Case Study Portugal
Maria Amélia Álvaro de Campos (Portugal, Universidade de Coimbra, Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura) will focus her research on small communities’ agency in education, training, and literacy in Late Medieval Europe, with particular interest in the case of Coimbra parochial network (14th-16th century). Coimbra is one of the oldest dioceses in Portugal, and the city with the oldest documented parochial circumscription. For Christian forces, it was the seat of the dominant political and military power in the final period of conquest of territory. Furthermore, until the Late Middle Ages, Coimbra preserved traces of its Islamic and Mozarabic heritage, and its Jewish community remained in the city until the end of the 15th century. Therefore, Coimbra is considered a perfect scenario in which to apply a research framework to identify the educational range of different social groups (lay or ecclesiastical), as well as the influence of different communities in the literacy of others, before the University was definitively established in the city.
The case study intends to explore a smaller sample, scrutinizing the confraternity of the boys’ choir of the Cathedral of Coimbra. This fraternal and welfare institution for young boys who helped the liturgical service of the Cathedral performed a role as an educational institution during the Late Middle Ages. The confraternity was based in the parish of São Salvador, but the administration of its assets and means was directed by the Schoolmaster of the Cathedral. Based on archival documentation, its institutional make-up, the role played by the confraternity in teaching and training the boys’ choir and its relationship with the Cathedral’s school will be reconstructed, allowing contemporary societies to question themselves about the educational strategies and results and overcome their present challenges by finding better solutions for the future.
