Editing Marco Polo (section)

=== Death ===
[[File:Chiesa di San Lorenzo.jpg|thumb|''[[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]]'' church in the [[sestiere]] of [[Castello, Venice|Castello]] ([[Venice]]), where Polo was buried. The photo shows the church as it is today, after the 1592 rebuilding.]]

In 1323, Polo was confined to bed due to illness.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=339}} On 8 January 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as [[Executor|co-executrices]].{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of [[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]], the place where he wished to be buried.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also set free Peter, a [[Tatars|Tartar]] [[slave|servant]], who may have accompanied him from Asia,<ref>{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=573}}</ref> and to whom Polo bequeathed 100 lire of Venetian denari.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}

He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also wrote off multiple debts including 300&nbsp;lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for the convent of [[San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice|San Giovanni]], [[Church of San Polo, Venice|San Paolo of the Order of Preachers]], and a cleric named [[Friar]] Benvenuto.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He ordered 220&nbsp;[[Solidus (coin)|soldi]] be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|pp=340–41}}

The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant "[[signum manus]]" rule, by which the testator had only to touch the document to make it legally valid.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}<ref name="Marciana">Biblioteca Marciana, the institute that holds Polo's original copy of his testament. [http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/admin/filemanager/file/UserFiles/File/testamento-polo.txt Venezia.sbn.it] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206135126/http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/admin/filemanager/file/UserFiles/File/testamento-polo.txt |date=6 December 2010 }}</ref> Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of 8 and 9 January 1324.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=342}} [[Biblioteca Marciana]], which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on 9 January 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324.<ref name="Marciana" />