• 1 This paper is financed within the project "DEGRUPE – The European Dimension of a Group of Power: Ec (...)
• 2 See CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – Santa Justa de Coimbra na Idade Média: o espaço urbano, religi (...)

1This paper will explore how, in the second quarter of the 14^th century, a chapel was founded, for the soul of a Portuguese infanta (princess), in an urban parochial church characterized by a very tenuous relationship with the nobility – a social group appearing very rarely among its parishioners and benefactors1. This work is part of a wider research project, the theme of my doctoral dissertation on the parochial church of Santa Justa of Coimbra, focusing both on its pastoral functions and on the commemoration of the dead2.

• 3 Regarding medieval Coimbra and its parochial network, see VENTURA, Leontina – "Coimbra Medieval: Um (...)
• 4 Santa Justa of Coimbra was donated by the Bishop of Coimbra, D. Maurício (a former Cluny monk) to t (...)

3Study and contextualization of the act of foundation must begin by introducing the parochial church in which it took place, set in the wider framework of Coimbra's parochial network3. The church of Santa Justa de Coimbra is mentioned in the city's documents from as early as 1098. In the year 1101/1102, it was donated to the Cluniac priory of Sante Marie de la Charité sur Loire with the obligation to pay a yearly tribute in perpetuity to the structures of that order. This tribute was to be delivered, once a year, to the Monastery of S. Pedro de Rates (in the diocese of Braga)4.

• 5 See CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – "População e família na freguesia de Santa Justa de Coimbra no (...)
• 6 Inside the walls, were the collegiates of S. Pedro [VARANDAS, Carla Patrícia Rana – A colegiada de (...)
• 7 See MORUJÃO, Maria do Rosário Barbosa – A Sé de Coimbra: a instituição e a chancelaria (1080-1318). (...)
• 8 See MARTINS, Armando Alberto – O Mosteiro de Santa Cruz de Coimbra na Idade Média. Lisboa: Centro d (...)

4It is known that, in 1139, this church was already playing a parochial role, functioning as the parish seat of the northernmost district of the city – a territory marking the transition between the urban centre and the surrounding countryside5. As early as the first quarter of the 13^th century, we observe in this district the constitution of a chapter of beneficiados – recipients of benefices – gathered around the figure of the prior. The prior was head and representative of the chapter, was charged with supervising and managing economic issues which concerned the church, and was required to ensure that its pastoral and spiritual duties were carried out properly. From that time on, until the 19^th century, Santa Justa de Coimbra functioned as a collegiate church, with a chapter composed of slightly more than ten beneficiados. It was one of seven collegiate churches in the city6. Together with the cathedral church7 (Sé) and the church of S. João dependent on the Monastery of Santa Cruz8, they handled the parochial issues of Coimbra's nine parishes.

• 9 See CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – Santa Justa…, v. I, pp. 221-226.
• 10 Mostly at the end of the 13th century, see CAMPOS – Santa Justa…, v. I, pp. 223 and 224.
• 11 See CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – Santa Justa…, v. I, pp. 221-255.

5Analyzing the social origin of this church's beneficiados during the late Middle Ages9, we see that they came mostly from within the diocese of Coimbra. With the exception of the odd element descending from urban noble families10, the vast majority of these clerics in fact came from underprivileged groups in the Portuguese social pyramid. In their activities and social relationships, both within and outside the ecclesiastical structure to which they belonged, they were not very different from the lay community of parishioners11.

• 12 On lay parishioners and donors of Santa Justa, see CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – Santa Justa…, v (...)

6Turning briefly to the origins of this larger group, this community of parishioners and donors based in Santa Justa de Coimbra – men and women, lay and ecclesiastical, who bequeathed their estates in exchange for perpetual memorial ceremonies, entrusting to the church their hopes for the salvation of their souls, requesting intercession with God in exchange for the donation of a large portion of their possessions – analysis shows that scarcely any parishioners or donors were members of the nobility. Lay parishioners in the late Middle Ages were for the most part craftsmen – potters, for example – agricultural workers and servants, some of them in the service of clergymen in this and other churches in the city (Figure 1). Taking those who were specifically donors we can identify a significant set of donations coming from the urban oligarchy, including municipal officials and local representatives of the king (Figure 2). Taking parishioners and donors together, however, we have to conclude that the connection between Santa Justa and the nobility is practically nonexistent12.

• 13 See paleographic transcription of the document in the end of this study. Regarding the production o (...)

7Against this background of a parochial church run by a chapter originating in an urban, labouring society, and attracting donations from a lay and ecclesiastical community with similar characteristics, the will of Pedro Domingues Corpo Santo, dated June 8^th, 1335, is unusual13. Under its terms was founded the Chapel of Corpo Santo, where daily prayers were to be said for the soul of its founder and his wife and for the soul of Dona Branca.

