The Inventory of Infanta Beatrice’s of Portugal Wedding Dowry (1522)

A Biography of the Documents

Abstract

In 1522, Álvaro do Tojal and Vaseon Traillan, treasurers to the Infanta Beatrice of Portugal and to the Duke Charles III of Savoy, respectively, signed two inventories, a Portuguese and a Savoyard version, confirming the receipt and appraisal of her wedding dowry. This chapter questions the conventional interpretation of a dowry’s inventory (the content) by reconstructing the history and biography of the documents, which were written after the marriage of Beatrice and Charles and present the same content in different ways. For this purpose, the contribution analyses issues relating to the documents’ narrative potential and agency. Further, it argues that the inventory of Beatrice’s dowry results from the analysis and interpretation of both documents, written under the same circumstances and aiming at the same purpose, but targeted to different audiences, using a methodology that can apply in case studies with similar characteristics.