Beatrix, the wife of the late Colratus Cavallerii, appeared in court in August of 1295 to initiate the inventory of her late husband's estate. Colratus died some time before and Beatrix had been serving as the guardian for her three children, Giraudetus, Bartholomeus, and Raymundetus. The inventory was occasioned by the fact that she was taking a new husband, Guillelmus de Vellancio, and an inventory was necessary to ensure that the children's rights in the estate would be respected. Guillelmus himself took charge of compiling the inventory. The resulting list is unusually interesting for the number of references to items belonging to Colratus that Beatrix had sold off to pay for funeral expenses or other unstated purposes. It also mentions a garment that was intended to be worn while leaving the baths and describes a second garment lined with an unusual fur, sirogrillus (scilicet "choerogryllus" in the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources). Other remarkable objects include two goblets made from the shells of coconuts (nux indie) and two porcelain bowls. What explains these unusual things? As the art historian Anne Dunlop has suggested, "Colratus Cavalleri" may be the Provençal version of a Genoese name, Corrado de' Cavallieri. On this theory, Colratus was a Genoese merchant associated with the equivalent of the Genoese fondaco in Marseille, and had accumulated these items thanks to his far-flung trade connections. 

  • Record type: Inventory-Guardianship
  • Date: 23 August, 1295
  • Locale: Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
  • Language(s): Latin
  • Named person(s): Colratus Cavallerii
  • Archival location: Archives municipales de la ville de Marseille, Register 1 II 21
  • Extent: 12 Folios (paper, register - demi-quarto)

Edited by Daniel Lord Smail.
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