Metadata: Collegiate of Santiago of Coimbra
Collection
- Country:
- Portugal
- Holding institution:
- The National Archive of Torre do Tombo
- Holding institution (official language):
- Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo
- Postal address:
- Alameda da Universidade, 1649-010 Lisbon
- Phone number:
- 00351 210037100
- Email:
- mail@dglab.gov.pt
- Reference number:
- PT/TT/CSTC
- Title:
- Collegiate of Santiago of Coimbra
- Title (official language):
- Colegiada de Santiago de Coimbra
- Creator/accumulator:
- Colegiada de Santiago de Coimbra
- Date(s):
- 1000/1599
- Language:
- Portuguese
- Extent:
- 3 books and 18 bundles (861 documents)
- Type of material:
- Textual Material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The Colegiada de Santiago de Coimbra fonds comprises documentation related to or produced by this collegiate of Coimbra. It contains "aforamentos" and "emprazamentos" (emphyteusis contracts), donations, sale deeds, letters of attorney, papal bulls, wills, etc. Among its records, it is possible to find evidence of the Jewish community of Coimbra before the late-15th-century expulsion. Two examples are the following:
PT/TT/CSTC/M09/416, document from December 11, 1354: "Emprazamento" (emphyteusis contract) of a house in the street of the Cathedral of Coimbra to Rabi Salomão, a Jewish bookbinder. The same house had been leased to Abraão Pesaçam, a Jewish goldsmith. Published in Gomes (2013).
PT/TT/CSTC/M08, document from June 4, 1390: "Emprazamento" (emphyteusis contract) of a store in the Judiaria of Coimbra to Salomão Marcos, which had been leased to another Jew, Abraão Guedelha.
- Archival history:
-
In 1848, following the law of June 16 and the instruction of September 17, the assets and incomes of all collegiates in Portugal were applied to the maintenance of seminaries. Another law, on December 27, 1849, determined that the documents of the collegiates should be stored in the registry of the seminary that received their assets and incomes. The archive, assets, and incomes of the Collegiate of Santiago were transferred to the seminary of Coimbra.
In 1862, a government order established that the documents dated before 1600 should be incorporated into the National Archive of Torre do Tombo. As a result, the records of the Collegiate of Santiago gathered in the seminary of Coimbra were transferred to the Torre do Tombo in the following year. Some of these records were included in the so-named "Colecção Especial" (special collection). Between 1938 and 1990, the documents of this collection were gradually reorganised with the aim of recreating the original fonds. They were chronologically ordered and gathered into bundles of 40 documents each, numbered sequentially. At the end of the 1990s, the organisation by the locality was replaced by an arrangement by diocese.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Collegiates were communities of clerics and laymen with the mission of ensuring the religious cult in churches. The Collegiate of Santiago was under the wing of the bishop of Coimbra.
Like other collegiates, it was headed by a prior and composed of a number of "raçoeiros" (literally, who received a ration) or "beneficiários" (beneficiaries), who were generally clerics. The prior was responsible for nominating the "raçoeiros". They carried out liturgical functions, such as taking part in the choir and praying for the worshipers who had left donations to the collegiate, among others. In addition, they also had the responsibility of managing the properties and incomes of the church. The "prioste", who was chosen from among the "raçoeiros", had the function of managing the collegiate's assets and distributing its incomes.
The Church of São Tiago was built at the end of the 12th century, close to the most important door of Coimbra's city walls, the Porta da Almedina. Over the centuries, it underwent a few alterations. The Collegiate was named after the church; yet, the reason behind the name is still a mystery. Some attribute it to the supposed apparition of the apostle James (Santiago in Portuguese) before the conquest of Coimbra by the King of Léon, Fernando Magno, in 1064. Another theory supports that the name of the church is related to the fact that its location was, and still is, a point of passage and housing for pilgrims headed to Santiago de Compostela.
In 1848, most collegiates were abolished by the Liberal government, especially those that could not subsist on their income only. Many collegiates were not able to endure as, since 1834, their primary source of revenue, the "dízimo" (tithe), was ended. Thus, the Collegiate of Santiago was closed at that time.
- Access points: locations:
- Coimbra
- Access points: persons/families:
- Abraão Guedelha
- Abraão Pesaçam
- Rabi Salomão
- Salomão Marcos
- System of arrangement:
- There is a specific numbering for each type of installation unit (books and bundles). One of the bundles gathers the records that once were part of the Special Collection.
- Access, restrictions:
- No restrictions, except for records in poor condition or available in digital format.
- Finding aids:
-
Unpublished finding aids available in the archive:
"Inventário das Corporações Religiosas, desintegrado da antiga Colecção Especial , em 24 de Julho de 1978" (Inventory of Religious Organisations, extracted from the former Special Collection on July 24, 1978). (L 208).
"Inventário dos pergaminhos e códices pertencentes às Colegiadas de São Bartolomeu, de São Cristóvão, de São Tiago, de São João de Almedina, de Santa Justa, de São Pedro, do Salvador, todas de Coimbra, recolhidos no Seminário Episcopal desta cidade que, em virtude do Decreto de 2 de Outubro de 1862 e Portaria de 9 de Julho de 1863, foram transferidos para o Arquivo da Torre do Tombo, em 15 de Setembro de 1863" (Inventory of the parchments and codices belonging to the Collegiates of São Bartolomeu, São Cristóvão, São Tiago, São João de Almedina, Santa Justa, São Pedro, Salvador, all from Coimbra, collected in the Seminary of this city, that were transferred to the Arquivo da Torre do Tombo on September 15, 1863). (L 288).
- Links to finding aids:
- https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/details?id=1382441
- Yerusha Network member:
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Western Sephardic Diaspora Roadmap
- Author of the description:
- Inês de Sá, 2021
