; known as Wuhsha "the Broker"
Description
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, and thus, using Hillel's known dates alongside a chronology of Wuhsha's life, S.D. Goitein has dated this will at approximately 1100 CE.
DESCRIPTION FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT:
Will of Wuhsha, the broker, detailing various items and sums of money willed to relatives and charitable and religious purposes; appointment and provisions for a son born out of wedlock as heir and what to do if he dies before reaching maturity; funeral expenses; and references to previously-made declarations. The total amount of sums referred to in the will is 689 dinars, a large fortune, and the denoted funeral expenses were lavish for the time. Regarding the father of her only child, Wuhsha notes, “He shall not get a penny.” (S. D. Goitein, “A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 1967, 229-41) EMS
(https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1259/)
See above link for IMAGE and TRANSCRIPTION.
TRANSLATION from Goitein, A Jewish Business Woman..., attached as file to this entry.
DESCRIPTION FROM THE PRINCETON GENIZA PROJECT:
Will of Wuhsha, the broker, detailing various items and sums of money willed to relatives and charitable and religious purposes; appointment and provisions for a son born out of wedlock as heir and what to do if he dies before reaching maturity; funeral expenses; and references to previously-made declarations. The total amount of sums referred to in the will is 689 dinars, a large fortune, and the denoted funeral expenses were lavish for the time. Regarding the father of her only child, Wuhsha notes, “He shall not get a penny.” (S. D. Goitein, “A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 1967, 229-41) EMS
(https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1259/)
See above link for IMAGE and TRANSCRIPTION.
TRANSLATION from Goitein, A Jewish Business Woman..., attached as file to this entry.
Creator
Fustat, Egypt
Date
c. 1100
Source
Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection, University of Cambridge
T-S Ar.4.5
S. D. Goitein, “A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 1967, 229-41; Ed. S. D. Goitein, "A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century," Jewish Quarterly Review 57 (1967), pp. 239-241. Mediterranean Society III: 348-9.
Princeton Geniza Project:
https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1259/
https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/documents/1259/
Language
Judeo-Arabic
Coverage
Egypt
Cairo Geniza
Contributor
Princeton Geniza Project