[Fig. 1] Exterior view of the Quinta do Paço house, Canidelo.

The history of the “quinta” and the town in later decades is still little known. In the middle of the 15th century, however, a unique woman entered Canidelo’s history, and her will opens a real window into the local past: Inês Vasques, the founder of the Canidelo entail. When we met her in 1458, she was already the owner of a vast estate, inherited from her first husband, Álvaro Afonso Dinis,  or acquired jointly with him: in addition to the Canidelo estate, she owned a place in Buarcos; pieces of land  in Vilarinho (Braga), Eiras (Coimbra), Rates (Póvoa de Varzim); two houses in Coimbra; a chapel in the monastery of São Domingos that she had  established after the death of her first husband; more than a hundred gold beads; jewellery; silver coins and gold crowns. We can therefore infer that she was a woman with great economic power and management skills, as well as a strongly religious person, with clear ideas about what she should do to save her soul and continue her memory (ROSA, 1995: 226-228).

Devout as she was, fearing the day and hour of her death, Inês had her will drawn up on 18 June 1457 in the city of Porto, in her dwelling houses (ADP, Mosteiro de São Domingos do Porto, Instituições de capelas e aniversários e missas rezadas, K/19/6 – 1, unnumbered folios, 1440-1501). By her last will and testament, she ordered that, for the remission of her sins, her body be buried in the altar of Jesus in the chapel of the monastery of São Domingos in Porto. Awareness of her importance led Inês to order the construction of a proper space for her tomb (“monumento”), marked by an “arch”. She ordered that funeral ceremonies should be held not only in this monastery, but also in the monasteries of São Pedro and Santa Marinha. She ordered a mass to be said for her soul every day for the first year, and solemn perpetual ceremonies every week thereafter. Finally, she commanded her executors to offer a silk cloth garment and a chalice of two silver marks to the cathedral of the Porto  and, because she hadn’t paid tithes, she left it one hundred réis.

[Fig. 2] Main door of Quinta do Paço, Canidelo.

As Inês had no children from either marriages, she chose as her successor the nephew, João Álvares Ribeiro. She also listed a series of assets that she donated to some of her servants, to another nephew, to people she trusted and who lived with her, to another of her executors, João Eanes Piliteiro, who lived in the city of Porto, to Guiomar Sá, daughter of Gonçalo Sá and to other relatives.

Inês also indicated to her executors that, when the will out to practice, her husband, Gonçalo de Sá, would have to return 350 gold crowns, corresponding to what would be the testator’s “rightful share” of his daughter’s dowry. This reveals Inês’ strong personality and her ability to manage her own assets independently. In fact, her husband had decided to give his daughter, Guiomar de Sá, 700 gold crowns as a dowry, and had forced Inês to contribute with half of the amount; but she hadn’t accepted and had taken legal action, winning the dispute and keeping record of it. She recalled all this in the will and made it clear that Guiomar de Sá would receive a much smaller sum, 100 gold crowns.

[Fig. 3] Quinta do Paço house and Canidelo church. The church was built around the 12th century, taking advantage of a small hermitage attached to the quinta, the future manor house. It was enlarged as the population grew.

[Fig. 4] Panoramic view of the fields of Quinta do Paço, Canidelo.