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Country
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PT
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Name of institution (English)
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National Library of Portugal
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Language of name of institution
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por
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Contact information: postal address
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Campo Grande, 83, 1749-081 Lisbon
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Contact information: phone number
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00351 217982000
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Contact information: email
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bn@bnportugal.gov.pt
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Reference number
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COD.
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Collection of Codices
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Title (official language of the state)
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Coleção de Códices
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Language of title
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por
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Creator / accumulator
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Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa
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Date note
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12th century/20th century
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Language(s)
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eng
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fra
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ita
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lat
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por
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spa
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Extent
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13,521 books
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Physical condition
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Good
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Scope and content
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The Colecção de Códices of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal comprises codices of various provenance, chronologies, typologies and subjects. Among this large collection, it is possible to find some books with material related to the Portuguese Jewish communities before the late 15th-century expulsion, New Christians, and the Western Sephardic Diaspora. The following are some examples:
COD. 164: Miscellaneous documents related to the Inquisition, some of them concerning the New Christian question.
COD. 166-169 and COD. 197-200: Collections of lists of autos-da-fé of the Portuguese Inquisition tribunals: Lisbon, Tomar, Évora, Coimbra and Goa.
COD. 201-202: Lists of convicted by the Inquisition of Goa from 1685 to 1806.
COD. 736: 16th-century compilation of deeds of the Order of Christ, collected by Pedro Álvares Seco. It includes (fols. 260-261) the record of an exchange of estates in Leiria's outskirts made by the city council of Leiria with the Order of Christ. The record mentions a Jew named Abraham and identifies him as "father-in-law of Justa Judia", who had previously owned one of the exchanged estates. 30 June, 1306. This document was published by Saul Gomes (2010).
COD. 798-799: Miscellaneous documents collected by José Manuel de Carvalho e Negreiros, including copies of António Vieira's writings on the New Christian question and the sentence of Dr António Homem.
COD. 861-862: "Colecção das mais celebres sentenças das Inquisições de Lisboa, Évora, Coimbra e Gôa" (Collection of the most famous sentences of the Inquisitions of Lisbon, Évora, Coimbra and Goa), by António Joaquim Moreira (1863).
COD. 863-866: Collection of lists of autos da fé of the Inquisitions of Lisbon, Évora, Coimbra and Goa, collected by António Joaquim Moreira (1863).
COD. 1532-1533: Miscellaneous documents on the Inquisition, including some writings regarding the New Christian question and the negotiation of the general pardon.
COD. 2299//1: "Abbreviation Libri qui Dux Neutrorum", a 14th-century Latin copy of a Maimonides' writing.
COD. 3716 and COD. 4439: Manuscript copies of D. Luis da Cunha's political instructions, in which he approaches the New Christian question and reflects on the readmission of the Jews in Portugal.
COD. 4414//23: Collection of Inquisition's sentences, including the ones of Dr António Homem and Frei Diogo da Assunção (18th-century manuscript).
COD. 6368: Miscellaneous documents from the 17th and 18th centuries, including a copy of a Latin letter from Rodrigo Sánchez to the New Christian humanist António Luís (fols. 305v-308). This letter was published by António Guimarães Pinto (2013).
COD. 6967: "Ho Catolyco Liuro chamado Ajuda [da] Fee" by Mestre António, cirurgião-mor (chief surgeon) of King João II (1486). Polemical work written by a Jewish convert.
COD. 8792 and COD. 11133: 18th and 19th-century copies of prophecies attributed to Gonçalo Anes Bandarra.
COD. 9812: Trial of Manuel Rodrigues Lobo, a New Christian accused of Judaism and arrested by the Inquisition of Évora (1615-1624).
The Codices Collection also contains manuscripts of works written by Portuguese Jewish and New Christian authors, such as:
António Homem: "Postilas de Teologia" (Notebooks on Theology), including Homem's writings, 1603-1618 (COD. 3868; COD. 5488; COD. 5575; COD. 6201); Compilation of Law Documents, including Homem's writings (COD. 1606); "Sequitur Disputandus Tractatus de Clavium Potestate ad Cap. Quodcunque 24. Quaster. 1. A" (COD. 11498).
