The “Entail of the Month” initiative, on this occasion in collaboration with the engineer Francisco Paiva Calado and the Paiva Magalhães Family, presents the estate of Gonçalo Gil Barbosa and Mécia Mendes de Aguiar, established in Santarém in 1507.

Although not totally unknown, the data concerning the social origins of the founding couple suggest they came from secondary branches of noble families from Portugal’s North, who had, in the meantime, settled in Santarém. Considered to be of medium-low nobility, future generations held positions in the local administration, such as Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, whose first documentary references identify him as the king’s lead squire. In 1500, departure for India as “expenses clerk” on Pedro Álvares Cabral’s ship represents the turning point in Gonçalo Gil Barbosa’s life. Two years later, he was transferred to the Cananor trading post, where he entered into direct contact with local merchant networks and invested in trading in India. For his services to the Crown as a factor, the future founder was first elevated to nobleman and then knighted by the Royal Household.

As in so many other cases, and in line with the research developed by the VINCULUM Project, Gonçalo Gil Barbosa and Mesécia Mendes de Aguiar also capitalised on the increase in their fortune by consolidating their social ascension through the institution of an entailment trust, with its conditions laid out in a last will and testament dated 2 March 1507.

The succession gap caused by the premature death of the eldest male son was offset by the inheritance of the estate passing to the descendants of his sister, Maria de Aguiar. Further information about the possession of the estate appears only when already administered by the descendants of the first marriage of the next daughter in the line of succession, Isabel de Aguiar. When her two sons died in Alcácer-Quibir, the estate went to her daughter Leonor Godinho de Aguiar and her husband, Gaspar de Paiva de Magalhães. The marriage of the couple’s son, Cosme de Paiva and Vasconcelos, with Felipa Bernardes, in the early 17th century, brought about the union of the property bound over in 1507 with the Foz Estate.

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.