Provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo (1493-1564)

The creation of an official responsible for the chantries and welfare institutions in Lisbon and its district resulted from a reform process initiated by King Duarte in the sphere of residuary estates (the first reference to a judge of residuary estates with jurisdiction over the entire kingdom dates from 1435), which continued in the reforms of the pious institutions carried out in the reigns of Afonso V and João II¹As there is no express mention of the term “provedoria” in the documentation consulted for the preparation of the study of the institutuion, we have opted to designate it according to the title of the respective official. Among other aspects, these reforms led to the institutionalisation of officials at the provincial (comarca) level with jurisdiction over the residuary estates, terces, hospitals, chantries, hostels, and leprosy hospitals²The various reforms of the kingdom’s pious institutions carried out between the reigns of Duarte and Manuel were the subject of a detailed and critical study of the sources used in Rosa, 2012, p. 168-243.. The complexity of the case of Lisbon was such that soon afterwards D. João II commissioned canon Estêvão Martins as the provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo (the earliest reference to the activity of this royal official dates from 15 January 1493)³Letter of rental of properties from the hospital of Santa Maria dos Sapateiros. For document criticism on the first reference to Estêvão Martins as provedor e juiz dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo provedor e juiz dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo, see Rosa, 2012, p. 228.. With his appointment as provedor of the Hospital de Todos os Santos in 1502, Estêvão Martins simultaneously assumed supervision over the functioning of the latter and of the chantries and remaining pious institutions in Lisbon⁴As attested by the double titling of «provedor-mor e juiz dos hospitais, capelas, albergarias e confrarias em Lisboa e termo por especial mandado e comissão do rei» in the documentation concerning the activity of Estêvão Martins during the reign of King João II, which was the object of an exhaustive survey in Rosa, 2012, p. 698-700, Table I.. With the exception of short periods such as in 1509-1510, the provedor of Hospital de Todos os Santos was also the provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo throughout the Manueline reign⁵Maria de Lurdes Rosa identifies and analyses the periods in which these provedorias were in the possession of the same official or different ones in different magistrates, for a time span between the death of Estêvão Martins in 1506 and the end of the reign of King Manuel I (Rosa, 2012, p. 323, 278, 283-288)..

The maintenance of this “twinning” of attributions in the same official led to the competences over the chantries and pious institutions of Lisbon being subsequently arrogated by officials belonging to the Hospital de Todos os Santos: in 1545, the office of provedor of the chantries of Lisbon was held by the ouvidor of this institution⁶Warrant of 10 January 1545, ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 106v-107.. Together with the provedor of the Hospital de Todos os Santos, the latter remained, until 1564, responsible for the “business of the said chantries of the said city and its district”⁷Warrant of 10 January 1545, ed. Lião, 1569, ff. 106v-107.. With the abolition of the Lisbon court of chantries that same year its jurisdiction over the city and its district chantries passed definitively to the “provedor e contador dos resíduos,  capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa”, a magistracy created at that time, within the scope of the transfer of jurisdiction from Hospital de Todos os Santos to the Misericórdia of Lisbon⁸As stated in the warrant  of 4 December 1564 (Rosa, 2012, p. 283, nt. 426). This is an extremely important document for clarifying this issue, which remains unpublished, in Livro I do Registo Geral (TT, Hospital de São José, bk. 940, ff. 248-248v), re-copied in “Reforma” do livro anterior, intitulado Livro de Registo Geral do Hospital de Todos-os-Santos. Cópia dos Diplomas Registados no Iivro 1 (1501-1606) do Registo Geral. Reforma do Século XVIII (TT, Hospital de S. José, bk. 1116, ff. 322v-324v). The book with the quota number 940 is a paper registry – appearing to be a single codified unit since its creation and with no indication of subsequent assembly of parts – used by the scribes of the Hospital’s Fazenda, with no date assigned by the Torre do Tombo archivists, which gathers transfers of various normative documents, from 1501 to 1606, and is part of a series of related documents, currently entitled ” Registo geral “. Most of these transfers were certified by the Hospital’s scribe at a date generally close to the original and, at a time it is not possible to specify, each folio was authenticated by a signature (“Joam de Santar” (?) on ff. 5-336 and “Çellema” on ff. 337-436). The absence of a title page and of opening and closing statements does not allow for a better identification of the nature of its administrative production. However, as many of the legislative, normative and regulatory documents relating to the Hospital and associated institutions are only known through this series of books, it will therefore be used here, and the present safeguard is therefore made. (see heading Provedoria dos Resíduos e Capelas de Lisboa (1564-1832).

