15 “Fearing the day of my death and the day of judgement in my wisdom, I make my last will and testament.” 16 “I commend my soul to God and to Saint Mary, His mother, and to all the heavenly court”. 17 “...placed in the hands and power of God for the infirmity that He should give me, with all my wisdom and understanding on the present day and hour that He has given me, fearing Him, my powerful Lord, when it pleases Him to call me from this present life to give an account of myself and of my days and deeds, and not being certain when it will be to experience my death, first spiritual, as is the reason for all good Christians, and then bodily, I order this my will, and codicil to my posthumous will, as follows: first of all to God, my creator and Lord, I commend and recommend my soul to please him righteously (...) as to live and die in his holy Catholic faith”.ADP, Cartório de São Francisco, Capelas, TomoIII fl.398. Posta nas maos e poder de Deus por infirmidade que Lhe prouve me dar com todo o meu siso e entendimento no presente dia e ora que me deu temendo Elle meu senhor poderoso de que nom sey quando a mim lhe prazera chamar desta bida presente pera dar de mym e de meus dias e obras conta e nom sendo certa quando sera eu provendo mha morte primeiramente espiritual como he de razam de todo o boom christao e despois corporal hordeno na presente meu testamento cedulla codicilo a minha postumeira voontade a que adiante se segue primeiramente a Deus meu criador e senhor mando e recomendo a minha alma que lhe praza piadosamente (…) como presente per testo biber e morrer na sua santa fé católica.17 ricardo seabra e emtemdimento comprido faço mha manda e testamento”.15 The first disposition is invariably a commendation of the soul to God, the most frequent form being “mando a mha alma a Deus e a Santa Maria sa madre e a toda a corte celestial”.16 The image presented is like that of a heavenly procession accompanying the soul to its final destination. The composition of last wills by an educated elite – the public notaries – according to their own notarial forms conveys a literary and religious view of death. In this way, the motivations for the writing, explained in greater detail, can serve as components and variables that allow us not only to perceive the received concept of the afterlife, but also to be able to distinguish the restricted notarial formulas set by the notary from the individual touch of the testator’s own spirituality. The commission of the soul of D. Filipa Coutinho, wife of Luís Álvares de Sousa, a member of the King’s council and treasurer, seems to be a good example of the spiritual individualism present in her will: 521
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