Chancelaria Régia

Country

PT

Name of institution (English)

The National Archive of Torre do Tombo

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo

Language of name of institution

por

Contact information: postal address

Alameda da Universidade, 1649-010 Lisbon

Contact information: phone number

00351 210037100

Contact information: web address

http://antt.dglab.gov.pt/contactos/

https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/

Contact information: email

mail@dglab.gov.pt

Reference number

PT/TT/CHR

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

Royal Chancellery

Title (official language of the state)

Chancelaria Régia

Language of title

por

Creator / accumulator

Chancelaria Régia (Royal Chancellery)

Date(s)

1211/1826

Language(s)

lat

por

Extent

1,162 books

Type of material

Textual Material

Physical condition

Good

Scope and content

The Chancelaria Régia fonds includes records of properties, tributes and services due to the king by institutions, people and villages, lists of ecclesiastic institutions of the king's "padroado" (patronised by the king), inquires ordered by the king and documents produced by the chancellery. There are numerous references to Jews and New Christians, their properties, activities and communities scattered throughout this collection's books, from the reigns of King Afonso II to King Manuel I (in the case of Jews in Portugal) and to King José I (in the case of New Christians). Some of these books are already available online in digital format. In these cases, a search by name and dates in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo online database could be helpful in finding specific information. For the Royal Chancelleries whose contents have not been inserted in the archive's online database, a search of the indices is recommended. Each Chancellery's indices are divided into "comuns" (indices by person's name, organised alphabetically by the first name) and "próprios" (indices of institutions, places, etc., also in alphabetical order). Some Chancelleries are also divided by document typology: Doações, Ofícios e Mercês (donations, offices and favours), Privilégios (privileges), Perdões e Legitimações (pardons and legitimations), and Contratos (contracts). The indices are part of the Instrumentos de Descrição (Finding Aids) collection (PT/TT/ID/1), and most of them are digitalised and available online. Other index books are accessible in the archive's reference room.
Maria José Pimenta Ferro Tavares (1982, 2nd volume) provides eleven extended lists of Jews, mainly mentioned in 15th-century Chancelaria Régia's records, with their respective location in this collection. There are lists of Jews by place and profession, Jewish tenants and their partners, officers of the "comunas" (communes), Jewish notary signatures, donations of royal rights to Jewish communities, incomes of the "comunas" at the date of the expulsion, Jews who were ennobled, privileges given to Jews, Jews who committed crimes and Jewish conversos.
Among the numerous documents related to the Portuguese Jewish communities before the late 15th-century expulsion and the banishment process itself, there are some highlights:
Records with seals of the Jewish comuna's "tabeliões" (notaries) containing Hebrew characters: Chancelaria de D. Afonso V, liv. 12, fol. 27v (Lisbon); Chancelaria de D. João II, liv. 3, fol. 21v (Setúbal); Ibid., liv. 4, fol. 114v (Porto).
Documents related to the donation of former Jewish synagogues and other properties after the expulsion can be found in the Chancelaria de D. Manuel I: liv. 16, fol. 129 (Monchique synagogue in Miragaia, Porto, 9 November 1499); liv. 31, fol. 75v (synagogue of Silves, 2 March 1498); liv. 35, fol. 143 (synagogue of Montemor-o-Novo, 25 May 1501); liv. 19, fol. 2v (synagogue of Sintra, 5 May 1503); liv. 27, fol. 92 (donation of the Jewish and Muslim cemeteries in Lisbon).

Archival history

The records in this fonds were composed in the Royal Chancelleries and later incorporated into the Royal Archive of Torre do Tombo after the death of each monarch. Until the end of King Afonso IV's reign (1357), the records were composed in chronological order, and each book could contain different years. However, from the reign of King Pedro I to King Duarte (1357-1438), there was a book for each year. With the next king, Afonso V, following a request by the "Cortes" (national assembly) of Lisbon in 1459, documents were selected and copied to make their access easier. Some palaeographic errors were committed during this process. In the following century, the original copies were destroyed.
After the 1755 earthquake, the documents were saved in a woodshed and two years later moved to the monastery of São Bento da Saúde, where the Royal Archive was then located. Most bindings were destroyed, so new ones had to be made. However, the bookbinding was not done correctly, and some sheets and booklets were incorporated into the wrong book.
In 1990, the fonds moved with the entire archive's collection to its new building in the Alameda da Universidade.

Administrative / Biographical history

The Royal Chancellery was responsible for writing, validating (with the royal seal) and dispatching every document from the king, as well as giving public validation to submitted documents from other institutions and individuals. In the 14th century, the Royal Chancellery changed denomination to "Chancelaria-Mor" (Main Chancellery), changing its name again in the 16th century to "Chancelaria-Mor da Corte e Reino" (Main Chancellery of the Court and Kingdom).
The Chancellery was headed by the Chanceler do Rei (chancellor of the king), who kept the royal seals. In the early days, the Chanceler had a significant political influence due to their proximity to the king. However, with the evolution and development of the administration, his functions were restricted to writing and checking the different laws and privileges dictated by the Crown. In "Ordenações Afonsinas" (a compilation of the laws of the kingdom made in the 15th century), the Chanceler was considered the second magistrate of the kingdom. In "Ordenações Manuelinas" (from the early 16th century), he was described as the second office of the Casa da Suplicação (the highest court in the kingdom).

Access points: locations

Portugal

Access points: subject terms

Portuguese Medieval Jewry

Conversos

Economic matters

Hebrew signatures

Jewish quarter

Legal matters

New Christians

Portuguese Jewish comunas

Royal favours

Royal offices

Synagogues

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

Access points: document types

Royal chancellery

System of arrangement

The fonds is divided into 24 sections, one for each reign, from Afonso II (1217-1233) to Pedro IV (1826-1833) (with the exception of the reign of Sancho II, which does not contain a section, and the reigns of Sebastião and Henrique who are included in the same section). It also contains a series named 'Registo de leis na Chancelaria' (Registry of laws in the Chancellery).