26 Pedro 2008, p. 101. On the difference between documents written in an objective or subjective style, cf. Tock 1999. 27 “…by this mandaand testament I revoke all the others that I have made and I grant that this will be valid, that this is my will and I hereby grant it”. (1396.01.15) Guimarães, Arquivo Municipal Alfredo Pimenta, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Pergaminhos, nº 8−3−2−25 (3º documento). maria cristina cunha Nevertheless, the two terms (mandaand/or testamentum) were always used to identify the act that expressed theultima voluntas of an individual. While the Latin term is much more widely used, the Portuguese term “manda” was also used frequently during the two centuries under study, which means that there does not seem to have been an evolution in the use of these expressions, even after the establishment of the public notary’s office. Likewise, it doesn’t seem that the word used to classify the testamentary act was connected with the drafting style, since the scribes used either an objective (“Hoc est testamentum quod fecit X...”) or subjective (“Ego X facio testamentum....”) form.26 In many cases, the text often switches from one to the other (i.e., it starts with an objective statement and then switches to statements in the first person – “Hec est manda quodXfaciat. In primo mando…”). A careful reading of the contents of the various bequests may indicate that the choice of the word “manda”or “testamento” originally was related to the type of assets (money or property, both movable and immovable) that the testator intended to be distributed. It is possible that, over time, the terms have become confused, not least because there are many cases in which bequests of both types are made in the same act. A last will is characterized, as we know, by having no immediate legal consequences (unlike, for example, donations). It is an act that conveys the will of a person at a given time, one that can be changed by adding items, or rearranging them, including or excluding beneficiaries, etc. until the moment of its author’s death. The documents express this idea clearly:“per esta manda e testamento revogo todolos outros que eii fectos ata aqui e outorgo que esta valha que esta he a minha prestumeira vontade e asi o outorgo”.27 543
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