Instruments of Penance: The Role of Testaments in the Penitential Economy of Thirteenth-Century Italy

Despite the difficulty of working with testaments, they have been the subject of study for many years, providing a window into the economic, social, and spiritual life of local communities throughout medieval Christendom. The religious significance of testaments has also attracted some attention; however, few have put thirteenth-century testamentary practice in conversation with the complex theology of penance developing in that time. Claims that making a testament was an act of charity, an exchange of earthly for heavenly goods, or a guarantee of memorialization, while valid to a certain extent, do not take into account the nuances of the penitential system. Based on the writings of thirteenth-century canonists such as Raymond of Peñafort and theologians such as Thomas Aquinas, and wills from the Franciscan convent of Bologna, this article argues that testaments can be seen as penitential instruments, much like indulgences, creating a real change in the spiritual state of the testator. Testaments worked in the penitential realm through the mechanism of suffrages. Good works of satisfaction were believed to be transferable from one person to another through the intention of the actor. The testament uses money to facilitate this transaction, exchanging coins for substitutionary penance, which can be exchanged for time in purgatory. In this framework, the long lists of pious bequests to various religious houses not only reflect personal loyalties or spiritual preferences of testators but also individualized solutions to penitential problems. Thus, making a testament involved much lay agency, but a spiritually adept executor was also vital.