Notai pubblici e notai della curia nelle udienze ecclesiastiche di Braga e Porto (secoli XIII e XIV)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the role played by public notaries and notaries of the curia in the audiences of two episcopal sees in northern Portugal: Braga and Porto. In this context, we will consider two main aspects: institutions (i.e., ecclesiastical audiences) and the men responsible for document production. In the first case, we will analyse the evolution of their organisation between the 13th and 14th centuries, the types of documents produced in these audiences and the formularies of the most represented documents. As far as the notaries are concerned, we will try, on the one hand, to understand who they were and what training they had and, on the other hand, to know what functions they performed in the hearings, apart from that of writing documents. In spite of their geographical proximity, the audiences of Braga and Porto underwent rather divergent processes of structuring and autonomy within the episcopal chancery. We believe that the role played by public notaries and notaries of the curia in each of them may be one of the keys to understanding these different processes.