Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos de Lisboa e termo (1564 - 1832)

Chronological span

The Provedoria das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa e termo was created in 1564, in the context of the transfer of jurisdiction over the Hospital de Todos os Santos to the Misericórdia of Lisbon. According to a warrant (alvará) of the Cardinal D. Henrique, dated 27 June 1564, cases involving the chantries, hospitals, hostels, and confraternities of the city were judged until that date by the judge (“juízo”) of the Hospital de Todos os Santos, given that, according to the same document, the provedor and brothers of the Misericórdia were not disposed to maintain that court and ensure the salaries of the respective magistrates (the Hospital’s ouvidor and desembargadores)¹. This question was resolved by a warrant (alvará) of the following 4th December², in which the regent D. Henrique recalls the organization of the Juízo das Capelas prior to 1564: since in the city and district of Lisbon there was no dedicated (“apartado”) provedor and contador of the residuary estates, chantries, hospitals, hostels, and confraternities as there was in each comarca of the kingdom, the claims on the chantries of the city and district were settled by the provedor and ouvidor of the Hospital de Todos os Santos, while the cases related to the residuary estates and the provision of wills of the deceased were judged by some desembargadores of the Casa do Cível. Arguing that this arrangement hindered the good order of the “souls”³, the regent abolished the “juízo” of the ouvidor over the chantries and the “juízo” of the desembargadores who judged the cases of residuary estates and wills in the Casa do Cível, conferring their respective attributions to the “provedor and contador of the residuary estates and chantries”, bringing this new provedoria in line with its counterparts in the comarcas⁴.

The aforementioned Provedoria remained active until the new judicial organisation decreed by the liberal regime, when it was abolished like the other provedorias of the comarcas of the kingdom, through two decrees dated 16 May of that year: by article 2 of Decree No. 23, on the administrative organisation of the kingdom, the previous territorial circumscriptions, which included the provedorias, were abolished⁵. By Decree no. 24, on the new judicial organisation of Portugal and the Algarve, all the former “tribunals, local courts, and justice officials” were abolished (article 38), and the competences of the former magistrates were assumed by “judges of Law”, with competences to judge all causes, “without regard to the quality of the persons, but rather the satisfaction of justice” (article 272)⁶ (see heading Provedorias das Comarcas, subheading “Chronological span”).

Normative documents (main)

Warrant on the abolition of the Court of the hospitals, chantries, hostels, and confraternities of the city of Lisbon and its district, which was succeeded by the Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos de Lisboa e termo, dated 4 December 1564⁷.
Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa, dated 6 December 1564⁸;
Warrant on the appeal of the sentences of the provedor of the chantries and residuary estates of Lisbon to the Casa do Cível, dated 16 March 1566⁹;
Warrant on the jurisdiction of the Mesa da Consciência (Board of Conscience) with respect to the residuary estates, with additions to the Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) instigated by the deputies of that institution, dated 15 December 1566¹⁰;
Warrant on how the provedores of the chantries, hospitals, hostels, and confraternities of Lisbon are not to take into account mass certificates referring to the same chantries and hospitals that were not signed by the guardians, priors, or sacristans, dated 20 February 1595¹¹;
Ordenações Filipinas, with a title dedicated to the Provedores das Capelas e Resíduos da cidade de Lisboa, which updates the previous regulations (1604)¹²;

Competences

General

The competences of the Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos de Lisboa e termo are inferred from the regulations governing the Provedores of the comarcas. These comprised a broad set of attributions related to the functioning of the welfare and charitable institutions, the defence of the orphans’ persons and assets, auditing the execution of wills, supervising the collection and allocation of the king’s rents at the municipal level and the maintenance of common public assets (walls, fortresses, and bridges) (see heading Provedoria das Comarcas file, subheading “Competences”).

The Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) and the Ordenações Filipinas specifically refer the competences of that official regarding wills (examine the wills; attend to their execution; find out if the ships returning from India carried wills, estate books, or money bills of the deceased; keep a book of the legacies of the wills to the captives)¹⁸; the endowment of orphans¹⁹; the pious institutions of the city and its district (know the commitments of the hospitals, hostels, and confraternities; ensure their registration in the institution’s ledger and review the accounts of the respective administrators and officials)²⁰ and the captives (collection and management of the sums emanating from the wills)²¹.

On entails

The existing legislation (Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564); Ordenações Filipinas) establishes the competences of the Provedoria regarding the review of accounts, information management, and the judgement of cases concerning morgadios and chantries, as well as the administration of the patrimony and chaplains of the latter²².

Institutional organisation and the roles of its agents with regard to entails

Institutional organisation

The Provedoria das Capelas Resíduos de Lisboa was organised around a magistrate, designated as Provedor and Contador of the residuary estates and chantries of the city and district of Lisbon, and a number of scribes³⁶.

The roles of its agents

The provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa
The Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) and the Ordenações Filipinas establish the following competences of this magistrate in relation to entails:

Chantries
- Have cognizance of their founding documents³⁷;
- Review the accounts of their rents and obligations³⁸;
- Judge the cases involving the chantries and their administration³⁹;
- Issue interlocutory and final rulings pertaining to these foundations and even on doubts arising from the rendering of accounts, although imposing a limit (alçada) of four thousand reais on suits involving immovable property and six thousand reis on movable property, amounts up to which they could judge without appeal or review⁴⁰.
- Demarcate and measure their assets and properties⁴¹;
- Have the aforementioned patrimony recorded in a registry book, along with copies of the founding documents⁴²;
- Prepare a notebook each year of the chantries provided by the provedor and of the registries initiated, and send the said notebooks to the Desembargadores do Paço⁴³.

Morgadios
- Have cognizance of their founding documents⁴⁴;
- Review the accounts of their rents and obligations⁴⁵;
- Judge the cases concerning their obligations and respective accounts⁴⁶.

The Ordenações Filipinas introduced a new provision on the issue of certificates presented by chaplains⁴⁷.

Scribes
The Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) determined the passage to the new provedoria of the scribes who wrote in the “juízo” (court) of the ouvidor of the Hospital de Todos os Santos, with the power to draw up instruments pertaining to “the matters” of chantries, morgados, hospitals, hostels, and confraternities. They were also in charge of writing up the appeals that were filed with the provedor, as well as the request for their dispatch to the higher instances of appeal ⁴⁸.

Relations with other institutions with regard to entails

Given their equivalence to the provincial provedores (das comarcas), the Lisbon provedores of chantries and residuary estates had, like the former, to inform the king about the suspended chantry administrators⁴⁹ and communicate with the prelates and vicars-general of the prelates, in the context of the sharing of jurisdiction over pious places between the Crown and the Church⁵⁰.

Based on the specific legislation contained in the Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) the sentences given by the Provedor of the chantries and residuary estates of Lisbon on the chantries and their administration, on the obligations of morgados and the review of their accounts (and queries about them) were liable to appeal to the three most senior judges of the Casa do Cível and dispatched without the possibility of appeal up to the value of one hundred thousand reais and with the possibility of appeal to the Casa da Suplicação above this value⁵¹. The assessment of interlocutory sentences, which could be appealed, would follow the same course, requiring the agreement of two desembargadores to produce a final sentence, which could not be appealed to the Casa da Suplicação or another judge⁵². With the abolition of the desembargadores of the Casa do Cível and the establishment of two superior courts in 1582, within the scope of the judicial reform instigated by King Filipe I, appeals against the decisions of the Provedor of the chantries and residuary estates of Lisbon came to be heard directly by the Desembargadores of the Casa da Suplicação⁵³.

The work undertaken by the provedores in the provision of the chapels and in the elaboration of the respective registries had to be recorded in notebooks on an annual basis, and subsequently sent to the Desembargo do Paço⁵⁴.