Licendia testandi
Keywords:
testamenttioikeus, keskiaika, Innocentius VIII, Turku, Conradus Bitz, Vatikaanin arkisto, Anomusasiakirja, TekstieditioAbstract
What happens to a person’s property after their death? Who has the right to inheritance and under what conditions? Does the individual have any control over who will inherit their property? Such questions were as relevant in the Middle Ages as they are today. In medieval Europe, questions of inheritance were tied not only to local legislation but also the regulations of canon law, especially when the decedent was clergy. Some problems of inheritance could be solved through licentiae testandi, specific privileges granted by the pope which would allow members of the clergy to bequeath property. In this article, we first outline some general customs of inheritance among medieval clergy with reference to canon law, and discuss the practices followed in the Kingdom of Sweden and particularly in the geographical area that is now Finland. We then introduce a licentia testandi document issued by Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492) which sheds new light on the testamentary practices of clerics in the late medieval Diocese of Turku. Finally, we present an edition of this previously unedited document.