• • Miscellaneous legislation relating to the office of provedor of the Lisbon chantries and hospitals (1496-1520), which is dispersed among various collections due to the lack of an archive belonging to the Provedoria⁹Legislation listed in Rosa, 2012, p. 701-705, table II.;
  • Regimento da Provedoria dos hospitais e capelas de Lisboa, from the reign of King Dom João II (1494-1495), identified from documentary references and of which there is no known extant copy¹⁰ Rosa, 2012, p. 230, 269, nt. 269.;
  • Regimento das capelas e dos  hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo, in a letter addressed to the Provedor Estêvão Martins and to the present and future provedores, dated 14 January 1504¹¹Title given to R1504 by the most recent editors in PMM3, p. 107-118..

General

The Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504) listed the prerogatives and obligations of the provedores regarding the operation and patrimonial management of the hospitals, hostels, and confraternities in Lisbon and its district¹⁸ R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 113-114. The part on welfare institutions is separated from the preceding one by adding the following title to the document itself: «Regimento que pertence aos espritaaes e alberguarias e comfraryas» (R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 113)..

On entails

The Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504)  systematised the prerogatives and functions of the provedores around the following themes associated with the chantries of Lisbon and its district:

• Record of information about the chaplains presented and the existing chantries in Lisbon and its district¹⁹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107.;
• Chantry chaplains²⁰R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107, 109-110.;
• Administrators²¹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111.;
• Merceeiras²²R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 110.;
• Jurisdiction over the chantries and their patrimony, namely patrimonial claims related to the referred institutions²³R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111-112; Rosa, 2012, p. 281..

The performance of jurisdictional competences over the chantries of Lisbon and their patrimony allowed this official to actively participate and intervene in the functioning of the Juízo das Capelas, and it is therefore not easy to attribute to a specific institution (his “provedoria” or the Juízo das Capelas), the administrative and judicial activities carried out by this official in relation to the chantries of Lisbon and its district.

Institutional organisation

The Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504)  mentions the attributions of the provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa, as well as a recebedor (receiver) of monies and a scribe, responsible for the operation and administrative registry of the activities that fell within their respective spheres of action⁵²R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107-115..

The roles of its agents

Provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e termo
According to the Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504), this magistrate exercised the following competences over the chantries of the city and its district:

• Registry of information
  • Ascertaining the real situation of the chantries of the city and its district, through a set of mechanisms linked to the obligation of the administrators to present the wills, institutions, ordinances (or properly authenticated copies), and registry books⁵³R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112-113. of their chantries⁵⁴Its non-compliance led to the administrator’s suspension and the elaboration of an enquiry to know the chapel’s patrimony and charges. It was up to the provedor to send that enquiry to the monarch, who would proceed to replace the administrator according to «a sua mercê». R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 114-115.;
  • To prepare a book [bound] in hemp to record all the chantries of Lisbon and its district⁵⁵ R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107.;
  • Every year, write down in a book the presentations of chaplains made by the chantry administrators⁵⁶R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 109..

• Intervening in the processes of appointment and remuneration of chaplains
  • To know the chaplains and learn if they said mass as they should⁵⁷R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107.;
  • Receive the chaplains’ presentations on 24 June⁵⁸R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 109.;
  • In case the candidates were not excommunicated, had no public concubine, or were regular clerics with authorization to “have chantry”, the provedor would receive the said appeal, issue an authorizing certificate and register it for himself in a dedicated book⁵⁹R1504,  ed. PMM3, p. 109-110.;
  • Paying the clerics and friars the value of the masses said, and for that purpose signing the receipts of the payments made, which are entered in the revenue book of the scribe of the recebedor (receiver) of the chantries⁶⁰R1504,  ed. PMM3, p. 108.;
  • In the case of chantries situated in exempt monasteries with a lay administration, the provedor shall receive an oath from the apontador that he will perform the pious obligations associated with them⁶¹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 110..

