This October, the “Entail of the Month” initiative features the chapel-entailment of Lopo Mendes do Rio and Leonor Dias, established in 1501 at the Monastery of São Domingos de Benfica, in Lisbon. It seems likely that this choice of monastery did not entirely result from the personal devotion of the founders. In fact, King Manuel often supported some of his courtiers as a strategy to promote the reform of religious orders. In this sense, the “proposal” to found a rich funeral chapel in a given monastery contributed to the construction and enrichment of the monastery, cementing the royal ascendancy; while simultaneously adding prestige to the courtiers hosted there. Lopo Mendes do Rio was one of those selected by the monarchs, greatly enjoying the confidence of King João II, whom he served as treasurer, and of his successor, King Manuel.

This chapel-entailment consecrated the constitution of patrimony amounting to over two million réis, amassed through participating in overseas trade and the sale of properties owned in Unhos and Frielas. This transaction brought with it the institution of an entailment of thirds, on the express will of Leonor Dias. It is of interest to highlight the intervening position of Leonor in the drafting of the entailment document as the definition of clauses attributes her with a prominent role in both the bound properties and the prerogatives of succession, encroaching, as in several other cases, on the male hegemony over the entailment institution.

The present Entail of the Month benefits from previous research work within the scope of the VINCULUM Project training activities in conjunction with a science communication and heritage safeguarding initiative. The Brito do Rio archive owner, António Assis, entrusted it to the Project team, for its organisation and study under the auspices of a free option to initiate the research project.

To find out more details about this entail, go to this page with all the Entail of the Month information. Here, you may also find out about the other entails made available in the meantime, at: https://www.vinculum.fcsh.unl.pt/entail-of-the-month

You can also contribute to this initiative by making suggestions for future entails of the month and any details you may be able to provide. To this end, please contact the project at: vinculum@fcsh.unl.pt.

The VINCULUM project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Maria de Lurdes Rosa, Professor of NOVA FCSH and researcher at the Institute of Medieval Studies, awarded the first ERC Consolidator Grant to a Portuguese researcher in the field of History.