Memory and truth: the strange case of the witness enquiries of 1216 in the Braga-Toledo dispute

This article deals with the construction of memory and the manipulation of truth in a group of witness enquiries written in Portugal in 1216. They were compiled in order to be sent to Rome as part of the dossier that the Church of Braga was to present at the papal curia to defend itself against Toledo's accusations in relation to the issue of the Spanish primacy. This specific purpose constrained the statements of all the 195 witnesses who testified and whose words were to lend authority to the Braga version of events. Close study of these enquiries offers us both unusual insight into the practical management of complicated religious issues, and also greater understanding of the juridical value of oral testimonies in these years, in Portugal as elsewhere.