Testamentul între mântuirea sufletului şi disputele succesorale. Ultima voluntas a lui Nicolae senior de Ocna Sibiului şi a fiicei sale Magdalena
The last will between the soul salvation and succesion disputes. Ultima voluntas of Nicolae senior of Ocna Sibiului and of Magdalena, his daughter

Summary/Abstract: The last will of one on the deathbed or being in danger is an ancient human practice, from antiquity till our days. Orally made initially, the last will is written after so that it wouldn’t be ever forgotten. This will is especially related to the testator’s estate distribution after death. To be legal, the written document must follow the law in force within the territory and time of writing it. Consequently, the will is a legal value paper concerning the testator’s estate so divided to ensure the deceased resting in peace and a good life together of the ones who benefit of the legacy. Two are the wills I analyzed in the present study: a better known one belonging to Nicolae Senior of Ocna Sibiului, vice-voivode of Transylvania, and another one, less or almost unknown, belonging to her daughter, Magdalena. The two letters generated many succession disputes, even if they had been drawn up for the testator’s soul salvation and for rewarding his/ her intimates. The analyzed law conflicts show the importance of a will and, especially, of the inheritance, both for the testator and the beneficiaries. The will and its results illustrate the testator’s society directed by common laws or judicial standards that I have approached by the means of sociological, historical, and judicial filters, the two acts being only a sample from the large number of medieval wills.

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