Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba). The marriage gift at the conclusion of this marriage contract is five dinars and the payment required at the termination of the marriage is 30 dinars. Dated between 1205 and 1237, the period of Avraham Maimonides' tenure as head of the Jews. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, 400.) NB: In Letters from Medieval Jewish Traders, Goitein mistakenly cites this shelfmark for the document T-S 12.114, which is a letter from a merchant from southern Italy.

Marriage contract (ketubba) from Qugandima, Egypt, dated 945. The document records a marriage gift of only four dinars and is signed by eleven or twelve individuals, including the groom. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol 2, 165-75) EMS

Verso: Marriage contract dated 1050, between Saadya b. Maymun and Ḥasana bat Levi, mentioning 5 dinars that will be given at the time of the wedding and 20 dinars deferred. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 398) Recto: various texts, including a formula for a bill of divorce, and a Hebrew poem.

Fragmentary, short marriage contract from Cairo, from which most of the details are missing and which does not mention dowry. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 121, and from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage contract involving a bride with children from a previous marriage whom the new husband undertakes to support, and mentioning 118 dinars in a dowry and marriage gift. Signed by the cantor Yiṣḥaq b. Ghalib (ca. 1125). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 309, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragmentary Karaite marriage contract, the margin of which is adorned with large, hollow letters. (Information Mediterranean Society, III, p. 112)

Ketubba (marriage contract) fragment, clearly in the Palestinian tradition, 1034.

Marriage contract written by the court clerk Mevorakh b. Natan (dated documents ca. 1150-1180) mentioning a brocade sadr with two 'sidepieces,' and preserving the groom's name, Yahya ha-Levi. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 120, 382, and from Goitein's index cards)

Ketubba (marriage contract). Fragment written in a calligraphic hand. Dating: probably late 10th or 11th century. Mentions the name חביבה מפרג כהנה. Witnesses: Natan b. Peraḥya; Kalev b. Yosef; Yehuda b. Efrayim; Menaḥem b. Efrayim; Avraham b. Yehuda; Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. [...]; Yosef b. [...]; Shela b. [...]; Zarʿa b. [...].

Marriage contract containing a list of jewelry apparently of Syro-Palestinian manufacture, to be sold by Shemuel b. Ḥasan two months after the signing of this document by Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe, Shimi ha-Levi, and Avraham ha-Levi. Drafted in Damascus. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 215, 426, 473, and from Goitein's index cards)

Marriage contract (ketubba) from Ramla, mid-eleventh century, that describes the appointment of the bride's agent. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 361-4) EMS

Ketubba for the marriage of Sahlān and his bride. Ca. mid 11th century CE. Written by Yefet b. David. Signed by Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen ha-Parnas b. Abraham, [Sahlān b.] Abraham Alluf he-Ḥaver, Elʿazar b. R. [...], Shelomo b. [...], [Eph]raim he-Ḥaver b. Shem[arya]. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract in which the bridegroom promises to feed and clothe the son of his future wife, a divorcee, to let him learn a craft, and never to punish him physically or hurt him with words. Written by a Palestinian scribe in Minyat Zifta on 24 Av 1421/13 August 1110. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 191) On verso: Hebrew poems.

Marriage contract in which a widow contributes one sixth of a house from a previous marriage and stands surety for her husband in case he is sued by her two sons and/or a fourth party in the house, a Muslim. Drafted by judge Natan b. Shemuel (in office ca. 1140-1147) in Tevet 1459/November-December 1147. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, p. 386, item 9)

Marriage contract from Minyat Zifta, circa 1120, opening with an excerpt from Psalm 92. The marriage gift was 40 Dinars and the dowry another 50. Information from Med. Soc. According to Reif, this document is also mentioned in Ashtor, Histoire des Prix, p.173

Marriage document. Groom: [...] b. Yefet, probably. Bride: Qā'ida bt. [...]. Signed by: Yefet b. David ha-Ḥazzan; Yeshuʿa b. Yosef; Yosef b. Yefet; Zekharya b. Yosef; Yehuda b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi.

Two fragments, probably from the same ketubba (marriage contract) showing elements characteristic of North African custom, perhaps as early as the 9th century.

Marriage contract (ketubba) concerning Badriyya,"who is single," the daughter of ʿAllūn. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 243-9) EMS

Ketubba, Metropolis, probably 927/8 or 1027/8.

Ketubba, with very little text preserved, mentioning the trousseau items. Witnessed by Shemuʾel ha-Levi b. Elʿazar. (Information from CUDL)