Women of the Knightly Class in the Light of Masovian Documents from the 12th and 13th Centuries

Abstract

The article poses the question of the legal status of a woman of the knightly class in the 12^th and 13^th centuries in Masovia. Due to the scarcity of source materials, studies on the subject have been undertaken so far in a very limited scope. An analysis was conducted of ten documents that were drawn up in Masovia or issued by Masovian dukes in which women are mentioned during the period under discussion. They appeared in the documents most often together with their husbands or as widows granting charters mainly for the benefit of the Church. It is interesting to note that women mentioned in the documents, made property dispositions either together with their husbands or by themselves and the grants were made for the benefit of ecclesiastical institutions. The women who were mentioned in the article appeared in the documents, in most cases, made grants by themselves. In two instances, women were mentioned in their husbands’ documents. In one instance, as many as three documents concern the case where a woman was involved. As a matter of fact, all the women except for one were mentioned by their names. In light of known documents, it should be concluded that during the period of feudal fragmentation in the province of Masovia women had the possibility of disposing of their property and their property rights were recognized. However, what is noticeable is that the number of documents from Masovia in which dispositions of property were made by women, is much smaller as compared to the number of documents coming from other parts of Poland.