wills and testamentary executors in medieval portugal asked him if he would grant the will, and the ecclesiastic replied three times that he would; then, asked who he would appoint as executor, he answered twice, so as to make his decision perfectly clear. In his will of 1307, Aymeric of Crégol, canon of Coimbra, describes the attributes to be expected in an executor: fidelity, prudence, benevolence, and true friendship.21 No wonder, then, that the choice normally fell on people close to the testators, in whom they placed all their trust. Furthermore, because – as shall be seen – the work expected of them was particularly demanding, more than one executor was usually chosen, their number being directly proportional to the testator’s socio-economic status.22 282 21 Morujão 2010, doc. 2.45. The complete original quotation is: “Et confidens de fidelitate, prudencia, benigvolencia et vera amicicia discretorum virorum magistri Raymundi decani, Martini Fernandi, domni Villelmi de Sancto Jorio et Bertrandi de Grecollo fratris mei carnalis canonici Colimbriensis ipsos et quemlibet eorum in solidum et in totum facio et ordino executores meis ad hec omnia et singula supradicta facienda, complenda et eciam exequenda” (p. 393). 22 This can be exemplified by the cases of bishops who appointed five (Julião Fernandes, bishop of Porto, in 1260; Morujão 2010, doc. 7.4), six (Vicente Mendes, bishop of the same diocese, in 1296; Morujão 2010, doc. 7.8) or even seven executors (Estêvão Eanes, bishop of Coimbra, in 1318; Morujão 2010, doc. 2.48). Seven was also the number of executors in the first will of King Dinis, dated 1299 (Brito 1976, pp. 329–331) and in that of King Fernando I, from 1378 (Arnaut 1960, pp. 291–295). Queen Beatrice, wife of King AfonsoIV, in1357, appointed eleven executors (Lourenço 2005, pp. 100–107). The multiplicity of executors, totalling up to seven, can also be seen in the wills of Puy-en-Velay written by the notary Jean de Peyre (Bruand 2011-2012, pp. 48–49). 23 Studying the rhythm of the drawing up of last wills and testaments during the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries, Vilar 1995, p. 45 states: “Individual salvation, or at least the forgiveness of faults committed during life, appeared to the medieval man as something that implied a sequence of rituals that the Church and custom had progressively defined. One of the first propitiatory acts was precisely, according to the ecclesiastical provisions in force at the end of the Middle Ages, the writing of a will” (our translation). For the Avignon region, and the long chronological evolution of wills from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, their democratisation, and the growing intervention of the Church, see Chiffoleau 1980, pp. 35–41, 75–79. In the corpus under scrutiny, many of the executors were ecclesiastical, not only because most of the testators belonged to this social group, but also because of the Church’s leading role in preparing for death and drawing up testaments,23 which often led laypeople to choose executors from within religious houses, especially those where they want3
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