A Hospitaller despropriamentum: Dubrovnik 1396

Abstract

A Hospitaller, being vowed to poverty, could not make a will but might dispose of  goods he held by making a  despropriamentum.  Written examples are rare but Fr. Barras de Barras made such bequests at Dubrovnik in 1396; his wealth was notably limited. He fell ill while King Sigismund of Hungary, returning from defeat by the Turks at Nikopolis on the Danube where the Hospitallers  rescued him, had stopped at Dubrovnik.