Geniza Lab

Court record of a legal agreement between a husband, Abū l-Ḥasan Shelomo b. Menashshe, and his wife, Sitt al-Nasab bt. Abū l-Munā, in which he undertakes to settle her in her own domicile. Before marrying, they had agreed to live apart from his female relatives should she request it. After their marriage, they tried living with his family, but arguments broke out, and Sitt al-Nasab invoked her right to live separately. But Abū l-Ḥasan found himself broken-hearted on separation from his female relatives, so the couple now agreed to live under the same roof as his family again, but (1) to give Sitt al-Nasab a separate apartment in the house, (2) that Abū l-Ḥasan’s mother and sisters would not be allowed to enter it, (3) that they are forbidden from requesting as much as a matchstick from Sitt al-Nasab. The details of this new agreement were negotiated between Abū l-Ḥasan and Sitt al-Nasab’s paternal uncle, Abū ʿAlī. Dated: Kislev 1430 Seleucid, which is 1119 CE. Location: Fusṭāṭ. In the hand of the prolific court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (no relation). Signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and ʿOvadya ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh. The same couple also appear in T-S 13J2.20, dated 1445/1134.