O Testamento de D. Pedro Martins, bispo de Coimbra, e as suas relaçoes de parentesco com a aristocracia medieval coimbra

Abstract

The present case study focuses on a 13-th Century Portuguese clergyman, Dom Pedro Martins, who served as bishop of Coimbra from 1297 to 1301. The study addresses such issues as structures of kinship, the means used to enter and prosper in the clergy – and other organizations —, the power stemming from material wealth, the observance of the practices of piety, and Dom Pedro Martins’ cultural sophistication. Based on his testament, an account is offered of his relationship, as well as that of his relatives, with the institutions to which he belonged, his social and family origins, his possessions, his “house” (his vassality) and his culture. In itself, the testament in question is a powerful instrument of representation, at once the embodiment and the reflection of a high level of social distinction.