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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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MS
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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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Sundry Manuscripts
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Title (official language of the state)
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Manuscritos Avulsos
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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 Portugal
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Date note
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10th century/20th century
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Language(s)
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heb
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por
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Extent
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256 boxes
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Manuscritos Avulsos collection of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (National Library of Portugal) comprises diverse manuscripts of different types, subjects, and provenances. Among this miscellany of documentation, there are some records related to the Medieval Jewish communities in Portugal, the New Christian group and the Sephardic diaspora. Some examples are the following:
MSS. 256, no. 43: Mezuzah. Parchment with 17x14 cm.
MSS. 245, no. 48: "Explicação de uma membrana, que os judeus chamam Mezuza", a 19th-century manuscript with a brief explanation on the Mezuzah. Digital copy available.
MSS. 6967: document mentioning Mestre António, the chief physician of King João II, who was a Jew converted to Christianity.
MSS. 16, no. 50: "Parecer em favor da gente de Nação Hebrea" (Opinion in favour of the Jewish people) by António Vieira. Other Vieira's manuscripts can be found in MSS. 56 and MSS. 201, n.º 163.
Mss. 206, no. 1: decree dating from 1584 with instructions on how to deal with the unpaid debts left by the New Christians who fled from Portugal between the 1580s and the 1590s.
MSS. 11, no. 3: an 18th-century copy of a supposed Bandarra's prophecy.
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Archival history
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The Colecção de Códices and the Manuscritos Avulsos derive from 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 Ordem dos Clérigos Regulares da Divina Providência (Congregation of Clerics Regular of the Divine Providence), as well as 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, parts of the libraries of the convents that were extinct in 1834 were 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.
From 1805 onwards, following the first law of legal deposit, the Real Biblioteca began to receive copies of all 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 parts of libraries of several monasteries and convents. As the collection grew, the Convent of S. Francisco in Chiado became the new home of the National Library. Following the proclamation of the Republic in Portugal (1910), the National Library also came to incorporate 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 under construction in Campo Grande, according to a project of the architect Porfírio Pardal Monteiro. This building still remains the headquarters of the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.
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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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2021
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Bibliography
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Frade, Florbela Veiga. 2006. “As Relações Económicas e Sociais Das Comunidades Sefarditas Portuguesas. O Trato e a Família: 1532-1632.” PhD dissertation, Lisbon: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.
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Mucznik, Lúcia Liba. 2014. Judaica Nas Coleções Da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal: Séculos XIII a XVIII. Catálogos. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal.
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Novinsky, Anita. 1972. Cristãos-Novos Na Bahia. São Paulo: Perspectiva.
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Pinto, Pedro. 2020. Fora do secreto: um contributo para o conhecimento do Tribunal do Santo Ofício em arquivos e bibliotecas de Portugal. Lisbon: CEHR-UCP.
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Poettering, Jorun. 2019. Migrating Merchants: Trade, Nation, and Religion in Seventeenth-Century Hamburg and Portugal. München: De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
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Salvador, José Gonçalves. 1969. Cristãos Novos, Jesuítas e Inquisição: Aspectos de Sua Atuação Nas Capitanais Do Sul (1530-1680). São Paulo: Pioneira; Universidade de São Paulo.
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Tavim, José Alberto Rodrigues da Silva. 2016. “Judeus e judiarias de Lisboa nos alvores dos Descobrimentos. Perspectivas dos espaços e das gentes.” In Lisboa Medieval: Gentes, Espaços e Poderes, João Luís Inglês Fontes et al., 439–63. Lisbon: IEM - Instituto de Estudos Medievais.
