Castle of Gaia

Council de Vila Nova de Gaia

The medieval castle

After the founding of the kingdom of Portugal, the two towns - Gaia and Vila Nova - remained autonomous. Gaia received a charter issued by King Afonso III of Portugal in 1255, followed by Vila New, by Denis of Portugal, in 1288.

The castle was conquered by Prince D.Afonso, son of Denis of Portugal, on January 4, 1322. A few years later, Prince D.Pedro, upon learning that his father, Afonso IV of Portugal, had authorized the death of D.Inês de Castro, went to open war against his father and plundered the region of Entre-Douro-e-Minho (1355-1357), having also taken over Gaia and its castle. Date of this period the first known mayor of the castle, Rodrigo Anes de Sá, appointed by D.Pedro, already king, on July 29, 1357.

During this period, the castle underwent repair or reinforcement works, since, in 1366, the abbot of Pedroso Monastery supplied twenty carts of firewood for Gaia Castle, and was also carts and oxen were provided by the same institution for this work.

Also in that century, in 1383, both towns were integrated into the Porto court, losing their your autonomy. Perhaps for this reason, in 1385 the citizens of Porto Alegre, under the pretext of disagreements with the mayor Aires Gomes de Sá, they attacked the castle and damaged it to such an extent that it no longer has a mayor. This information is confirmed by the chronicle of João de Barros, who under the reign of D.João III, about the castle recorded:

"The city has the suburb of Vila Nova, whose parish is Santa Marinha and next to it is the Gaia Castle in a high and very pleasant place. This castle is already torn down, that city already knocked down. It is so old that they say it was founded by Gaius Julius Caesar. And in it were some stones with the name of Gaius Caesar."

At that time, there were several temples next to the castle: the chapel of Saint Mark, which tradition considers it to have been the first Cathedral, the chapel of Our Lady of the Castle, the chapel of Our Lady of Mercy and the chapel of Saint Lawrence the martyr.

The castle is also mentioned in the New Charter of Vila Nova de Gaia, issued by Manuel I of Portugal, which refers: "For the caseyro of the castle of Gaya seven hundred reais."

In the 19th century, the city was at the center of significant battles in both the Peninsular War as in the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), when once again the Douro marked the border between the belligerents. This second conflict marked the disappearance of what remained of the old Gaia Castle.

The forces of Miguel I of Portugal having fortified themselves in the place, setting up a battery there, they opened fire on the Palácio dos Carrancas where D.Pedro had established his headquarters. D.Pedro, bombed in his own room, moved to Cedofeita, and on the day next, on his routine visit to the lines, he went to the so-called Bateria das Virtudes (where today is the SAOM) with whose fire the Gaia Castle stronghold was destroyed. What was left of the The old castle disappeared at the time (c. 1833), its land having been sold by the State.

One of its new owners erected a large building there, which was bequeathed by one of his heirs to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto so that an asylum for the blind could be installed there poor and abandoned: the Asylum for the Blind, on the current Castelo slope.

The Legend of King Ramiro

According to an ancient legend, which is said to date back to the 10th century, King Ramiro II of Leon fell in love with a beautiful Moorish woman, sister of the emir Alboazer Alboçadam, whose domains extended from Gaia to Santarém. Despite already being married, Ramiro imagined that it would be easy to obtain from the Church the annulment of his marriage given the kinship bond that united him to his wife. wife, D.Aldora. Thus, under the influence of this passion and intending to ask his beloved for marriage, Ramiro decided to make peace with Alboazer, being received in his castle, in Gaia.

However, Alboazer flatly refused the request: he would never give his sister's hand in marriage to a Christian and, in any case, she had already been promised to the King of Morocco...

Ramiro, embarrassed, appeared to accept the refusal and left. However, with the help of a Moorish astrologer, Amman, whom he asked to study the stars to establish the propitious date, carried out, in secret, the kidnapping of the Moorish woman. Alboazer, when he noticed his sister's absence, understood what had happened and immediately set off in pursuit, managing to catch up with the kidnappers boarding the Gaia pier. In the combat that then took place, the luck of the weapons, however, was favorable to the Christians, the Moorish woman having been taken to the kingdom of Leon, where she received baptism when she received the name Artiga, which meant both "punished and taught" and "endowed with all goods".

Alboazer, in order to take revenge, kidnapped King Ramiro's legitimate wife, D.Aldora, along with his entire entourage. When King Ramiro learned of the kidnapping he was furious and, together with his son D.Ordonho and some vassals, he set sail by boat for Gaia. There we go Ramiro disguised himself as a beggar and went to a fountain where he found one of D.'s maids. Aldora, and who asked for some water, taking the opportunity to, surreptitiously, pour it into the jug of water half cameo, of which the queen owned the other half. Recognizing the jewel, D.Aldora sent for the king disguised as beggar and, as punishment for his infidelity, handed him over to Alboazer.

Feeling lost, King Ramiro asked Alboazer for a public execution, hoping for cunning gain time so he can warn his son by sounding his hunting horn. When hearing the signal, D.Ordonho ran with his men to the castle and together they killed Alboazer and the their people, in addition to destroying the castle. Taking D.Aldora and her maids to her boat, King Ramiro tied a stone millstone around the queen's neck and threw her into the sea in a place that became known as Foz de Âncora.

The legend concludes by stating that Ramiro returned to Leon where he finally married the Moorish woman, who had vast offspring.