Beja Castle

Parish of Santiago Maior

Background

Although the primitive human occupation of its site dates back to prehistory and is mentioned in the writings of Ptolemy and Polybius, in the middle of the 2nd century BC, its fortification dates from the Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, plausibly, due to the importance acquired in the regional scenario. This was the place chosen by Julius Caesar to formalize peace with the Lusitanians (49d.C), after which it began to be called Pax Julia, becoming the headquarters of one of the three Roman jurisdictions of Lusitania. The Roman defensive walls are believed to date back to sometime between the 3rd and 4th centuries.

This economic and strategic relevance of Beja was maintained at the time of the Suevi, of the Visigoths, as well as under Muslim occupation.

The medieval castle

At the time of Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Beja was initially conquered by the forces of D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) in 1159, to be abandoned four months later. It was reconquered by surprise assault, by an expedition of locals from Santarém, at the beginning of December 1162.

In the years that followed, after the defeat of that sovereign at the siege of Badajoz (1169), the knight Gonçalo Mendes da Maia - Lidador, already in his nineties, lost his life defending the walls of Beja. Given the lack of information about the period after this date, scholars believe that the great Almohad offensive of Iacube Almançor (1191) up to the Tagus River, after having reconquered Silves, also included the reconquest of Beja, with only Évora remaining in Christian hands, in the whole of Alentejo. It is also assumed that the town returned to Portuguese hands only between 1232 and 1234, a time when the neighboring towns of Moura, Serpa and Aljustrel also returned.

The first restoration of the walls of Beja dates back to the reign of D. Afonso III (1248-79), which started in 1253, funded over ten years by two thirds of the tithes collected by the churches of Beja. The following year (1254), the town received its charter under the same terms as Santarém, confirmed in 1291 during the reign of his son, D. Dinis (1279-1325). This, in turn, continued the reconstruction works, reinforcing and expanding the walls and towers (1307) and began the construction of the keep (1310).

The village and its castle supported the Master of Avis in the context of Crisis of 1383–1385, having been involved in later episodes of the History of Portugal, such as the Discoveries phase.

In the 15th century, under the reign of D. Afonso V (1438-1481), the town was elevated to a duchy, with his brother, Infante D. Fernando, as the 1st Duke of Beja, and later the king D. Manuel I (1495-1521). During the reign of this last sovereign, major works were carried out to improve the town's defenses, which would, however, be elevated to the status of city in 1517.

From the Restoration War to the present day

Until the 17th century, Beja Castle underwent several extensions and modernizations, particularly in the context of Restoration War of Portuguese independence, when it was reinforced by bastions according to the design of the French military engineer and architect Nicolau de Langres, approved by the kingdom's chief engineer and cosmographer, Luís Serrão Pimentel, and by General Agostinho de Andrade Freire (1644). Between 1669 and 1679, the works were directed by engineers João Coutinho, Diogo de Brito de Castanheira and Manuel Almeida Falcão, but they were never completed.

About a century later, part of its walls were demolished and its stone reused in the construction of the new church of the now extinct Jesuit College, which would house the Episcopal Palace. (1790).

At the beginning of the 19th century, with the outbreak of the Peninsular War, the city of Beja put up serious resistance to Napoleon's invading troops. As a result, forces under the command of General Jean-Andoche Junot killed around 1,200 people in the region. (1808).

A few years later, with most of the seventeenth-century works still remaining, Guerras Liberais fizeram novas vítimas entre the population. Still in the 19th century, a catastrophe destroyed part of the castle's defensive perimeter, with news of the reconstruction, in 1867, of the so-called Porta de Moura and the demolition, in 1893, of the Porta Nova de Évora.

In the 20th century it was classified as [National] by Decree published on June 16, 1910. From 1938 onwards, intervention by the General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments (DGEMN) began, with the clearing and consolidation of the Évora gates and the reconstruction of the citadel's roof. Two decades later, campaigns began to consolidate sections of the walls (1958, 1959-1962, 1969, 1970-1973, 1980, 1981 and 1982) and to restore the keep (1965, 1969, 1981).

On 13 November 2014, part of the battlements on the balcony of the castle's keep fell onto the walls, causing damage to the lower balcony and the access door to the tower's staircase. In 2016, after repair work, the keep was reopened to the public, offering a fantastic view of the city and the Alentejo plain surrounding the city.

Características

In a combination of Romanesque styles, Gothic, manueline, medieval and maneirista, the monument has a pentagonal plan. Without a slope, the wall, crowned by merlons prismatic, it has adarve surrounding, originally flanked by forty towers (including the keep), pierced by seven doors and two shutters, and surrounded by barbicans.

The robust Gothic-style keep is considered one of the most beautiful examples of military architecture of the Middle Ages in Portugal. Rising to forty meters in height (the highest in the country), it is made up of three floors. The tower has angular balconies on boulders, joined by balconies defended by pyramidal battlements. It is torn by ogival doors and twin windows, in a horseshoe arch. The rooms inside, richly decorated, have ceilings in cross vault with pointed arches.

The main door of the castle opens in an ogival arch and leads to the parade ground. Of the original doors, two of Romanesque origin still remain: the Porta de Évora, adjacent to the castle; and the arch of the Avis Gate. The Porta de Moura is defended by two turrets.