• Verify the work of the administrators and intervene in the administration if necessary
  • Receive the accounts of the chantries from the respective administrators⁶²R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 115.;
  • Provide for the sale of the agricultural production (fruits) generated by the chantries’ properties, in case their incomes were not sufficient to ensure the satisfaction of the pious obligations attached to them⁶³R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107-108.;
  • Receive from the recebedor of the chantries the lists of the administrators that had failed to proceed with the payments attached to the chantries under their administration⁶⁴R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 108.;
  • Summon the alcaide of Lisbon to arrest the administrators who had not paid the chaplains⁶⁵R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111..

• Merceeiras
  • Receive the presentations of the merceeiras to be provided to the chantries that have this obligation⁶⁶R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 110..

• Jurisdiction
  • To visit every chapel in the city and district between Easter and Pentecost, during which period it should be ascertained whether they have any ornaments and whatever else may be appropriate⁶⁷R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111..
  • Judge the cases involving chantries and their associated commitments, in the latter case only in what concerns the revenues of the administrators, in the absence of rents to satisfy the expenses undertaken in them⁶⁸R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112.;
  • Judge the cases related to the tenants (foreiros) of the patrimony of the hospitals and chantries of Lisbon⁶⁹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 113. This prerogative was previously set out in a royal charter dated 22 February 1498 (ed. PMM3, p. 225).;
  • In the context of the processes of leasing of chantry assets ordered by the king, the provedor had to set a time limit for the presentation of the tenant (foreiro). In the event of the administrator’s conviction, the provedor had to request the royal justice to execute the alienated assets and ensure the restitution of the assets to the said possessor⁷⁰R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 114-115.;
  • Suspend or withhold income from the recebedor of the chantries⁷¹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111..

The recebedor (receiver) of the chantries
The Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504)  assigned the following competences and responsibilities to this official:

• Receive from the administrators the amounts for the masses⁷²R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107-108.;
• Notify the provedor in the event that the administrators do not pay the amounts for the masses⁷³R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 107-108.;
• Together with his scribe, he should go to Lisbon’s churches and monasteries every month and find out personally if the respective chaplains were saying masses as they were obliged to⁷⁴R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112.;
• “receive word” (”tomar recado”) from the chapels and altars where the masses were to be held⁷⁵R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112..

The scribe of the recebedor (receiver) of the chantries
The Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504)  obliged this official to

• Keep a revenue book, in which all the amounts given to the recebedor by the chantry administrators had to be written down, specifying the form of writing⁷⁶R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 110-111.. For this purpose, any payment made to the recebedor had to be made in his presence and written in the said book⁷⁷R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111.;
• Together with the recebedor, to Lisbon’s churches and monasteries every month and find out personally if the respective chaplains were saying mass as they were obliged to⁷⁸R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112.;
• To have cognizance of the chapels and altars where the masses were to be held⁷⁹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 112..

The provedor was responsible for sending the King information on the suspension of administrators and the enquiries made into their work⁸⁰R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 114-115.. Also according to the Regimento das capelas e dos hospitais, albergarias e confrarias de Lisboa e do seu termo (1504), the royal justices (judges, notaries) had twenty days to comply with their orders, and the provedor had the power to call upon the alcaide of Lisbon to receive the list of administrators and seize those who failed to make the payments attached to the chantries they administered⁸¹R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 108-109, 111.. In case of default by the alcaide, the provedor was entitled to request from the governor of the Casa do Cível payment of the value of the aforementioned distrainment, to be taken from the salary of the defaulting alcaide himself⁸²R1504, ed. PMM3, p. 111..