The “Entail of the month” initiative presents, in this month of May, the entail between António Barbosa Aranha and his wife, Ana Baldaia, established in Ponte de Lima in 1565. Counted among the main people of the village and endowed with an appreciable fortune, it was the couple’s disposition to establish an entail and found a showy family chapel in the matrix of that village, placing it under the invocation of the Virgin of the Rosary. This chapel, which the couple entrusted their heirs to build, was part of a space of great prestige, which was becoming a showcase of the income and dignities of the council’s elite, and where some opulent manors were already at the head. The administration followed linearly in the descent of the founders through their daughter Inês Barbosa for four generations. In the middle of the 17th century, the death of the last administrator in the convent of Vairão, where she had rested without a generation, caused a bitter lawsuit between relatives to break out. Even though the legal battle was costly and exhausting for the family, the Barbosa Aranha bond turns out to be difficult to manage, due to its heavy burdens and comparatively meager fruits.

To know this entail in detail, visit the page with all the information about the entail of the month. You can also find out about the other entails made available here.

You can also participate in this initiative by leaving your suggestion for future entails of the month and other information about entails that you have. You can contact the project at the academic address: vinculum@fcsh.unl.pt.

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