On March 16, 1836, Andreu signed his will and delivered it sealed to his notary. Almost two centuries later, Antoni Albacete, current director of research and dissemination of the Historical Archive of Protocols in Barcelona, opened the envelope and discovered that Andreu had written his last will as a poem. About the inheritance for his mother, he wrote: "The woman who gave birth to me / or the mother who gave birth to me / with five daily salaries / I reward her."
Andreu's is one of the more than 18,000 sealed wills that the Col·legi de Notaris de Catalunya has opened for public consultation through a virtual catalogue. "The archive is an open window to the past," says José Alberto Marín, dean of the college.
Sealed wills are not popular these days because they are delivered sealed and lack of supervision at the time of writing can lead to technical errors and their cancellation. In order to access its content, the testator must be deceased. But in the event that no one claims it, 125 years must pass before it can be consulted.
In the Historical Archive of Protocols in Barcelona, the sealed wills date from the years 1586 to 1897. The collection is the most significant in Spain and one of the most valuable in all of Europe.
The new virtual catalog of the Col·legi de Notaris allows you to filter the search by name of the testator, date, place, employment and language. Once the desired will has been identified, you must visit the archive in person to consult it. "What people inherited also explains the social relationships of the time," notes Antoni Albacete.
Among the wills included in the catalog are those of prominent figures of his time such as the industrialist and politician Joan Güell i Ferrer (father of Eusebi Güell, patron of Antoni Gaudí), who signed his will on March 12, 1855. Although can specify if it was his last will (he died in 1872), the document stipulates his son Eusebi as the main heir, with more than half of his assets, while his daughter, Josefina, left a third part.
In addition to poetry and historical figures, the sealed wills also contain anecdotes. Like that of Dr. Félix, who in July 1785 wanted to make official to whom he would leave his assets when he died. When he signed before his notary, Francesc Comelles, however, the doctor only managed to write the first letter of his name. He died instantly.
The archive is open to historians, people looking for their family tree, or writers who want to set a text with certainty in a historical time. The contents of the sealed wills are still under review, so discovering more treasures is only a matter of time.
