42 Vocabulaire 1997, nº 201. 43 Vocabulaire 1997, nº 202. 44 1325.04.26 (Guimarães, Arquivo Municipal Alfredo Pimenta, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Pergaminhos, nº 8−2−2−21). 45 1338.03.03: “fearing the last day of my life, I express my will” (Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 28, nº 09). 46 1319.11.09: “Mando que me deytem en Sam Silvestre de Requiam e mando que me deitem a par de Dona Orraca mha avoo e mando que compram um moimento en que me deyte a par dela” (Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 22, nº 07). some remarks on last wills at guimarães in the 13thand14th centuries not alter cognitive capacity. Although this is obviously not a spontaneity clause,42 it is nonetheless linked to it: by using these formulas to show that he is in full use of his faculties, the testator is in some way asserting that he was not being coerced by anyone into drawing up his will. However, in none of the documents analyzed was this formula of spontaneity (which is obligatory from a diplomatics point of view in this type of act) included. The motivation clause43 (pro remedio animae meae) is used throughout the13th century, generally immediately after the invocation and the identification of the testator, but only until the 1270s. It is interesting to note that this formula was slowly replaced by other clauses, namely the testamentary clauses that guarantee the testator’s mental health, which we have just mentioned, and by other expressions that point to the need to draw up a will before death, which of course would occur on an unknown day: Cum nichil sit certius morte et nichil incertius hori mortis idcirco ego … timens diem mortis,44 or in Portuguese wills temendo o prestumeiro dia de mha vida faço mha manda.45 And immediately, the testator indicates in more or less detail the place where he wishes to be buried: in churchX, in front of altar Y, next toZ’s grave.46 Sometimes the first bequest specifies the payment to the clergy who would celebrate the funeral and accompany the funeral procession. Normally, the testator’s speech is a monologue, in which the remaining assets are specified, in short sentences beginning with “Item lego /Item mando”, with sometimes the verb left out, leaving only the reference to the asset to be bequeathed. 548
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