53 First of all, I give my soul to the Son of God and to his mother Holy Mary, (…) and I renounce the devil and his works. 54 Se nom quiserem pagar a manda faço meu testamenteiro espiçial Roi Lourenço abade de Aveçam e meu executor que os posa demandar perdante o priol ou per dante o arcebispo pera comprirem esta manda em todalas cousas e se a nom quiserem comprir mando mando (sic) que receba todalas cousas e que lhas de o Cabidoo. maria cristina cunha Some aspects seem interesting, though. Perhaps because he had been a magister scholarum of an important institution such as the Collegiate of Guimarães, and because of that well acquainted with various wordings of documents, the initial formula, before indicating the place chosen for burial, presents a nuance that should be underlined: primeiramente dou a mha alma ao Filho de Deus e aa sa Madre Santa Maria (…) e renunçio ao Diabo e aas sas obras.53 The reference to the Son of God should be noted, since the most common formula is Our Lord Jesus Christ, or even God. Master Fernando indicates then who should be the executors of his will: the Cantor and the Chapter of the Collegiate.These stipulations are then followed by other dispositions that detail who were the heirs as well as the celebrations that were to be held in his memory both immediately and forever (i.e. every year). At the end, the Collegiate of Guimarães and its cantor are mentioned again as executors. Still, now Master Fernando himself seemed to have doubts about their willingness to execute his last will (in whole or in part), so he appointed another special executor (testamenteiro especial).54 The last will of Master Fernando was, as said, a pretext to reflect on this type of document from a small Portuguese town in the Middle Ages. Master Fernando probably died shortly after the scene we described at the beginning of this study, as was the case with most of the grantors of the wills we have analyzed, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. Wills are a complex type of legal documentation that allows for various approaches. Despite their legal nature, they are mostly studied in the context of the Middle Ages particularly for better understanding the ars moriendi, important because medieval man needed to be prepared for his departure. For this reason, in advance, or even at the moment of death, people tried to divide their accumulated wealth among family members, 551
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