The “Entail of the Month” initiative, in cooperation with the Esporão Estate, this January presents the chapel-manor house of Esporão, founded in 1427 by Teresa Eanes da Fonseca, a lady belonging to the social and political elite households of the city of Évora. After affirming her mental and physical health, in order to guarantee the legality of the document, Teresa entrusts herself to God, Mary and all the saints, and sets out the ceremonies for a solemn funeral. Here, there began the references to a past she wished to preserve: she was to be buried in the Cathedral, facing the altar of Saint Anthony, where her mother was buried. She would then name Gonçalo Rodrigues da Fonseca, her nephew, as heir, giving him the responsibility of maintaining the devotional rituals from the income of the goods received while retaining the surplus as personal income. A chain of administrators then begins, intended to be perpetual, and fulfilling specific characteristics – having all devotional rituals prayed, under the “signs” (coat of arms) of the Gramaxos, maternal ascendants of the founder, resulting in a legitimate lineage (in the final case, legitimised). The property is encumbered with the impossibility of sale, leasehold or division. The legal existence of this bond, despite many vicissitudes and changes, reaches back 436 years; the estate, already unlinked, which has undergone many other changes, is still maintained today, which adds another 160 years. In this “Entail of the Month” we tell, as in many others, the story of the venerable elders, in this case 623 years distant. Its longevity has been, in good part, due to the bond made in that year when Teresa Eanes decided to found a chapel in “defence” of Esporão. And it is stated that this bond implied the conservation of the materials produced by the “body” that had founded the estate and understood as a vital factor for its eternal duration.

To find out more about this entail, visit the page with all the information on this Entail of the Month. You can 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 participate in this initiative by leaving your suggestion for future entails of the month and other information about entail you may have. To do so, 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 at NOVA FCSH and researcher at the Institute of Medieval Studies, recipient of the first ever History Consolidator Grant awarded by the ERC to a Portuguese researcher.