"Transactions between Lisbon Jews and the Chelas Monastery in Late Middle Ages. Documental analysis"

Abstract

In the Portuguese archives, there are still countless documents that can enlighten us about the Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, about the everyday life of the Jews in the kingdom of Portugal. The focus of this article will be, therefore, to survey and analyse some charters that could conceivably mention the activities of Portuguese Jewish communities in the Late Middle Ages. The sources in question belonged to Chelas’ Convent, whose archive was incorporated in the National Archives/Torre do Tombo. The main objective of the present study is to determine what kind of sources regarding the Jewish community were part of this religious institution’s broader involvement in daily life in Lisbon, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and to what extent the business transactions between Jews and Christians ignored issues of faith because of legal and monetary concerns. Hence, the present research is analytical with respect to the documentation and the role of agents in these transaction. Naturally we must bear in mind that only a small sample is available of what may must been a vast ensemble of documents once kept in the armaria of Portuguese monasteries and convents.