• 14 See ANTT, Colegiada de Santa Justa, m. 15, n. 323 or CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – Santa Justa…, (...)

8Until the day on which he signed his will the name of Pedro Domingues is completely absent from the corpus of records of those connected with the church and parish of Santa Justa. In this document, however, he prescribes that his tomb is to be located near that of his brother, whom he describes as a former cleric of the church. This was João Domingues, already known from a document of 132214. Pedro’s link with the collegiate church thus seems to be his family relationship with one of its clerics.

• 15 See BRANCO, Maria João – Aveiro Medieval. Aveiro: Câmara Municipal, 1997 and Idem – "Aveiro". in MA (...)
• 16 See CAMPOS, Maria Amélia Álvaro de – "Marcos de referência e topónimos da cidade medieval portugues (...)

9The possessions he leaves to Santa Justa were located mostly in Aveiro, residence of his nephew and executor Afonso Peres Cagalão, and Coimbra, probable residence of his servant Ildo Mendes, to whom he left an olive grove in the city. Given his extensive property in Aveiro one can infer that he was born there or, at least, that his ancestors had lived there. By his will, Santa Justa gains several urban properties in Aveiro, located on Rua Direita, in the Ribeira15 and adjacent to the churchyard of the church of S. Miguel de Aveiro, as well as a saltworks and a tannery on the city's outskirts. Santa Justa also gains two houses on the Rua de Quatro Cantos in Coimbra16. These houses were on the northern edge of the parish of Santa Justa, close to the city boundary.

• 17 See BASTOS, Maria do Rosário – "Prescrições sinodais sobre o culto dos mortos nos séculos XII a XVI (...)
• 18 See ROSA, Maria de Lurdes – "As almas Herdeiras...", pp. 401-403.
• 19 See VILAR, Hermínia Vasconcelos – A vivência da morte…, p. 215-227; PINA, Isabel Castro – "Ritos e (...)
• 20 For fuller explanation, see ROSA, Maria de Lurdes – "As almas Herdeiras...", pp. 400-419.

10The ceremonies stipulated by Pedro Domingues for the benefit of his soul are typical of his times17. The accumulation of memorial services particularly evident from the 15^th century onwards, which multiplied chantry duties of this type, was still in the future18. At this earlier period the usual stipulations were that memorial services should be repeated in perpetuity and should follow monthly and yearly cycles19. The religious underpinning for the establishment of chantries, in both periods, was as a set of ceremonies intended to save the soul of the departed through intercession with the deity20. It is nevertheless important to stress that these ceremonies were also intended to perpetuate the memory of the deceased and prevent his relegation, and possibly that of his family, to oblivion.

• 21 See ROSA, Maria de Lurdes – "As almas Herdeiras...", pp. 407-422. In this period, decisions surroun (...)
• 22 That was in churchyard.
• 23 On the relatives’ remembrance in Portuguese medieval testamentary wills, see among others, VILAR, H (...)
• 24 Regarding the symbology of funerary space, see among others COSTA, Adelaide Pereira Míllan da – "O (...)

11Pedro Domingues follows precisely the commonest pattern for memorial services in the Portuguese testaments of his time21. He begins by choosing the location of his burial, which is to take place inside the church precisely where the prior and chapter of Santa Justa held celebrations for of the souls of those who were not buried in the cemetery22. The implication is that a tomb was already reserved in the selected location, facing that of his brother, who had been a beneficiado of this church. Thus his choice of resting place depends primarily on proximity to his brother, emphasizing the relevance of family relations beyond death23; yet the recognition of a spatial hierarchy inside the church is equally noteworthy, since he chooses a space where prayers will be greater in number and more individualized24.

• 25 See ROSA, Maria de Lurdes – "As almas Herdeiras...", pp. 422-426. For more examples of the stipulat (...)
• 26 Regarding the arrival in Coimbra of mendicant orders, see GOMES, Saul – "As ordens mendicantes na C (...)
• 27 See LAWRENCE, C. H. – The Friars. The impact of the Mendicant orders on Medieval Society. London/ N (...)
• 28 See GOMES, Saul António – "Um registo de contabilidade medieval do Mosteiro de S. Jorge de Coimbra (...)
• 29 See MORUJÃO, Rosário – Um Mosteiro Cisterciense Feminino: Santa Maria de Celas: séculos XIII a XV. (...)
• 30 See SANTOS, Ana Paula Figueira – A fundação do Mosteiro de Santa Clara de Coimbra: da instituição p (...)

