12th c. — today

History

A Monastery full of history — from the 12th century to the present day.

Chapter 01

Origins & architecture

Where Mosteiro de Landim was born and how its architectural style evolved over time.

The origins of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Landim go back to the dawn of the Late Middle Ages, although the records of its founding are contradictory and scarce. Despite the uncertainty of the dates, its founder is believed to have been D. Gonçalo Rodrigues da Palmeira, son of Count Rodrigo Forjaz de Trastâmara, a member of the Trava lineage and a comrade-in-arms of Henry of Burgundy, father of our first King. This Gonçalo Rodrigues, who held positions of distinction at the court of Queen Teresa and gave rise to the Pereira lineage through one of his sons, is thought to have founded the early Monasterio de Nandim between 1110 and 1128, later endowing it with the domain of Palmeira granted to him by King Afonso Henriques. The donation was confirmed by his sons in a 1177 document, by which time the Monastery — whose original community had certainly adopted the canons of the Hispanic tradition — had already been reformed by the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, based in Santa Cruz de Coimbra, as read in the text where it is named Monasterio de Nandim & Ordini Sancti Agustini. In the Inquisitions of 1258 it appears for the first time under the name Monasterio de Sancte Marie de Nandim, and it would remain within the Crúzios until its dissolution in 1770.

At the time of its founding, in the early 12th century, the Monastery was Romanesque, and some traces of it still remain, such as the capitals and the blind arcades in the church chapel and some twin capitals with motifs of the period — perhaps already transitional towards the thirteenth century, as suggested by their bulb bases — all fragments possibly originating from a Romanesque cloister destroyed during the 16th-century reconstruction. The church had a single nave, lower than the current one, and a chapel with straight, roughly square walls. It had wooden ceilings and a portal of three archivolts, whose remains are found in the old cemetery. The 13th-century reform installed the present chapel vault supported on exterior buttresses and raised the height of the nave, and from that period date some of the Romanesque ornaments that survived later alterations, such as the arches-beneath-the-cornice and the chequered frieze that surrounds the chapel. The great transformation would, however, come in the 16th century under the aegis of the Cardinal-Bishop of Viseu, D. Miguel da Silva, a figure of great prominence in the European Renaissance current, who was Commendatory of the Monastery in the first half of the sixteenth century. The Mannerist reconstruction, strongly marked by the architectural style of the Society of Jesus, is characterised by the work on the church façade, rebuilt in three plain bodies divided horizontally by straight cornices, with a three-arched narthex and high choir, and the building of the tower and side nave.

In the fully remodelled Monastery, the new cloister with Doric columns “in the Roman manner” stands out, as does the upper cloister open between colonnettes, which would later be enclosed — possibly already as a private domain — in the late eighteenth century. The interiors underwent successive decorative remodellings throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, with abundant use of azulejos, where carpet patterns and figurative scenes in the popular taste of the seventeenth century stand out, such as those seen in the Casa do Paço, next to the old Jogo da Péla field, and some remarkable works of Baroque carving that can be seen on the chapel altarpiece and on the transitional arch of the nave, or on the admirable ceiling of the Chapter House, near the entrance portal of the new Monastery. Also from the 18th century is the organ that adorns the church, whose unusual construction would warrant urgent restoration.

Demarcation of the Coutos of Palmeira and Landim on a 13th-century map.

Capital in the church chapel (click to see more).

Twin capital with zoomorphic motifs and twin capital with plant motifs.

The Jogo da Péla ground. In the background, the Casa do Paço.

The chapel arch finished in carved work.

Chapter 02

Priors & commendatories

The monastic communities that passed through here, from priors to commendatories.

In the year of the Monastery's dissolution, the monastic community of Santa Maria de Landim was made up of 17 canons and 5 lay brothers. Everything indicates that, despite the new dependencies with which the monastery was enlarged at the time of its 16th-century reconstruction, the size of the community was never very different from this order of magnitude.

