Comissão do Tombo das Capelas da Coroa - Vinculum Information System Guide

Chronological span

In the specific context of entails, after the far-reaching measures promulgated by Dom Manuel¹, the crown seems to have acted rather intermittently, at least until 1619. The Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa, dated 6 December 1564, regulates royal action (only in Lisbon) in the appointment of administrations of chantries and morgadios that had become vacant, but does not suggest continued involvement, certainly not the level of engagement seen during the Manueline period.

It is in this context that should be understood the census of chantries and morgadios undertaken in 1574 by António de Castilho, Guarda-mor of the Torre do Tombo who, assisted by the scribe Cristóvão de Benavente and Father Nuno de Arez, prepared the “book in which, by order of the King, all the churches […] chantries that some Kings, Queens, and Infantes have ordered, and also all the other chantries of their vassals, in which the said Kings have provided administrators, are collected […]”².

With the advent of the dual monarchy, particularly starting with the reign of Filipe II (1598-1621), measures emerged that would gradually contribute to the development of a consistent and lasting royal engagement, materialised in the form of a Juízo das Capelas da Coroa (court of the crown’s chantries), understood as an integral part of the Casa da Suplicação, the supreme tribunal of the Kingdom.

The beginnings of this process led by Filipe II remain, for the time being, somewhat obscure, largely due to the absence and dispersal of sources of information that would shed light on this activity and the bureaucratic and administrative framework at the centre of power. In addition to this, a variety of names were simultaneously attributed to the bodies created at the time: “Juízo das Capelas da Coroa”, “Comissão das Capelas Sonegadas”, “Junta do Tombo das Capelas”, “Comissão das Capelas alienadas à Coroa”, being among the most common³. It is certain, however, that this initial phase, characterised by a certain bureaucratic-administrative complexity and modernisation, can be divided into two stages.

The first stage would have occurred between February 1604 and 1605. It is related to the nomination, in February 1604, of the Desembargador of the Casa da Suplicação Gaspar Leitão Coelho as judge of the crown’s chantries (Juiz das Capelas da Coroa)⁴. He had to act in harness with two other desembargadores, Belchior Pimenta and André de Melo, and in the absence of one of them, with whoever was nominated by the Regedor of the Casa da Suplicação. In carrying out their mission, the team of judges had to make use of “all the papers presented to me by João de Mendonça Furtado”⁵, identified in one letter of chantry administration as “my representative (procurador) in the matter of the vacant chantries”⁶, who carried out his mission of cataloguing the crown chantries between 1604 and 1605⁷.

The results of this “commission” are limited to the “relation” or “book” containing around 357 chantries and morgadios identified until 1605 by Mendonça Furtado, from the books of the royal chancery, the only known reference to which is found in the “Recopilação das Capellas da Coroa”, mistakenly designated as “Borrador (draft)” by Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga⁸. We know of no evidence of the activity of the judges Gaspar Leitão Coelho, Belchior Pimenta, and André Melo, and it is probable that they did not make any progress towards the completion of the registry of the concealed chantries and consequently towards the legitimation of their administrations. The impossibility of bringing to light the entirety of the vast universe of chantries belonging to the crown seems to have constituted an obstacle to the development of this enterprise.

In 1612, Diogo de Castilho Coutinho, fidalgo of the Royal Household, was nominated to be Guarda-mor of the Torre do Tombo⁹. Among other tasks, in early January 1619, he concluded the identification and inventorying of chantries and morgadios concealed from the royal chancelleries¹⁰. In the documentation available at the Torre do Tombo, Diogo de Castilho confirmed the existence of the 357 entails already identified by Mendonça Furtado, but added 89 more that were also concealed from the Crown.

Thus, a total of 446 chantries and morgadios would be the working basis for the second stage of the commission’s work, which would start in October 1619 and continue uninterruptedly, at least until 1643¹¹. Its manner of proceeding created the basis for the emergence of a specific and exclusive court, within the Casa da Suplicação, to settle issues related to the establishment of entails. The central figure was Doctor Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga, the Juiz dos Feitos of the king and Juiz da Chancelaria (1614)¹² and Desembargador of the Casa da Suplicação (1617)¹³ who, on 14 October 1619, was nominated by royal warrant to carry out a vast set of measures in order to continue the work of registering the crown chantries’ assets and legitimising the chantry administrators who did not possess a valid title. To this end, he was to offer a period of two months for those living in Lisbon and four months for those living elsewhere in the kingdom; and in relation to chantries which had already been judged, the respective sentence was to be carried out, not allowing the opportunity for them to be denounced again¹⁴.

