The Books of Testaments of Prague Jews from the End of the 17th to the Middle of the 18th Century.

The article deals with the two oldest books of testaments of Prague Jews which were composed in the Prague during the years 1681-1756 and 1740-1773 and today are located in Prague City Archives. The books do not only include just last wills but also probate and property inventories, quittances and donations. This article is made up of several parts -- testaments in Jewish tradition, Jewish testamentary practice in the Czech lands based on narrative sources and the analysis of the books of testaments themselves. The main aim of the paper is to introduce Jewish last wills from various points of view including; origin, circumstances and causes of creation, typology of inscriptions, contents, language, devotional devises etc. Two appendixes (indexes of records of both books of testaments and transcription of the testament of Joseph Veitl Fanta) are attached at the end of the contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]