António José da Silva: "Os encantos de Medea" (COD. 1365//2); Various manuscript copies of António José da Silva's plays (COD. 1380); "Amphitrião ou Jupiter e Alcmena" (COD. 1392//3).
António Ribeiro Sanches: "Dissertações, observações e estudos" (dissertations, observations and studies) (COD. 511); "Peculio de varias receitas para deversas queixas" (COD. 520); "Carta sobre a educação da mocidade portugueza" (COD. 10896); "Codices manu scripti Boerhaave cum Doctoris Sanchez annotationibus..." (COD. 11512).
António Serrão de Castro: "Novella Burlesca" (COD. 338); "Novella Disparatoria: o Gigante Sonhado, e a Donzella por Pensamento" (COD. 347); "Triumpho com que a cidade de Lisboa recebeu aos nossos grandes monarchas..." (COD. 11407); Miscellaneous texts, including Serrão's writings in COD. 510, COD. 1650, COD. 6333 and COD. 13408.
Bernardim Ribeiro: Manuscript literary texts, including the oldest known copy of his novel Menina e Moça (COD. 11353).
Jacob de Castro Sarmento: "Chronologia Newtoniana Epitomizada", 1737 (COD. 593); "Nova descripçam do globo, ou exacta medida dos Imperios...", 1707 (COD. 612).
Manuel Bocarro Francês: "Anacephaleozez da Monarchia Lusitana" (COD. 125); some writings in compilations of Sebastianist texts (COD. 1685; COD. 10797).
The collection also comprises a rich group of codices with copies of diplomatic correspondence, some of them from diplomats in destinations of the Western Sephardic Diaspora. A look at these codices could be fruitful in finding information regarding these Jewish communities.
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Archival history
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The Colecção de Códices and the Manuscritos Avulsos have their origins in the original fonds of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: the Real Mesa Censória (Royal Censorial Court) library, which comprised the libraries of the extinct Jesuit colleges and houses. Later, the collection was enriched with other institutional fonds (such as the Academia Real da História (Royal Academy of History) or the Congregation of Clerics Regular of the Divine Providence) and private libraries (for instance, the libraries of Fr. Manuel do Cenáculo Vilas Boas, D. Tomás Caetano de Bem, António Ribeiro dos Santos, or D. Francisco de Melo Manuel) that were donated to or acquired by the Biblioteca Nacional. In 1841, part of the libraries of the convents that were extinct in 1834 was also integrated into the Biblioteca Nacional and became the most significant constituent element of its old fonds.
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The royal charter of February 29, 1796, founded the Real Biblioteca Pública da Corte (Royal Public Library of the Court), which integrated the collection of the Library of the Real Mesa Censória (Royal Board of Censorship). Its facilities were located in the Torreão Ocidental of the Praça do Comércio.
Since the issue of the first law of legal deposit in 1805, the Real Biblioteca began to receive copies of all the works printed in Portugal. After the Liberal Revolution and the extinction of the religious orders (1834), it was renamed Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa (National Library of Lisbon) and incorporated whole or part of libraries of several monasteries and convents. The increase in its collection led to the change of its facilities to the Convent of S. Francisco in Chiado.
Following the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (1910), the National Library incorporated libraries of religious congregations then extinct. Again, the growing collection and the need to provide it with appropriate conservation conditions forced a new change of facilities. From 1958 to 1969, a new building was constructed in the Campo Grande, according to a project of the architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro. This still is the headquarters of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal at present.
In the 1980s, the Library's computerisation process began, which resulted in the National Bibliographic Database – PORBASE. At the beginning of the 21st century, the National Library created the Biblioteca Nacional Digital (BND), which provides digital copies of several items in its collections. The BND is in constant growth, in articulation with other European institutions.
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Access points: persons, families
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Bandarra
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Bocarro Francês, Manuel
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Castro Sarmento, Jacob de
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Homem, António
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Luís, António
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Ribeiro, Bernardim
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Ribeiro Sanches, António Nunes
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Serrão de Castro, António
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Silva, António José da
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Vieira, António
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System of arrangement
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Records are arranged sequentially
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Access, restrictions
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Access is free with exception of items in poor condition of conservation or available in alternative formats (microfilms or digital copies). Several codices referred above are digitalized and available online.
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2021
