Metadata: Forals
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/FC/001
- Title:
- Forals
- Title (official language):
- Forais
- Creator/accumulator:
- Arquivo da Casa da Coroa / Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo
- Date(s):
- 1081/1801
- Language:
- Portuguese
- Extent:
- 163 books
- Type of material:
- Textual Material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
- Forais is a series of the Feitos da Coroa fonds. It contains a range of “forais antigos” (old forals), “foros e costumes” (local rules) of some municipalities, “forais manuelinos” (forals granted by King Manuel I) and “forais novíssimos” (all-new forals). Forals were granted by the king, a noble, or a cleric to a specific town. They established the rules and the relationship between the town's lord and the people, their privileges and rights, duties, taxes, etc. These documents contain precious information related to the daily life of local populations, including social minorities, such as the Jews. Therefore, they are important sources for the study of these local communities and, in particular, their interaction with the Christian majority.
- Archival history:
- The first "forais" (forals) were primarily agrarian contracts with the aim of encouraging settlements in new localities. In the 13th and 14th centuries, they were usually granted after an active demand by the local population. However, with the consolidation of the central power, the forals started losing their value and strength. King Manuel I was responsible for their reform, after which they became a simple list of privileges and duties. In the 18th century, the “forais novíssimos” (all-new forals) were mostly a recognition of previous reforms. From 1832 to 1846, the forals were abolished by virtue of the Liberal regime. They were part of the Arquivo da Casa da Coroa since its beginning and followed the evolution of this archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo is one of Portugal's oldest institutions. Its origins go back to at least the 14th century. The royal documents used to follow the itinerant medieval court, with only the most important documents being held at different monasteries. Once the court established itself in Lisbon, so did the royal archives. The first documental reference to a set location is from 1378. The archive was kept in one of the towers of São Jorge Castle, hence its name Torre do Tombo (Tower of the Archive). The "guarda-mor" (high-guardian) was responsible for its safekeeping.
Until 1755, the Torre do Tombo functioned as the Crown's archive, serving the king's administration and granting certificates to institutions and individuals. The oldest record reporting its organisation and content is from 1526: a letter from Tomé Lopes to King João III that mentions 149 books of Chancellery records and 47 of the so-named Leitura Nova (a compilation of copies of old documents ordered by King Manuel I).
In the 16th century, with the growing centralisation and the greater strength and complexity of the State, Torre do Tombo became a real state archive. Monarchs took notice of the archive, as they understood the importance of the relationship between information and power. Some documents from other areas of the central administration were incorporated into the archive. Torre do Tombo became a reference, even serving as an example to Philip II of Spain when regulating the Archive of Simancas.
The first indexes of the archive were created during the 17th and 18th centuries, as the interest in these documents increased and their reorganisation was ongoing. A 1702 index, most likely created by João Duarte Lisboa, responsible for the archive’s reformation, reveals that, in 1656, the archive was arranged in 15 “armários” (cabinets). Twenty years later, the archive had five more “armários”.
In 1755, the tower of the castle was destroyed in the Great Earthquake. The documents were then temporarily saved in a woodshed and, two years later, partly transferred to the monastery of São Bento da Saúde in Lisbon. The papers were then reorganised, and several copies were made. The new organisation did not follow the old methods; instead, it followed the logic of the 18th century, favouring a methodical and chronological order. The confusion between sections, series, collections, and fonds is noticeable, and the archive's organic structure was unclear, which certainly illustrated how the Crown's institutions were arranged and functioned. Many documents were lost in this new reorganisation and, even with the information given by the indexes, the original structure is still somewhat unclear.
The 18th century also brought a new way of looking at history and a new value to these documents. That explains the incorporation of the Society of Jesus' records in 1768, following the expulsion of the Jesuits from Portugal. It was one of the first examples of the incorporation into the Crown's archives of documents produced by other institutions. After the Liberal Revolution, these incorporations became customary, collecting records of old courts and religious corporations. In 1823, the royal archive changed its name to Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (National Archive of Torre do Tombo), making it clear that it was not only an archive of the Crown but of the whole nation. However, there was no active will or ability to enable access and to explore its documents, as the focus was only on their compilation.
Neither the establishment of the Republic in 1911, nor the dictatorship (1926-1974) brought many developments. In the 1950s, an effort was made by the director, João Martins da Silva Marques, to reorganise the documentation, leading to the creation of the Núcleo Antigo (Old Core) collection. Throughout the 20th century, many collections and documents were added to the archive, coming from different public and private institutions.
In 1990, the archives moved to a new building made specifically for that purpose, where they are still located today. In more recent years, part of the fonds and collections were rearranged to match the original organisation. For instance, the Núcleo Antigo was disassembled, creating new fonds and collections, and incorporating other documents into already existing ones.
- Access points: locations:
- Portugal
- Subject terms:
- Jewish community
- Privileges
- System of arrangement:
- This collection is the first series of the Feitos da Coroa fonds (PT/TT/FC). It includes 163 books, organised sequentially.
- Access, restrictions:
- Most documents are available online. In these cases, the original document is not available for consultation.
- Finding aids:
-
"Índice do Núcleo Antigo 480" (Index of Núcleo Antigo 480). Handwritten finding aid available for consultation in the archive. (IDD C 284).
Farinha, Maria do Carmo Jasmins Dias, and Maria de Fátima Dentinho Ó Ramos. 1996. Núcleo Antigo: Inventário. Lisbon: AN/TT. (IDD L 574)
Franklin, Francisco Nunes. 1816. Memoria para servir de indice dos foraes das terras do reino de Portugal e seus dominios... Lisbon: Officina da Academia Real das Sciencias.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/DetailsForm.aspx?id=4182530
- Yerusha Network member:
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Western Sephardic Diaspora Roadmap
- Author of the description:
- Inês de Sá, 2021