Stories of Cabeceiras

The pillory of Abadim seems simple at first glance: a smooth column of granite, a cubic capite and a pear-shaped shot. But on one side you find a five-pointed star inside a four-lobe frame. The Museum links the monument to the administrative and judicial autonomy of the former Couto, extinguished in 1836. The Museum brings its construction closer to the foral of 1514, but the record of the Cultural Heritage warns that dating is difficult and that the piece can be quite later. The detail of the star invites you to look again at a piece that would easily go unnoticed.

The official record describes four faces on the capital: three undecorated and one with the star. This helps to understand why a photograph from another side may not show the best known reason. The record places the monument next to the portal of the House of Tower of Tronco and documents the classification as Public Interest Property in 1933. The date of protection is not the date of construction.

The foral, the stone age and the patrimonial classification answer different questions. Instead of automatically assigning ‘1514’ to the entire monument, compare the described form, the proposals for dating and the documents that changed its status.

Manuel I granted the foral of Cabeceiras in 5 October 1514 and that of Vadym, today Abadim, in 12 October. Seven days separate the documents: the administrative history of the territory goes through more than one place.

But what was the point of reviewing the outsiders? The Tombo Tower exhibition explains the general context: there were complaints about outdated charges, coins and weights and old texts difficult to interpret. Manueline reform sought to review these documents. Local dates of 1514 belong to this broader movement; it does not mean that the settlements began to exist that year.

The work also required registration and preservation. The same exhibition describes the preparation in triplicate: one copy for the chamber, one for the landlord of the rights and another for the Tower of the Tombo. This general explanation helps to understand why an administrative document could have several copies. It does not identify here the whereabouts of each copy of the two local forals.

In 5 October 2024, Casa do Tempo received a tertulia over the 510 years of the foral, with José Viriato Chapel and Porfirio Correia. The municipal news recalls the two documents and their importance for the administrative organization. The celebration is a gateway to history; it does not replace the reading of the forals themselves.