the formularies of medieval portuguese testaments 260 This paper focuses on testaments and other documents related to last wills preserved in the archive of the monastery of S. Pedro de Pedroso (a Benedictine coenobium of the Porto diocese) in the 13th century. The main goal is to analyse the formularies of these documents and their validation forms, gather the vocables, verbal forms, and /or expressions that state the nature of the legal act, and list some of the conditions defined in the texts. To this end, we collected and analysed the documentation of the previously established typologies belonging to this monastery, which are currently kept in the National Archive of Torre do Tombo. Through this case study, we aim to obtain elements that contribute to a broader investigation of Portuguese medieval testaments and other documents of last wills kept in the archives of ecclesiastical institutions, which remains to be undertaken. Before focusing on the testaments preserved in the monastery’s archive, it is essential to introduce briefly its history. The date of Pedroso’s foundation is neither specific nor agreed upon, nor are its founders. One of the hypotheses suggests that it was founded before 897, with Gondesindo Prolix and his wife Enderquina Palla1 as the founders. Another hypothesis is that it was founded by Ero and his wife Adosinda, Gondesindo’s daughter, with the end of the 9th century as the probable foundation date.2 However, the commonly accepted hypothesis in current historiography is that the coenobium was founded between 1017 and 1026 by Ederonio Alvites and Transtina Pinializ.3 1 A hypothesis put forward by Friar Leão de São Tomás (São Tomás 1974, vol. II, pp. 101– 103). João Pedro Ribeiro questions the assertions made by Friar Leão de São Tomás and other chroniclers, stating that the deed of donation from D. Gondesindo, the document on which the assertions are based, must have been “misread in many places” (Ribeiro 1798, p.77). 2 As, for example, Américo Costa (Costa 1929–1949). Introduction The Pedroso monastery foundation and heritage (11th–13th centuries)
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