1620- Will, Frederecik van Ruiven and his wife

Dear Anne,

The document is in physical form a bit different, but in content fairly regular. It concerns a will, dated 11 October 1610 and drafted by public notary Jacob Dasseguy, residing in Delft on behalf of Mr. Frederick van Ruijven, brewer in the house named De Claen in Delft, who was 'sick and sitting in his bed' and his wife Cornelia Adriaensdochter, who was well and healthy, both apparently sound of mind. They declared to bequeath all their possessions to the surviving partner. 

The surviving partner would however be held to:
- raise their children in an honest way until they will come of age (i.e. until their 25th birthday or, if this would arrive earlier, at their day of marriage)
- give each of their children an amount of 3,000 carolus guilders at the day they would come of age
- deliver an inventory of possessions, to be presented to two family members of the deceased partner
- pass on the possession of their house to their children, in order to guarantee the childrens' inheritance

The children will be held to accept this inheritance; in case any of them would refuse to accept this, the surviving parent will be allowed to only bequeath the 'inobedient child' the inheritance required by law ('legitieme portie')

Witnesses present were Adriaen Janssz Orgel (one of the legal guardians in the previous document you sent!) and Jan Claessz Renbooin.

Rene

That's absolutely great thank you so much. 

So I'm assuming the couple were quite wealthy if they were promising 3,000 guilders for each of their 7 children.

Sadly both parents died within 3 weeks of each other 1621/1622 so the legal guardians would have been called on to take their responsibilities. 

I've had a quick check on the legal guardians. Bruyn Schinkel was a fellow brewer, Salomon van den Heul  was a grocer, Vincent Proost, unknown but was a witness with Frederick in 1607 for another will, Adriaen Orgel was a wood buyer, originally from Amsterdam (and a popular 'guardian' according to Delft archives!).

I've also discovered the prenuptial agreement between Frederick and Cornelia from 1595, which is called a charter- similar in format to the will. But this is in poor condition, so I have no idea if you, or any of the other contributors to the Forum can make out what it says. Any information from it would be really helpful. 

With very best wishes.

Anne