This December, the “Entail of the Month” initiative presents the morgadio and chapel of Quinta da Torre, established in Caparica, in 1569, by Tomás de Noronha and his wife, Helena da Silva. D. Tomás de Noronha was the only legitimate son of D. Leão de Noronha and D. Branca de Castro. He was still very young when King D. João III chose him as Aio to Prince D. João, with whom he had an enviable familiarity. After his training in Coimbra, he was sent by the king to the Council of Trent, having also fought in North Africa and served as state advisor to D. Sebastião. The document establishing the Quinta da Torre bond is a remarkable document, one of the most complete and exhaustive texts of its kind. It can be considered a true “binding Constitution”, creating and regulating this type of body as a corporate entity endowed with legal personality and autonomy. The concern with the management of assets is also notable, highlighting the importance given to the conservation of the “head of the morgadio”, Quinta da Torre. The Quinta da Torre bond had a normal succession until the life of its 10th morgue, the Conde dos Arcos, D. Nuno de Noronha e Brito, a time when the morgadios became extinct. Quinta da Torre was expropriated in 1974 to install the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa on its land.

To find out more about this entail, visit the page with all the information about this month’s entail. You can also find out about the other links available in the meantime, here.

You can also participate in this initiative by leaving your suggestions for future links for the month and other information about links you have. To do this, you can contact the project at the email 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 Consolidator Grant in the area of ​​History, awarded by the ERC to a Portuguese researcher.