ricardo seabra 517 his paper presents some of the results of a research project that dealt with the public notaries of the city of Porto, Portugal, between the 13th and 15th centuries. The chronology adopted coincides with the first reference to a public notary (1242) and the end of the reign of the last monarch of the 15th century, JohnII (1481–95). The article focusses on a sample of last wills and testaments written by public notaries of Porto from a diplomatics and typological point of view. The notaries responsible for the writing of these documents are also the object of our study. The material for the research consists mainly of primary sources deposited in the District and the Misericórdia archives of Porto. We begin by drawing a theoretical framework, including an approach to the medieval practice of the notary in Porto in the Middle Ages, paying particular attention to the juridical acts written by these public notaries. Then, we focus on last wills and testaments, aiming to learn about the internal features which served as their basis. The present work considers three main perspectives: (1) “The formulae of the testaments” in which special consideration is given to the evolution of these formulas, as well as their practical consequences in the exercise of notarial activity; (2) “The notary at the bedside of the testator” where reference is made to the physical presence of the notaries public at a testator’s house in specific cases, depending on the health of the testator; and finally (3) “Notaries and their last wishes” in which we discuss some notes concerning last wills and testaments of the notaries themselves. Ultimately, our intention is not only a diplomatics approach but also to study the authors of these documents. T Abstract * Proyecto pid2023–146105nb–i00 Financiado por miciu/aei/10.13039/501100011033 ypor feder,ue.
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