Последње завештање которске властелинке Јелене Медошеве Драго
The last legacy of noble woman Jelena Medossii de Drago

Summary/Abstract: The changes which took place in the urban societies of the late medieval age – especially in the context of religiosity, the way of life and socio-economic relations, had a strong impact on the development of testamentary practice. The accepting of the practice of creating a last will and testament on the part of all the social strata, even the underprivileged, incurred great changes in the number, category and monetary value of soul salvation legacies. Thus, there was an increasing variety, number and minor types of ad pias causas donations. The bearers of the changes in the religious practice of the late middle ages were the mendicant orders which promoted the belief that an ad pias causas donation, regardless of the monetary value, would help the devoted secure the salvation of the soul at the deathbed. Among the testaments in the framework of this body of sources, we are singling out the legacy of Jelena, the daughter of the late Medos Drago. Parts of the testament of this noblewoman from Kotor, from a renowned aristocratic family which emphasized pro remedio animae donations, contain an exceptionally large number of various individual items of ad pias causas donations – more than fifty. Analogously with the number of soul salvation legacies, there was also a wider choice of those receiving these gifts of mercy. Jelena Drago donated the following with ad pias causas: clothes and fabric, books, liturgical items, reliquaries, cattle. Within the dedicatory program, she dedicated the means for holding a mass for the salvation of her own soul and those of her ancestors, she bequeathed to churches and monasteries, and for charitable deeds she bequeathed dowry funds for povertystricken girls. A large number of individual soul salvation legacy items in Jelena’s testament were intended for the Franciscan Order. This was in accordance with the prevailing religious and testamentary practice of Kotor at the time, in which primacy was given to the Franciscans over other orders. The testament of Jelena Drago reveals, on one hand, a str

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