Alfonso V, King of Portugal (1438-81), 'the African', document in Portuguese, signed and dated Sintra (near Lisbon, Portugal), 16 September 1450

single sheet, 295x450mm, vellum, 23 lines of main text, in cursive yet occasionally flamboyantly calligraphic script, beginning with a large decorative initial 'D', endorsed by at least four hands of the 15th-19th centuries, one horizontal and several vertical folds not significantly affecting legibility, a few small holes, a blank area of the lower left corner slightly torn and defective

The document begins with the king’s name and titles, 'Dom Affonso per graça de deus rey de Portugal & do Algarve & Senhor de Cepra. …', names his private secretary, 'Nuno Martins da Silveira ricomen cavalleiro de nossa cassa' (lines 2-3), and confirms the privileges of morgado (i.e. the inheritance of property according to primogeniture), apparently in favour of 'Nuno Fernandez de Chaves cavalleiro' (line 4); it is dated at Sintra, 16 September 1450: 'dada em Sintra xvj de septenbre … Anno do naçimento de nosso Senhor Jesus Christo do mil & quatroçento & cinquenta', and signed in large letters by the king: 'El Rey'.

Alfonso V was born and died at Sintra, which still has the best preserved medieval royal palace in Portugal. Medieval documents in Portuguese are uncommon on the market.