Pinheiro da Veiga had two deputies appointed to the royal commission, Dr Nuno da Fonseca Cabral and Dr Gabriel Pereira de Castro, both desembargadores dos agravos (appellate judges) of the Casa da Suplicação¹⁵. The Commission reported directly to the King. The starting point for the undertaking would be Diogo de Castilho’s book and the list previously drawn up by João Furtado de Mendonça.

The Commission’s work to identify the chantries began in late 1619 and early 1620, and was carried out on two fronts. The first, carried out by consulting the vast documentation available at the Torre do Tombo, lasted until 1625 and resulted in an extensive list of chantries, morgadios, prazos (emphyteuses), hospitals, and hostels whose appointment rights belonged to the crown, and which were designated jointly and generically as “chantries of the crown”¹⁶. In the second, from 1622 onwards, the making of registries by the provedorias and comarcas of the Kingdom began, not only inventorying the assets but also settling claims to ascertain who held the right to administer the entails.

Based on the documentation consulted, Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga identified a further 226 chantries, morgadios, and prazos, making a total of 672 entails identified until the 1640s, the right to appoint the administrators of which belonged to the Crown¹⁷.

Normative documents (main)

Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa of 6 December 1564, with the alterations introduced by the warrant (alvará) of 15 March 1566 and by the warrant of 15 December 1566¹⁸;
Warrant of 14 October 1619, appointing the Desembargador Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga to take over the crown’s chantries that were being concealed, with the deputies appointed by the Regedor of the Casa da Suplicação¹⁹;
Warrant of 1 December 1620 as an addition to the previous instructions, ordering the use of the Statute on the Provedoria and the appointment of a treasurer²⁰;
Warrant ordering the appointment by the Desembargo do Paço of a Solicitador of the crown chantries, c. 1620²¹;
Royal charter of 13 October 1621 ordering that the obligations of the sequestered chapels be paid punctually from their revenues²²;
Royal letter ordering the registration in the books of the commission of Doctor Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga of the provisions that were passed to remove litigious chantries, c. 1622²³;
Royal letter ordering that the claims (denúncias) concerning chantries be made within a year, c. 1627²⁴;
Royal letter of 28 November 1628 ordering that no desembargador or minister of the Comissão das Capelas (Commission on chantries) may lay claim to any chantry for himself, his servants, or relatives up to the fourth degree²⁵.

Competences

The Commission was responsible for identifying the chantries of the crown, inventorying their assets, proceeding with the legitimation of those administrations without a valid title, allowing a period of two months for those living in Lisbon and four months for those living in other places of the kingdom to prepare the registry and execute the sentences of chantries already taken possession of, without admitting new claims on them²⁸. The creation and maintenance of an updated registry of the provision of administrations, in coordination with the organs of the central and provincial administration, lay and ecclesiastical, ordering the sequestration of the assets for the preparation of the registries, pronouncing sentences, and drawing up deeds of possession of the entails²⁹.

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

Institutional organisation

The Commission had a very basic internal structure. It was composed of three desembargadores, one of whom presided as Juiz do Tombo, appointed by the king—Tomé Pinheiro da Veiga⁵⁵ —and two deputies, appointed by the Regedor of the Casa da Suplicação—Nuno da Fonseca Cabral and Gabriel Pereira de Castro⁵⁶; one Solicitador, appointed by the Desembargo do Paço⁵⁷.

It would have relied on the Escrivão dos Feitos da Coroa to inform the processes relating to the activity of the Commission on the crown’s chantries⁵⁸, and a treasurer⁵⁹.

The roles of its agents

Juiz do Tombo
It was his responsibility to lead the Commission, being responsible for the census and identification of entails; the creation of a book and updated list of the crown chantries; the review of the accounts of the entails; the requisition of certificates of wills and the accounts of entails from the provedorias and the churches where pious suffrages were celebrated; issuing sentences concerning registries (tombos) and rulings on the complaints over the possession of entails; decisions on the sequestration of property and the drawing up of writs of possession.

