47 Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 06, nº 01. 48 Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, Colegiada de Santa Maria da Oliveira de Guimarães, Docs. Particulares, m. 10, nº 03. 49 In England, in centuries later, as well as in Transylvania, the practice of drawing up a will after the death of thedecuius is known, either because there was no one nearby who could write it or for some other reason. In these cases, the role of witnesses was even more fundamental (Makó 2014, p. 289). maria cristina cunha Often, right before the final formulae that concluded the drafting of the will, the testators indicated who would be responsible for executing the different legacies: the executors of the will. Generally, people close to thedecuius were chosen, such as family members, personal chaplains, etc. In 1212, Sancha Bernaldes’ testament ended with the indication that it should be held by her brother (“mitto testamentum meum in manus fratris mei”) and other clerics “ut sit coadiutores illis et defensores in meo testamento complendo”.47 In 1263, a testator stipulated that his wife “persolvat debita et testamentum meum sicut superius scriptum est et faciat pro anima mea sicut de ea confide”.48 To ensure that the wishes of the deceased were carried out correctly, a certain amount of money or assets were often set aside to cover the expenses of the executors. Moreover, there were occasional mentions of the penalties that would be levied upon those who failed to comply with the requirements or refused to allow them to be executed. The will usually ended with an indication of the witnesses who were present when it was signed. The role of these witnesses was very important, first and foremost because it was up to them to confirm the will of the testator.49 While some documents lack indications of witnesses, others have 2–8 witnesses or more. Before the 12th century, wills used to begin with a dating formula, but this practice changed in the 1260s when the invocatio began to take its place. From then on, both formulas began to coexist in the protocol of wills, although in an unsystematic manner. Most wills after 1280 ended with a date, just before the notarial completio, which includes the authentication sign used by the public notary who drafted the document. The date was always expressed according to the Hispanic Era and included the month and day. The statement of the place in wills was introduced 549
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