Legal document: T-S NS J475

Description

Folio from a court notebook. Location: Minyat Zifta. There are 3 betrothal (erusin/qiddushin) documents (all edited in Ashur's dissertation) and a 4th document concerning a debt (unedited). Document #1: Dated: last third of Tishrei 1452 Seleucid (= October 1140 CE), under the authority of the Nagid Shemuʾel b. Ḥananya. This is the earliest attestation of Shemuʾel as Nagid. Fiancé: Natan(?) b. Avraham ha-Kohen. Fiancée: [...] bt. Yosef ha-Kohen. Early marriage payment: 10 dinars. Delayed marriage payment: 40 dinars. Witnessed by Shabbetay b. Avraham (active 1135–78) and Yeshuʿa b. Shemuel. Document #2: Part of an engagement deed. Apparently, the only section that was copied to the court’s notebook was a section containing an unusual condition: the groom, Yefet b. Yaʿaqov, vows not to force the bride to leave Minyat Zifta. It is also possible that this condition was related to the engagement agreement on the other side of the page, as the first name of the groom is the same in both. Witnessed by Yeshuʿa b. Shemuel. Document #3: The fiancé is named Yefet. The document is too faded to discern many of the details. Mentions "laʿb" (playing musical instruments? games? gambling?). Dated first third of Shevaṭ 1452 Seleucid. Document #4: Concerns the remaining money owed to Tammām b. Nissīm by a certain Abū l-Faraj. Dated: first third of Elul 1452.