Geniza Lab

Court archive describing a working woman (an unraveler of silk) from Tyre, Lebanon who possessed a house and was able to pay a bill of twelve dinars over the course of several years, yet claimed in court to be bankrupt and too poor to even buy bread; dated 1091. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1:128, 430; 2:602; 5:88, 530) EMS

Legal document. Copy of a divorce settlement, dated 11th Adar I 4973 (= 1213 CE), from Alexandria, in which Yeshuʿa b. Yosef b. Raṣon Tinnīsī (i.e. linen merchant), declares that he is bankrupt and thus unable to pay the second instalment, thirty dinars, that is still outstanding from the original marriage contract, to his wife, Sitt al-Kull bat Solomon b. Zechariah. The debt is divided into fifteen-dirham 'of good silver' monthly payments, but if he is unable to pay this amount, he must give half of his wage day-by-day instead. Other stipulations forbid Yeshuʿa from leaving Alexandria for four years and from ever remarrying his first wife, and instruct him to sell his clothes and to give the proceeds to Sitt al-Kull. There is also a continuation of the text of the letter from the verso. Verso: Letter, predating the legal document (i.e. prior to 1213 CE), from a certain Beraḵot, who appears to have written the legal document. The name of the recipient has been carefully rubbed out. There is also a continuation of the legal document from the recto. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card)