wills and testamentary executors in medieval portugal As all this work could be very time-consuming, in order to safeguard both the execution of the will and the work of those entrusted with it, a deadline could be set. However, this was not a common practice. The best example found within the present corpus dates from 132552 and concerns Lopo Afonso, a widower who, claiming not to have remarried in order to safeguard his inherited and earned assets, asks his daughter not to marry for four years so that, during that time, she can fulfil her father’s wishes, after which she will be free to do as she pleases. It is the voice of the father, and not the stereotyped form of the notary, that comes through in these lines: “Because you are a child and you will be a parent, and as you do now you shall receive. And for this reason, my daughter, I believe that you will always want to do what is best and fairest (...) for you know that after your mother’s death I could have found many marriages if I wanted to (...) but all that I eschewed, so as to not alienate from you what belonged to your grandparents and what I earned myself”.53 As the execution of wills could be neglected due to lack of commitment on the part of the executors or to difficulties encountered, the matter concerned both ecclesiastic authorities and the king. At the end of the fourteenth century, a diocesan synod held in Coimbra determined that the priest of every church in the bishopric should have a copy of the wills made in their parish, and that they should compel the executors and heirs to fulfil their duties; during his pastoral visitations, the bishop would verify that the priests were complying with this obligation.54 In the fifteenth century, the compilation of laws known as Ordenações Afonsinas established that when the testator did not stipulate a deadline, the executor would have one year to carry out their duty.55 If they failed to do so, 288 51 Morujão 2010, doc. 2.47. 52 ANTT, Mosteiro de Santa Clara de Coimbra, maço 2, n. 36, quoted by Vilar 1995, p. 113. 53 Original quotation: “Ca filho es e padre seras e que al fezeres tal receberas. E por eso mha filha cuydo eu que queredes vos senpre fazer o mays aguysado e o milhor (…) ca bem sabedes vos que depois da morte de vosa madre que podera eu achar muytos casamentos se os eu quisera filhar (…) mays todo esto eu escusey por vos non enalear o que foy de vossos avos e o que eu ganhey de mays”. 54 García y García 1982, p. 198. 55 Costa, Nunes 1984, título 104.
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