Legal document: AIU VII.D.110 + CUL Or.1081 J34 + Moss. VII,65.1 + ENA 4011.14

Description

Prenuptial agreement in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: last decade of Tishrei 1438 Seleucid = October 1126 CE. This was before the period of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–39) and hence there is no reshut clause. Groom: Abū Sahl Menashshe b. ʿAmram Ibn al-Jubayliyya. Bride: Banāt bt. Nuʿmān ha-Kohen, also known as Sitt al-ʿItra. Lines 11-12 set a date for the marriage (before Nisan of the current year), meaning the deed was written prior to the wedding day. The agreement is presented in the first person reducing the probability that it is a betrothal agreement. The fact that the document refers to the bride as 'mumallaka' (betrothed or his fiancee; fiancee is more probable) shows that the agreement was made after the engagement took place. It is possible that during the engagement no agreement was written or that the agreement was not comprehensive and therefore this agreement was written. Despite the fact that the manuscript is incomplete it is probable that the bride represented herself, despite the fact that her father was alive: the groom testifies that he handed over to the bride the money directly. Moreover, there is no mention of a representative of the bride. The document has not been published or mentioned elsewhere. Joins: Amir Ashur, Alan Elbaum, and Oded Zinger. (Information mainly from Ashur's edition.)