Summary

This paper discusses the origin, function and uses of schepentestamenten, acts of last will registered before municipal courts of aldermen. From the second half of the fifteenth century, peasants and townsmen found recourse to these courts for the registration of acts of last will. At first these acts were primarily contracts among spouses mutually conveying to each other the property upon death, but especially after the secularisation of the notarial profession in 1531 the number of pious bequests and religious beneficiaries greatly increased. In general, three strategies prevail in the employment of the last will: overruling the customary dispensation to the surviving spouse and providing this person with additional resources, specifying the position of each of the children (especially when some were illegitimate or had received by life), and preventing loss of wealth from the family. For the legal instruments, the aldermen resorted to their standard formulary, although attuned to the peculiarities of the last will. The trust and authority the courts of aldermen enjoyed, in combination with their executive clout in enforcing compliance, allowed them to discard various formal elements required in notarial instruments, while also making them popular institutions for the registration of last wills.

中文翻译：

---

斯海尔托亨博斯辖区的遗嘱实践和乡村法院（约 1470-1550 年）

概括

本文讨论了schepentestamenten的起源、功能和用途，即在市政法院登记的最后遗嘱行为。从十五世纪下半叶开始，农民和城镇居民开始向这些法院求助，以登记遗愿行为。起初，这些行为主要是配偶之间相互转让死后财产的合同，但特别是在 1531 年公证职业世俗化之后，虔诚的遗赠和宗教受益人的数量大大增加。一般来说，在使用最后遗嘱时主要采用三种策略：推翻对尚存配偶的惯例分配，并为该人提供额外的资源，明确每个孩子的地位（特别是当有些孩子是非婚生或生前获得的时候） ，并防止家庭财富损失。对于法律文书，市议员们诉诸了他们的标准公式，尽管适应了最后遗嘱的特殊性。市议员法院所享有的信任和权威，加上他们在强制遵守方面的行政影响力，使他们能够放弃公证文书中要求的各种正式要素，同时也使他们成为登记遗嘱的受欢迎的机构。