Metadata: Convent of Santa Clara of Santarém
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/MSMRC
- Title:
- Convent of Santa Clara of Santarém
- Title (official language):
- Monastery of Santa Maria de Celas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Celas
- Date(s):
- 1157/1858
- Language:
- Portuguese
- Extent:
- 6 books and 13 bundles
- Type of material:
- Textual Material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Celas fonds comprises documentation produced by or related to this monastery in Coimbra. It contains papal bulls, royal letters, emphyteusis contracts, permits, deeds of sale, privileges, donations, exchanges of properties, contracts, inventories, sentences, and several other types of records. The documentation covers a vast area, including Alenquer, Coimbra, Lisbon, Ourém, Santarém, Tentúgal, Torres Vedras, among other localities in central Portugal.
Throughout this fonds, it is possible to find information regarding religious minorities living in Portugal in Medieval times, including Jewish communities settled in localities where the monastery had estates. For example, there is a copy of a deed, dating from June 1224, reporting the sale of an olive grove in Ribela, in the outskirts of Coimbra, effected by a Jew named Salomão to princess D. Sancha, the daughter of King Sancho I (PT/TT/MSMRC/M04/001). A digital copy of this document is available in the Torre do Tombo online database.
- Archival history:
-
The documents of the registry of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Celas were sent to the National Archive of Torre do Tombo in 1864, following a decree on October 2, 1862 and an ordinance on July 9, 1863. The inventory of the monastery's assets was signed by D. Leocádia Cândida de Freitas, in capite president, and João Pedro da Costa Basto, the "oficial-mor" (major official) of Torre do Tombo.
The first inventory (signature: L 496) of the fonds was produced in the 1950s, as a result of an internship to train librarians and archivists. This inventory organised the documentation according to the different relationships and activities of the monastery of Santa Maria de Celas. In the late 1990s, the arrangement of the records by place name was replaced by organisation by religious order.
The descriptions of the documents that are currently provided in the archive's online database follow the summaries contained on the verso of the records, as well as other inventories. In 2020, the documents comprised in the bundles were also described, following the 1950s' inventory.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The first record of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Celas dates back to 1221. It was founded by Princess D. Sancha, the daughter of King Sancho I, in an estate named “Vimaranes” (Guimarães) in Coimbra. For this reason, the monastery is also known as Mosteiro das Celas de Guimarães.
The first nuns were probably transferred from the Monastery of Lorvão and later from another community in Alenquer protected by the Princess, which explains the properties of the institution in Alenquer, Lisbon and Torres Vedras. The nuns belonged to the Order of Cister. Many of them were from the noblest families of Portugal, that being one of the reasons that the monastery had significant royal protection. However, the monastery did not evolve as much as the others founded by Princesses D. Teresa and D. Mafalda, Sancha's sisters, in Lorvão and Arouca.
In 1434, King Duarte gave a letter of privilege to the monastery. The same was confirmed by King Manuel I at the end of the century.
King João III ordered a reformation of the monastery and charged the Franciscan nun Leonor de Vasconcelos, abbess of Celas from 1521 to 1541, with this mission.
In 1532, the monastery housed 48 nuns. At the end of the century this number had increased, leading to new construction works. Thus, new facilities were added to the building, including a new dormitory.
In 1834, religious orders and monasteries were closed in Portugal as a result of the new Liberal regime. Only the female monasteries and convents were allowed to be kept open until the death of the last nun. This was the destiny of the Monastery of Celas, when its last nun died in 1883.
- Access points: persons/families:
- King Sancho I
- Princess D. Sancha
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is organised into 13 bundles and 6 books. The first bundle contains royal records; the second gathers documents from the Holy See; the third to eleventh bundles include property records; the twelfth bundle collects litigations involving the monastery; and the thirteenth gathers records related to the religious life of the institution.
- Access, restrictions:
- No restrictions, except for records in poor condition or available in digital format.
- Finding aids:
-
Unpublished finding aids available in the archive:
"Índice (inventário) dos livros de diversos conventos, ordens militares e outras corporações religiosas guardadas no Arquivo da Torre do Tombo, conventos diversos" (Inventory of books from diverse convents, military orders and other religious organisations kept by the Archive of Torre do Tombo, diverse convents), caderneta (booklet) 1 (Ajuda to Avis). (C 268).
"Inventário das Corporações Religiosas, desintegrado da antiga Colecção Especial, em 24 de Julho de 1978" (Inventory of Religious Organisations, extracted from the former Colecção Especial on July 24, 1978). (L 208).
"Inventário do Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Celas de Coimbra" (Inventory of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Celas of Coimbra). It includes indexes of abbesses and prioresses, an index of notaries, and chronological, onomastic, geographical and ideographic indexes. (L 496).
"Inventário dos cartórios recolhidos da Biblioteca Nacional, em 1912" (Inventory of the registries collected from the National Library in 1912). (L 283), fol. 52.
"Relação dos documentos pertencentes ao cartório do Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Celas 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, recebidos no Mosteiro, em 5 de Agosto de 1864" (Inventory of documents belonging to the registry of the Monastery of Santa de Celas that, after the decree of October 2, 1862, and the ordinance of July 9, 1863, were transferred to the Archive of Torre do Tombo on August 5, 1864). (L 288).
- Links to finding aids:
- https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/details?id=1459308
- Yerusha Network member:
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Western Sephardic Diaspora Roadmap
- Author of the description:
- Inês de Sá, 2021