ABSTRACT
The series Testamenta of the State Archives of Dubrovnik (Croatia) (Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku – DAD) includes a large number of wills of Ragusans who died outside their own country. It was illness that most often made Ragusans dictate their last will outside the homeland. The article will consider the testaments of Ragusans, drawn up in the Bulgarian lands in the fourteenth–sixteenth centuries. These documents provide a wealth of information on the conditions and mechanisms which determined the ways in which the testator expressed his will. At the same time, these historical sources outline the way in which the Dubrovnik authorities validated the testator's last will. There is interesting information in testamentary clauses relating to usury, in which the Ragusans engaged in the Bulgarian lands. The analysis of the data sheds light on issues related not only to practices in Dubrovnik, but also to the economy, trade, and everyday life of Ragusans in the “East” (i.e., the Balkan Peninsula).
