‘Artificial Families’ within the Parish: Intertwined Relationships Between Confraternities and Parish Churches in Medieval Coimbra

Between the beginning of the twelfth century and the end of the fifteenth century, we estimate in forty the number of confraternities founded in the town of Coimbra. This chapter aims to analyse the developed relationships between the confraternities of Coimbra and the urban parish churches. At first, after a brief general presentation of the documented medieval confraternities of Coimbra, we will identify and describe those established in the parish churches, paying attention to their chronology and main characteristics and functions, as well as the confraternal practices within the parish context. Finally, using a small but significant set of written sources, we will pay particular attention to the interdependent relationships between the studied confraternities and the parish churches where they were based. These relationships are especially clear in the moment when a confraternity was extinctic and its assets were annexed to the church. Therefore, we intend to analyse how this incorporation took place and how it was reflected over time, beyond the existence of the confraternities themselves.