Legal document: ENA NS I.95a + T-S Misc.27.4.31

Description

Testimony regarding bridal consent to marriage. Two manuscripts that deal with the marriage of a bride named Karam. The two manuscripts contain the bride's consent to the marriage, her receiving the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and an appoint of a representative on her behalf. The first manuscript, ENA NS I.95a, from the 3rd of Nissan (Monday, the 14th of March) year 1244, is a testimony of witnesses that the bride gave in their presence her consent to the marriage to the aforementioned Groom, and that she received the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift (Me'ukhar). The story takes an unexpected twist in the second manuscript dated two days afterward. While the wife testified in the previous document that she received the initial marriage gift and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift, in the second document she appoints her brother to receive the initial marriage gift and to set the sum of the delayed marriage gift. Since the ending of the first document did not survive it is impossible to determine what took place in those two days. The wife might have wanted to testify that she received the muqaddam but things did not turn out the way they should have (the two sides might have fallen into dispute and the agreement was not signed?) Thus, direct involvement of the bride's wife was required. Another option is that the brother's appointment as representative was carried out informally before receiving the initial marriage gift, but only later was this formalized in court. [NB volume number in shelfmark is roman numeral I, not Arabic numeral 1]