Social Networks 171
sources makes these documents attractive to historians. Men and women liv-
ing in Lübeck—rich merchants, craftsmen, and also servants—decreed by
wills how their property was to be handled after their death. Consequently,
wills revealed social connections of testators, especially when they included
relatives living in distant places, former trading partners, or illegitimate chil-
dren. Because of such documents, it was possible to reconstruct the business
relationships of a group of merchants from Lübeck and Stockholm in 1350, the
year of the Black Death.22
Additionally, another group of people appears in almost every known will
from Lübeck, the executors of wills who were called vormund (“guardian”) or,
in Latin, provisor. Being chosen to execute a will was a demanding and often
rather tricky task. The will of Hinrich van dem Braken, who had died in 1413,
is a good example of this. The men he had named to execute his will had
to spend part of his money for devout and charitable purposes, not only in
Lübeck, but also in Osnabrück and in the more distant town of Bergen. They
were also requested to arrange a marriage for Hinrich’s daughter and to care for
her until she was married. Finally, they had to administer the parts of Hinrich’s
assets that he wanted his two sons to have after they had come of age.23 From
this example, it is clear that a testator had to be confident in his or her choice
of guardian. A plausible ad hoc hypothesis would be to assume that testators
vol. 22 (Cologne: Böhlau 1995), Susanne Mosler-Christoph, Die materielle Kultur in den
Lüneburger Testamenten 1323 bis 1500 (Diss. phil.: Göttingen, 1998), Birgit Noodt, Religion
und Familie in der Hansestadt Lübeck anhand der Bürgertestamente des 14. Jahrhunderts,
Veröffentlichungen zur Geschichte der Hansestadt Lübeck, vol. B33 (Lübeck: Schmidt
Römhild 2000), 387–401, and Ralf Lusiardi, Stiftung und städtische Gesellschaft.
Religiöse und soziale Aspekte des Stiftungsverhaltens im spätmittelalterlichen Stralsund,
Stiftungsgeschichten, vol. 2 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2000).
22 Wilhelm Koppe, Lübeck-Stockholmer Handelsgeschichte im 14. Jahrhundert, Abhandlungen
zur Handels- und Seegeschichte, vol. 2 (Neumünster: K. Wachholtz 1933); Albrecht Cordes,
Spätmittelalterlicher Gesellschaftshandel im Hanseraum, Quellen und Darstellungen zur
hansischen Geschichte, vol. 45 (Cologne: Böhlau, 1998).
23 Gunnar Meyer,... up dat se mynen lesten wyllen truweliken vorvullen. “Die Werkmeister
der Lübecker Pfarrkirchen als Vormünder in Testamenten,” in Stephan Selzer and Ulf
Christian Ewert, eds., Menschenbilder—Menschenbildner. Individuum und Gruppe
im Blick des Historikers, Hallische Beiträge zur Geschichte des Mittelalters und der
Frühen Neuzeit, vol. 2 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002), 277–294; Id., “Solidarität in der
Genossenschaft: Die Lübecker Bergenfahrer des frühen 15. Jahrhunderts im Spiegel ihrer
Testamente,” in Antjekathrin Graßmann, ed., Das hansische Kontor zu Bergen und die
Lübecker Bergenfahrer: International Workshop Lübeck 2003 (Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild,
2005), 187–204; Id., “‘Besitzende Bürger’ und ‘elende Sieche’. Lübecks Gesellschaft im Spiegel
ihrer Testamente 1400–1449,” (Rostock: Schmidt-Römhild, 2010).