The competences of this magistrate were mainly regulated by the Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564) (see the heading on this post), transposed and updated in the Ordenações Filipinas⁶⁰, which was adopted by the Commission on 1 December 1620:

Chantries
- Have cognizance of their founding documents⁶¹;
- Review the accounts of their rents and obligations⁶²;
- Judge the cases involving the chantries and their administration⁶³;
- 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 review⁶⁴.
- Demarcate and measure their assets and properties⁶⁵;
- Have the aforementioned patrimony recorded in a registry book (tombo), along with copies of the founding documents⁶⁶;
- 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 Paço⁶⁷.

Morgadios
- Have cognizance of their founding documents⁶⁸;
- Review the accounts of their rents and obligations⁶⁹;
- Judge the cases concerning their obligations and respective accounts⁷⁰.

Adjuntos do Juiz do Tombo (Assistants of the Juiz do Tombo)
Two in number, they were nominated by the Regedor of the Casa da Suplicação and were responsible for assisting the Juiz do Tombo in the fulfilment of his duties⁷¹, pronouncing judgements.

Solicitador
He was nominated by the Desembargo do Paço and exercised his functions under oath, searching for registries on behalf of the crown and making any other inquiries that seemed necessary⁷².

Scribes
According to the Regimento do Provedor das Capelas e Resíduos de Lisboa (1564), the scribes were in charge of drawing 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 appeal⁷³.

The Escrivão dos Feitos da Coroa⁷⁴, who exercised functions in the Juízo das Capelas da Coroa during the second half of the sixteenth century, was in charge of guarding and making an inventory of the lawsuits, ensuring they were available for consultation by the crown attorney (Procurator da Coroa) for their dispatch; preparing all the letters of any judgement for the making of enquiries and give them to be signed by the judge or whoever has to sign them and, afterwards, to the solicitador to have them sealed⁷⁵; having the final sentences signed, which would then pass through the chancery and be copied in a book. After being executed, he would give the sentences to the Guarda-mor of the Torre do Tombo to be copied into a a dedicated book⁷⁶. The escrivão dos Feitos da Coroa would make copies of the lawsuits, when ordered by the Judge⁷⁷, as well as copies of the registries of the entails⁷⁸.

Treasurer
He would be a “person of confidence” and would be in charge of the Commission’s income and expenditure book⁷⁹.

Relations with other institutions with regard to entails

Relations with other institutions existed at the level of central and provincial administration.

At the level of central administration, there is direct contact with the King⁸⁰, the apex of the regulatory system, who was responsible for defining the system itself, whether in terms of appointing agents or issuing regulations defining the commission’s functioning, or even directly granting the rights to chantry administration, with or without consulting the Desembargo do Paço.

By royal delegation, the Governors of the Kingdom and especially the Viceroys of Portugal during the period of the dual monarchy could appoint administrators of crown chantries⁸¹; and from 12 March 1635, the Princess D. Margarida de Sabóia, duchess of Mantua, vice-queen of Portugal, also acquired authority in that sphere, having to inform “Thome Pinheiro da Veiga, including in the consultas of these provisions a declaration of the income of these chantries”⁸².

The crown attorney (Procurador dos Feitos da Coroa) participated in the work of the Commission and was responsible for representing the crown, defending its rights and jurisdiction; requesting all information regarding its rights; making enquiries on behalf of the King; being the author, defendant, opponent, or assistant in cases and suits involving entails⁸³.

At the level of the provincial administration, the communication channel with various agents and bodies was especially important for obtaining information about the existence of wills and other founding documents of entails, as well as information about vacant administrations and requests for certificates about other documentation that was missing in the crown archives. It was also up to these officials to take possession of and safeguard the property of the entails, as well as to lead the team that carried out the registry⁸⁴. At this level, we must highlight the provedores of the comarcas, who supervised the entails that did not belong to an ecclesiastical foundation or administration, nor were under the protection of the king⁸⁵ and other institutions, such as the Juízo dos Resíduos e Capelas, in the case of Madeira⁸⁶.