28 “…and I command you to honor this will and destroy the will I made before”. (1255.11) Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 9, nº 6. 29 “…and I will and command that if another will appears in my name before the date of this will or after the date of this will, that it be of no value or worth unless it mentions this will from beginning to end” (Guimarães, Arquivo Municipal Alfredo Pimenta, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Pergaminhos, nº 8−2−2−21). 30 Royal documentation at the beginning of King Dinis’ reign (1279−1325) continued to be written in Latin, but from 1284 onwards this situation changed and Portuguese was now used (cf. Miranda 2012). 31 1282.06.11 (Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 13, nº 15). some remarks on last wills at guimarães in the 13thand14th centuries Generally, when a testator composes a new last will he destroys the former that had been written: “et mando quod valeat ista manda et destruo aliam mandam quam prius feci”.28 However, in 1325 a testator (who was a canon of the Collegiate of Guimarães) explicitly stated, “Et volo et mando quod si aliud testamentum apparuerit nomine meo factum ante datam istius testamenti vel post datam ejusdem quod non valeat nec habeat roboris firmitatem nisi de isto de verbo ad verbum fecerit mencionem”.29 Although this sentence does not guarantee that he had earlier made others (of which we are unaware), it does state categorically that any possible new act of disposition of last wills must refer to (i.e. include) the one that was being drawn up at the time. It is possible that he was referring to potential codicils or additions to the will he was making then. But despite this decisive statement, anyone could indeed make as many wills as wanted, with only the last one being valid. Even so, although we have found several copies of the same will, the same is not true of the existence of several wills by the same person drawn up on different dates, which is completely understandable (because the earlier ones would have been destroyed). Inthe13th century, the preferred language for writing wills was Latin, although from 1287 onwards Portuguese was also used, although only in 10 wills. However, despite the demand by royal order to write official documents in Portuguese,30 we can see that until the end of the century there were still many wills written in Latin. It is worth mentioning a will drawn up in 1282,31 which begins with an invocation in Latin, followed by the dating formula written in Portuguese, returning to Latin in the testator’s first provisions. This document provides clear evidence of the 544
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