12He then determines details of his funeral. He stipulates a monetary fund to accompany his body, that is, to be paid to those in charge of his body and its burial. He also prescribes an amount for the pittance meal to be served to those who attend his funeral service. He stipulates the presence of ecclesiastics from the Cathedral of Coimbra in the church of Santa Justa for the celebration of a mass on the day of his funeral. Still following the commonly adopted ceremonies for the salvation of the soul in 14^th century Portugal, Pedro Domingues prescribes thirty masses in the first month following his death, a monthly mass until the first anniversary of his death and, subsequently, the celebration of an annual mass for the salvation of his soul25. After stipulating these cyclically repeating ceremonies for the salvation of his soul he specifies donations to ecclesiastical institutions to which he was devoted. Despite having partly lived in Aveiro, it is interesting to note that Pedro Domingues directs his generosity exclusively to the monasteries of Coimbra. Among them, the primary recipients are the mendicant orders26 – the monasteries of Saint Francis and of Saint Dominic –, at that time believed throughout Western Europe, and particularly among city-dwellers, to be the best spiritual intercessors27. He also favours the monasteries of Santa Cruz das Donas, Celas da Ponte and São Jorge28 – three monasteries belonging to the order of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine – as well as the monastery of Celas of Guimarães (a district in Coimbra), of the Cistercian Order29. Apart from the mendicant orders he designates female convents only, both as recipients of his monetary legacy and as intercessors with God for the salvation of his soul. It is interesting to note that, within this donation logic, he did not contemplate the Monastery of Santa Cruz, which was, undoubtedly, the most powerful monastery in the city. Still more difficult to understand is the absence of the Monastery of Santa Clara30, as this was a mendicant and female monastery.

• 31 On foundation of chapels in parish churches, see DOBSON, R. B. – "The foundation of perpetual chant (...)
• 32 See ANTT, Colegiada de Santa Justa de Coimbra, liv. 4.
• 33 See the other bequest to the foundation of the chapels in Santa Justa of Coimbra: ANTT, Colegiada d (...)

13Pedro Domingues stipulates very clearly that a chapel be founded for his soul31, the soul of his late wife and that of the princess Dona Branca. The choice of the Santa Justa church as the location both for his burial and for the foundation of this chapel suggest that Pedro Domingues lived and would die in Coimbra, where he also made his will. At any rate he appears to have lived in more than one city in the course of his life. His chapel, known in later documents32 as the Capela do Corpo Santo – thus immortalizing the particular and pious by-name of its founder – is characterized by a certain liturgical complexity. Among all the documents relating to the foundation of chapels in the 14^th and 15^th centuries33, this one is remarkable in the detail with which, from the outset, its liturgy is established. Pedro Domingues stipulates that the church shall appoint a suitable resident chaplain who will, every day, say a first prayer – Quaesumus Domine – for the soul of Dona Branca; a second prayer – Omnipotens sempiterne Deus – for the souls of Pedro Domingues and his wife; a third prayer – Deus qui nos Patrem – for his parents' souls; and, lastly, the prayers Deus cujus miseratione and Filium Deus. Finally he stipulates that this chaplain should be present at all the canonical hours for offices in the church, and assist the prior in the cura animarum of the parishioners if so requested. Well aware that the administration of a chapel, and of its supporting estate, would require the production and storage of numerous documents, Pedro Domingues also bequeathed a French ucha (ark), with two locks, to store the chapel's property and documentation.

• 34 In Portuguese "criado", see BLUTEAU, Raphael – Vocabulario Portuguez & Latino, aulico, anatomico, a (...)
• 35 In Portuguese "escudeiro", see BLUTEAU – Vocabulario Portuguez…, sv. "escudeiro". [Online]. [Last c (...)
• 36 On the concept of squire in Portuguese medieval society, see BEIRANTE, Ângela – "Os diferentes tipo (...)
• 37 In medieval portuguese, "mercês", see BLUTEAU – Vocabulario Portuguez…, sv. "mercê". [Online]. [Las (...)
• 38 See GOMES, Rita Costa – A corte dos reis de Portugal no final da Idade Média. Lisboa: Difel, 1995, (...)

15His will alone, unfortunately, is not enough for us to understand his career fully. In this document Pedro Domingues calls himself a servant34 and squire35 of the princess Dona Branca. Simply defined, the term squire suggests a servant or page who carries the shield of a knight or escorts a lady, on horseback or on foot: a high-ranking servant36. The implications will have changed in the course of centuries, slowly evolving towards the designation of a member of lower-ranking nobility, whose social distinction was based precisely on service to representatives of the highest families of the kingdom. Moreover, Pedro Domingues informs us that the Infanta granted him favours37 and raised him. Such information may mean that he was part of the court of the Infanta D. Branca, during his childhood, as was frequently the case in the Portuguese Royal Court between the 14th and the 15th centuries38. As these young people reached puberty they were usually granted squire status and when they married they received a dowry (also called mercê) from their patron. As a squire he belonged to a lower rank of the nobility, having probably attained his status as a result of his service, but he served a member of the highest families in the Iberian Peninsula and the kingdoms of Western Europe – Dona Branca de Portugal.