The first prior of the Monastery of Landim, according to Friar Nicolau de Santa Maria in the Chronicle of the Order of the Canons Regular of the Patriarch St. Augustine, was D. Pedro Rodrigues, whom the chronicler describes as the son of Rodrigo Forjaz de Trastâmara and therefore the brother of Gonçalo Rodrigues da Palmeira, founder of the monastery. Although the name Pedro Rodrigues does not appear as one of Rodrigo Forjaz de Trastâmara's sons in any known genealogical compilation, and knowing that some of the facts narrated by the chronicler have no historical basis, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the founder, following the donation of the Couto da Palmeira, sought to consolidate his influence over the monastery through a blood brother. The priorate of D. Pedro Rodrigues was marked by the signing of the confirmation of the donation of that couto to the Monasterio de Nandim, & Ordini Sancti Augustini, by the sons of Gonçalo Rodrigues, in June 1177. He was succeeded by D. Pedro Garcia, nephew of the Archbishop of Braga D. Godinho — the prior who, after his death, was venerated as a saint by the people of Landim and the surrounding lands.

In the 13th century only two priors are known: D. Miguel, to whom King Sancho I, in 1210, delegated the mediation of the conflict that set him against D. Martinho Rodrigues, Bishop of Porto and grandson of Gonçalo Rodrigues da Palmeira, and D. Fernando Pires, Visitor General of the Order in 1228, appointed by the Cardinal of Santa Sabina, João de Abavila.

The name of D. Martinho Domingues, prior of the monastery between the first and second quarters of the 14th century, is mentioned by D. Rodrigo da Cunha in his Ecclesiastical History of the Archbishops of Braga, and of the saints and illustrious men who flourished in this archbishopric, as the one chosen by Archbishop D. Gonçalo Pereira, great-great-grandson of Gonçalo Rodrigues da Palmeira, to deliver the sermon at the Diocesan Council of Braga in 1328. Also from the fourteenth century is the priorate of D. Francisco Miguel, of whom it is only known that he moved from Landim to the Monastery of Santa Maria de Oliveira, where he was also invested as prior in 1356.

D. Martinho Gonçalves Taveira, whose priorate must have begun before 1423, was succeeded by his son D. Fernão Martins Taveira, chamberlain to the Duke of Bragança D. Afonso, the illegitimate son of King João I. The reasons that led to the resignation of these two priors are unknown, though in the case of D. Fernão Martins Taveira he may have been compelled by the Archbishop of Braga, D. Fernando da Guerra, for not professing the rule of the Canons Regular.

By at least 1446, D. Álvaro Afonso already presided over the destinies of the monastery, a priorate that would extend for more than three decades.

In the 15th century, Landim came to join the list of monastic institutions that became the object of commendam grants. D. Jorge da Costa, better known as the Cardinal of Alpedrinha, was most probably the monastery's first commendatory. In 1526, King João III appointed D. Miguel da Silva perpetual prior and commendatory of the Monastery of Landim and commendatory abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of S. Tirso. The granting of these commendams was likely no more than a conciliatory gesture towards Pope Clement VII, for the king had already ordered D. Miguel da Silva to cease his duties as Portugal's ambassador to the Holy See and to return to the kingdom at once, as a way of preventing the Pope from elevating the prelate to the dignity of cardinal, at the expense of a relative of his own. A driving force behind the introduction of Italianate architectural models in northern Portugal, it was during D. Miguel da Silva's tenure as Bishop of Viseu that the monastery's most profound remodelling began at Landim, as attested by the institution's Book of Deaths, which designates him as its commendatory and rebuilder. Yet the king's low regard for the prelate continued to show. To escape the threats and persecutions waged by King João III, D. Miguel da Silva decided to flee, in 1540, to Italy, hoping to find with Pope Paul III the welcome and protection he lacked in Portugal — which indeed came to pass, a year later, when he was invested as Cardinal in the Roman Curia. In the short interval between his flight and the issuing of the royal letter in which King João III stripped him of all favours, it was his nephew, D. António da Silva, abbot of the Monastery of Santo Tirso, who held the commendams. However, as a result of the negotiations meanwhile conducted between King João III and the Holy See, it was established that the new commendatory of Landim would be Cardinal Alexander Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III.

The era of the triennial priors began in 1562, the year the Monastery of Landim joined the Congregation of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, based in Santa Cruz de Coimbra. At the time of the Monastery's dissolution, in 1770, its prior was D. Agostinho de Nossa Senhora.

St. Anthony dressed in the habit of a Canon Regular. Painting by André Gonçalves, 18th century, in Santa Cruz de Coimbra.

Detail of the painting Christ in the House of Martha by Grão Vasco (c. 1535), depicting D. Miguel da Silva.

Chapter 03

Dissolution of the monastery

The period that decreed the dissolution of several monastic organisations, including Mosteiro de Landim.

