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Marco Polo's Will

Marco Polo · 1324

Marco Polo's 1324 testament, recording his family, property and the freeing of a servant, one of the few surviving documents from his own life.

Polo's own testament, one of the few documents directly tied to his life, recording his family and household.

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Photograph of a long, narrow medieval parchment document with dense brown handwritten Latin text in columns, a decorative initial at the top left, and signatures and a seal-like mark at the bottom on a dark background.
Marco Polo, Will, 1324. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.

About this source

What it is

This parchment is the last will and testament of Marco Polo, validated by touch rather than a signature, as was customary. It is held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice.

Why it matters

Unlike his famous travelogue, which was shaped by a co-writer and copied many times, this document comes directly from Polo's own life and records concrete details: his family, his wealth, and his decision to free his Tartar servant Peter. It is one of very few documents that can be tied firmly to Marco Polo himself, giving historians rare solid ground beneath the legends built around him.

Look closer

  • Why might a will tell historians things a travel book cannot?
  • What does freeing a servant from Asia suggest about Polo's travels and household?
  • Why was touching the document, rather than signing it, accepted as valid at the time?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marco Polo on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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