• 39 See VENTURA, Leontina – D. Afonso III. Rio de Mouros: Círculo de Leitores, 2012, pp. 207-210.
• 40 See VENTURA, Leontina – A nobreza de corte de Afonso III. Coimbra: Faculdade de Letras, 1992. Docto (...)
• 41 See VENTURA, Leontina – A nobreza de corte…, pp. 534-537.
• 42 See VENTURA, Leontina – Chancelaria de Afonso III. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 2006, doc. 30 (...)
• 43 See BERNARDINO, Sandra Virgínia Pereira Gonçalves – Sancius Secundus Rex Portugalensis: a chancelar (...)
• 44 VENTURA, Leontina – Chancelaria de Afonso III…, v. 2, doc. 670 (Lisboa, 1277.07.28).
• 45 See, for instance, VENTURA, Leontina – Chancelaria de Afonso III…, v. 2, doc. 688 (1278.01.11).
• 46 See VENTURA, Leontina – D. Afonso III..., p. 157 e 158 and Idem – Chancelaria de Afonso III…, v. 2, (...)

16She was the daughter of the Portuguese king Dom Afonso III39 and Dona Beatriz Afonso40, maternal granddaughter of king Alfonso X ‘the Wise’ of Castile, great-niece of Branca de Castela, second cousin of king Louís IX of France. In addition she was the elder sister of the Portuguese king Dom Dinis and the niece of Sancho IV, king of Castile. Dona Branca41, firstborn child of the king and queen of Portugal, is thought to have been born in Santarém towards the end of February 1259. At the age of two she received, by her father's royal gift, the castle of Montemor-o-Velho42, which she had inherited from her great-aunt Dona Teresa, daughter of Dom Sancho I43. When she was 18 her father granted her, at her request, the right of patronage over the church of Santa Maria44in the same town. We know that, around that time, the princess did in fact assert her rights in Montemor-o-Velho, since her father was compelled to respond favourably to certain claims by privileged groups from whom her officials had improperly demanded taxes45. Around the same time, in 1277, she was received as the lady of the Lorvão convent, one of the most powerful in the Coimbra area, a title previously held by her great-aunt Dona Teresa46.

• 47 See GARRIDO, Araceli Castro – Documentación del Monasterio de las Huelgas de Burgos (1307-1321). Fu (...)

18Dona Branca had been Lady of Cifuentes since 1285 and Lady and patron of the powerful monastery of Las Huelgas de Burgos since 1295. Her mother had been the main reason that brought her to Portugal from time to time, so after the queen’s death we note the total absence of any mention of Dona Branca in Portuguese documents. She lived her last decades in Castile, as Lady of Las Huelgas, where she died on April 17^th 1321, two days after the writing of her will47. This outline of the princess's biography shows that her life was divided between the two peninsular kingdoms, and that she spent her last decades in Castile. In her will the princess favoured a large group of relatives, including her nieces, and a long list of servants and clerics who belonged to the network of relationships of the last years of her life. Absent from the kingdom of Portugal for many years, she mentioned neither Pedro Domingues Corpo Santo nor any other Portuguese servant in her will.

• 48 On the Portuguese context, see BARATA, Filipe Themudo (ed.) – Elites e redes clientelares na Idade (...)
• 49 See ROUX, Simone – Les Racines de la Bourgeoisie. Europe, Moyen Âge. Paris: Sulliver, 2011, pp. 13- (...)

21Despite being extremely difficult to define in social terms, these squires seem to have belonged to a group, especially in an urban context, commonly identified by historians as "notables" or the "elite"48 and who, in the 19^th century, would come to be known as the bourgeoisie49. Indeed, the testament of Pedro Domingues expresses a certain reverence, fidelity and obedience towards his princess. The long period over which this link endured in memory is noteworthy, if we consider that he wrote his will in 1335, fourteen years after her death and more than three decades after she moved to Castile. This suggests that the position of servant to the princess Dona Branca was the most prestigious that he ever held.

• 50 See DUARTE, Luís Miguel – "Os melhores da terra (um questionário para o caso português)". in BARATA (...)

22Presenting himself as squire to the princess, even though he must have been so several decades earlier, elevated him to a higher social position and no doubt conferred prestige on him personally. By founding his chapel with the stipulation that it be for the soul of a royal princess, for his own and his wife’s soul, Pedro Domingues strengthened his loyalty to that lady and paid her the most enduring tribute that he could. In so doing he certainly wished to see his and his family's names forever remembered in conjunction with hers. In this way, his memory and the memory of his relatives would be invoked, in the church of Santa Justa de Coimbra, alongside the name of one of the noblest ladies in the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile. Portuguese and European historiography has emphasized how these elites founded chantries and memorial services similar to those of the high nobility as a form of social mimicry50. This particular example appears to show a similar attitude.