Within the framework of Portuguese society in the late 18th century, the enormous power held by the monastic orders was reflected both in the persistent accumulation of land holdings and significant hoarding of treasure, and in what today might be considered a powerful centre of influence and ideological control over the educational apparatus. It is against this backdrop of the struggle to weaken the powers held by religious institutions that the apostolic brief of Clement XIV, Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium, of 4 July 1770, is to be understood, decreeing the dissolution of nine monasteries of the Congregation of Santa Cruz de Coimbra, among them the Monastery of Santa Maria de Landim.

The royal letter of King José I, dated 6 September 1770 and addressed to Cardinal da Cunha — appointed by the Pope to execute the Apostolic Brief — marks the beginning of the process of dissolving these monasteries. In that letter the king conveys the decision contained in the Brief, granting the Cardinal the Royal sanction and Royal aid to carry out the Pope's directives. On 15 September of that same year, the judge of the Porto High Court receives orders from Cardinal da Cunha to proceed to the Monastery of Landim in order to place under general Sequestration everything belonging to it and to summon the canons to leave it. Attached to this letter is a document — Form of the Inventory to be made of the goods and revenues of the Convent of Santa Maria de Nandim located in the Diocese of Braga, prepared by the prelate of the Mitre of Lisbon, specifying everything that was to be inventoried. The judge's first act was to inform the religious community, gathered in the Monastery's Chapter House on 25 September, of the orders and proceedings he had come to carry out and of the instruction conveyed to him by Cardinal da Cunha for the canons to go and lodge at the Royal House of Santa Cruz de Coimbra.

On that same day, the bailiff proceeded with the general sequestration and royal seizure of all the monastery's goods, namely jewels and ornaments of gold and silver belonging to this monastery and its Church, and in its furnishings and vestments, and the Sacristy, and in the furniture and common goods of the refectory, cellars, granary, pantry and kitchen, and in the estates and farms and herds, and in all the harvested and pending crops, as well as in all the leases and ground rents and landed property, and in the active and passive debts, and in all the affairs of this Monastery, and in the Chapels of its Church, and the goods of its foundation and institution. After all the sequestrations were concluded and public edicts had been posted in Landim, neighbouring localities and Porto, on 11 November the auction of some of its goods took place in the courtyard by the Monastery gatehouse. On 20 December 1770, the sequestration of the Monastery of Landim, documented in more than five hundred pages, finally came to an end.

The Apostolic Brief, page by page

Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (click to see more).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.2).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.3).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.4).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.5).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.6).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.7).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.8).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.9).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.10).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.11).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.12).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.13).
Apostolic Brief of Clement XIV Sacrosanctum Apostolatus Ministerium (p.14).

The Inventory Book

A page from the Inventory Book.
A page from the Inventory Book (p.2).
A page from the Inventory Book (p.3).
A page from the Inventory Book (p.4).
A page from the Inventory Book (p.5).

Chapter 04

Sale & family estate

Details about the sale of Mosteiro de Landim and how it became a family estate.

Two years after the issuing of the Apostolic Brief that dissolved it, the monastery was sold to Manuel Baptista Landim [?-1788], becoming a valuable private estate, carefully maintained across several generations of the same family. Manuel Baptista Landim, a native of S. Salvador de Bente, a small parish of the old Couto de Landim, settled in Brazil where he served, in Minas Gerais, as General Administrator of the Rights of Diamonds and Gold. In 1772, the year in which he possibly adopted the surname Landim, Manuel Baptista acquired, for thirty thousand cruzados, the Monastery, its enclosure and also the Privilege of the Patronage of the Church of Santa Maria de Landim, with the presentation of its Curacy. Some years later, the Crúzios' demand that the patronage of the Church of Santa Maria de Landim be restored to them led the monastery's owner to claim his rights in a long legal dispute. From Brazil, where he remained until his death in 1788, he never ceased to follow closely the unfolding of events, always maintaining an uncompromising stance towards the Crúzios' claims. The epilogue of this dispute, which he probably did not live to see, resulted in the right of patronage remaining in the family's possession, at least until the early 19th century.

