| Abstrakt: |
Provost of Spiš Chapter John wrote a will in 1348. He had been ill for a long time and the document was read on his deathbed. More than ten witnesses were present, eight of whom were mentioned by name. The present will, which is still preserved in the Private Archives of the Spiš Chapter, provides historians with four key pieces of information. We have learned from it about the existence of two provostal palaces at the Church of St. Martin, one of which may have been located in the courtyard at the Pažica site. We read about the provost's private curacy near the thermal springs and the vineyard in Buda, which he bequeathed to his successor in office, or to the Spiš Chapter. We added to our knowledge about the fate of two extinct villages: Ivanovce (Iuanusy, today Pavľany-Krigov) and Zotmarovce (Sothmar, situated near today's Letanovce village). Provost John bequeathed parts of the tithes and other receipts of the two aforementioned communities. From these receipts, he established six priestly prebends in Spišská Kapitula. Four were located in St. Martin's Cathedral and the other two in adjacent detached chapels, which do not exist today. Regular Masses were to be celebrated from the income of these prebends. He also donated his crucifix to the main church of Spiš, a collection of decrees and unspecified codices to the library. He designated his burial place there. He donated his breviary to the Church of St. John the Baptist in Krigov. On the basis of the analysed last will, we have gained an idea of the end of the Provost's life and of his chosen priorities he was dealing with at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
