21 Morujão 2010, pp. 570-72. 22 Vilar 1995, p. 115. 23 Morujão 2010, p. 548. 24 “...in the [Cathedral] See of Porto in such a way that his head would be under the feet of the large crucifix”. Morujão 2010, pp. 568–74. ricardo seabra His will stipulates specifically the prayers to be sung, the Omnipotens sempiterne Deus cui nunquam sine spe supplicatur etc. on the Mass for the commemoration of St Mary, the second prayer to the Trinity, and the thirdOminpotens sempiterne Deus qui vivorum dominaris etc. On each feast of Christmas, Apparition, St Vincent’s, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, St John the Baptist, St Peter, St Paul, St James, St Lawrence, St Mary Magdalene, Holy Cross, St Michael, and All Saints, Masses should be celebrated, and as well the second prayer of St Mary and the third of All Saints should be prayed. He bequeathed a house in Ribeira21 for chapels, which would be in the charge of Pedro Durão, canon of Porto, his nephew and executor of his will. In fact, the family’s union with friends or those who had been close to the deceased was not only located in the grave and physical contiguity of the bodies. For a medieval testator the fulfilment of his will was essential for his salvation. His will was the written expression of his wish to attain the afterlife; if its stipulations were to be unfulfilled, it could jeopardise his goal. For this reason we understand the concern to appoint relatives or close friends as executors who, due to their status, would be motivated to fulfil this role.22 The placement of the gravesite is also detailed in the documents. Most of the wills that chronologically are from the 13th and 14th centuries belong to ecclesiastics, usually members of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Porto, which may explain why the majority of the graves ordered are inside the Cathedral Church, and sometimes the exact location is specified. D. Abril Peres, canon of Porto and abbot of Cedofeita, ordered his body to be buried in the Cathedral alongside Vasco Fagundes, once treasurer of the Chapter;23 and Vicente Mendes, cantor, orders his body to be “soterrar na See do Porto en tal maneyra que tenha a cabeça so os pees do cruxifixo grande”.24 The only examples of wills belonging to laymen in the 14th cen523
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