The “Entail of the Month” initiative for March, in cooperation with Barahona family, is presenting this month the chapel-entailment of Gines de Barona, his wife, Beatriz Gomes and their younger son, António de Barona, established in Carmo Convent, in Lisbon in 1628.

In the second half of the 16th century, the first generation of the Barona (Varona or Barahona, according to the modern spelling), a noble family from Burgos, from the Tower de los Baronas, in Villañañe de Valdegovia, settled in Lisbon. In terms of epic imagery, in the style of the medieval gestures replicated in other historical-geographical contexts, the Barona lineage trace their origins back to the “Legend of the Varona”. The bravery of María Pérez, the “maiden who goes to war” – depicted in 1617 by the poet Lope de Vega in “La Varona Castellana” – bears witness to a noble past and of loyalty to the crown of Aragon ever since the 11th century. Five hundred years later, this legend would be evoked in reference to the purity of the lineage, with its transfer especially significant in Castile.

In 1628, in Lisbon, an entailment trust was established by Gines de Barona, a diamond cutter and merchant, his wife, Beatriz Gomes, and their underage son, António de Barona, who was soon to become a clergyman. In order to fulfil the instituted pious legacies, which foresaw daily mass in the Convent of Carmo in perpetuity, they pledged their interest in the Lisbon Senate Chamber Royal Water supply alongside other estates, in particular properties on Rua dos Ourives do Ouro. The Convent of Carmo was a relevant institution in the devotional context of the city and its availability as the family burial place confirms the socio-economic status of this already famous family branch.

Besides the interest in perpetuating the lineage, the entailment stipulated a well-defined code of conduct. Besides compulsory usage of the surname Barona, the male’s preference in the succession, honourable marriage, this also established the exclusion of the clergy from the administration after António alongside anyone ever committing the crime of lese-majesty. Successors were also to incorporate two parts of everything they freely held on pain of being declared incapable of administering the entailment.

Following the death of António de Barona in 1657, the estate and its respective pious duties were divided into two equal parts, as foreseen in the founding document. In 1775, Francisca Damiana Manrique de Lara Baraona presented a petition to the king, requesting that half of the entailment bond she administered be extinguished on account of her inability to execute the pious legacies, having been considered an insignificant chapel. The other half of the bond, the Quinta da Ribaldeira would continue to fulfil the religious duties until 1863, despite the non-renewal of the entailment registration, obligatory under the law of 13.07.1860, and passing her goods into a free and allodial regime.

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.