The upkeep of this important estate would be ensured, to this day, by the descendants of Manuel Baptista Landim, who passed it on from generation to generation. Among them, notable figures include Manuel Baptista de Carvalho e Souza [1782-1854], knight of the Order of Christ and appointed by King João IV as captain-major of the Ordinances of the Couto de Landim, and António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Souza [1821-1911], Administrator of the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão between 1849 and 1857. In the time of António Vicente, the Monastery again became the object of legal actions. In the first, in 1860, the Parish Board of Santa Maria de Landim claimed exclusive possession of the high choir. Two years later, the Porto High Court ruling would favour the monastery's owner, as can be inferred from what he wrote in his diary: [...] I was adjudged the use, ownership and exclusive possession of the said choir — which, by title, becomes mine, and a possession and privilege of my Estate of the Monastery of Landim. A short time later, he found himself caught up once more in the toils of justice, accused of desecrating graves for having promoted the removal of some tombstones from the sacristy of the Church of Landim to the monastery cloister, which his old friend Camilo Castelo Branco wished to examine and study while writing “O Senhor do Paço de Ninães”. On 3 August 1868, a ruling of the Porto court not only cleared António Vicente of all the charges against him, finding no grounds to constitute the crime of robbery or theft, nor any such criminal intent, but also praised his action, since its purpose had been the interest of the country's archaeological knowledge. The present monastery, which marked this family's identity.

The present monastery, which marked this family's identity over more than two hundred years, remains today, happily, an exemplary case of the conservation of an almost millennial monastic foundation, converted, for historical reasons, into a private domain.

António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Souza [1821-1911], Administrator of the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão between 1849 and 1857.

Coat of Arms, granted by King João VI to António Vicente de Carvalho e Souza, father of António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Souza.

Chapter 05

Notable figures

Through Mosteiro de Landim have passed illustrious figures who left their mark here.

Camilo Castelo Branco

Novelist, [1825-1890]

Camilo Castelo Branco was a friend of António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Souza, owner of the Monastery of Landim from 1849 to 1875.

The writer visited the monastery family with some regularity and, not infrequently, stayed there to rest and write a few pages of his novels, having a room always prepared to receive him — the Camilo room, as it has been called ever since. Some quaint stories are known from his stays at the monastery. Maria Henriqueta Leal Sampaio, granddaughter of António Vicente, used to recount that one day Camilo asked his friend to take him in, since, finding himself on the verge of death, he had chosen his house to spend the final moments of his life. The obsession with death that brought him to Landim would soon be forgotten. A few days of rest and a well-laden table were enough for the writer to take his leave in fine spirits! Another story of a different sort took place in 1868, when the monastery owner ordered the removal of some tombstones from the sacristy of the Church of Landim to the monastery cloister, so as to allow Camilo better conditions to examine their inscriptions. As a result of this, António Vicente found himself facing a lawsuit for the crime of desecrating graves. His defence lawyer's arguments to prove that no crime had been committed rested, above all, on the purpose that led to the removal of the said tombstones: to provide working material for the novelist to write O Senhor do Paço de Ninães. Camilo Castelo Branco's great literary prestige and the well-crafted argument of the defence led to an outcome favourable to António Vicente, who was cleared of all charges against him. As a way of making up for having drawn his friend into the toils of justice, the writer would pen this brief note in his novel: The old monastery is today the fine house and estate of my friend António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Souza, heir and nephew of the last captain-major of Landim.

Letter from Camilo Castelo Branco — page 1 — LETTER FROM CAMILO CASTELO BRANCO "My dear A. Vicente I have been for some days in S. Tirso under the medical care of Dr. Ferr.ª. I feel here a great lack of nourishment, and my main treatment would be good food. Nuno tells me that, if my friend gives him leave, he could arrange me a rabbit or two from your woodland. If so, my dear Ant. Vicente will not hesitate" (continues)

Letter from Camilo Castelo Branco — page 2 — LETTER FROM CAMILO CASTELO BRANCO "to allow him to invade with the dogs those rich dwellings. I dare, then, in the name of my anaemia, to ask you for such leave, and to consider me until the end of this weary pilgrimage." 26/7/85 Your most devoted friend Camilo Cast. Br.

Alberto Sampaio

Historian, [1841-1908]

Alberto Sampaio, a prominent member of the famous Generation of 1870, distinguished himself as one of the most brilliant historians of the 19th century. His first connection with Landim arose when he began his schooling at the Colégio Correia de Abreu, located on the Monastery's avenue. From 1868, the year his brother José da Cunha Sampaio married the daughter of the then owner of the Monastery, António Vicente de Carvalho Leal e Sousa, the small village of the Ave valley became part of his family path. By that time the historian already lived at the Casa de Boamense, a rural property located in the parish of Cabeçudos in the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão, where he spent practically his whole life, devoted to historical research and the experimental study of agricultural and winemaking practices. On one of his visits to the Monastery he met, through António Vicente, Camilo Castelo Branco. The moments of companionship they surely enjoyed in the former domains of the Crúzios led to a very close relationship, filled above all with matters of a literary nature, as can be inferred from the letters Camilo wrote to Alberto Sampaio and from the latter's collaboration in translating the work “Fair Lusitania” by C. C. Lady Jackson.

Sebastião de Carvalho

Poet, [1869-1926]

Sebastião de Carvalho, a poet from Famalicão, was director of the literary magazine Nova Alvorada from 1894 to 1903, and a contributor to various periodicals and literary magazines of Porto and Vila Nova de Famalicão. A long-standing friend of the Landim family, through the relationship he had kept since his Coimbra days with António Vicente Leal Sampaio, brother of his future wife, he frequently visited the Monastery of Landim. A year before his premature passing, he married Maria Henriqueta Leal Sampaio, already by then the Monastery's owner. During the short period he lived at Landim, Sebastião de Carvalho oversaw the works that had meanwhile begun on some of the House's dependencies and managed, with his brother-in-law's support, the running of the estates. In the only book of poetry he published, Rosas da Minha Terra, appears the poem Na Cerca do Mosteiro which he dedicated to his mother-in-law, reworked from the original version that was initially titled À Sombra de Árvores.

Read the poem “In the monastery enclosure”

To Her Excellency D. Maria José Leal Sampaio

 Beneath these leafy trees,
Thick with moss, of rugged age,
I imagine the delightful naps
A friar would enjoy in their shade!

Along the paths of the silent garden
I fancy I see, passing in this moment,
The lord abbot, flowing and sumptuous,
Venerable prelate of the convent.

How long ago they passed through here!
Wandering shadows, how far they have gone!
What anguish and passions once throbbed
Within a monk's flowing habit!

The myrtle of the flowerbeds, mirrored
In the coolness of the lake, grows intoxicated.
All invites to peace. How tranquil
Now are the cloister and the gatehouse!

Beside the murmur of this clear fountain
Someone once sighed his verses here;
The fountain had quenched his thirst for water....
But it could not quench his thirst for love.

A soul moaning under forced sorrow,
Locked behind the cloister grille,
Like the Moorish captive of the harem,
remained, by the rule, a submissive slave!

At the hour of sunset, slowly,
The shadows trace shifting patterns;
Upon the enclosure, at the western window,
Nostalgic novices came to brood...

A Crúzio, being one and shrouded,
also has a heart imprisoned
by love, for to love is no sin,
and much has already been loved in this monastery.

If these old trees could speak
How many secrets they would reveal to us!
And what mad desires, were they to tell them...
If they could speak, what would they not say!

Beneath this flowering vault,
lined at its far end with azulejos,
a gentle murmur passes, still felt,
the cavatina of a chatter of kisses...

To the wiles of love, which sweeps all away,
the heart surrenders; to capture it,
a woman's glance is all it takes,
the snare of a single strand of hair is enough...

It is love still, in this thicket,
that quickens the sap of the grove;
it fertilises the earth; it pulses in the structure
of the heart of the roses — tawny and glad...

The whole building, now plunged
in shadows, is a silent tomb...
In the old tower beside it,
the Angelus bells toll in measured time...

And it seems that all of nature,
with hands clasped, in recollection,
lowers its eyes and softly prays...
for the dust that passed from this convent!

Chapter 06

Book

Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Landim: Raízes e Memória

Emília Nóvoa Faria and António Martins

Edições Húmus, 2025

The Monastery of Santa Maria de Landim, one of the most influential cenobies of the Order of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the Entre-Douro-e-Minho region, whose founding goes back to the dawn of nationhood, is perhaps, in our day, one of the rare examples of religious architecture preserved in private hands. To plunge into the pages of this book is to journey into the past, from the times of sacredness, when the monastery was home to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, until it passed into the hands of its first lay owner, Manuel Baptista Landim, in the 18th century. Today, as yesterday, the signs of that time — present in the capitals of the primitive chancel, in the Renaissance cloister and in the fountains adorned with enigmatic mascarons through which the water springs — continue to envelop us in the timeless spell of a place that, amid the tolling of its bell tower, has watched over us for centuries.

Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Landim: Raízes e Memória