Castle of Longroiva

Parish of Longroiva

The medieval castle

At the time of the Christian À época da Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, this town and its castle were listed among the domains bequeathed to the Monastery of Guimarães, in the will, by Flâmula Rodrigues, niece of Mumadona Dias (960). Scholars associate this donation with a repopulation action undertaken by the donor's father, Rodrigo Tedoniz, believing that the castle's original appearance dates back to this period.

After the definitive reconquest of the lands of Beira by Ferdinand the Great, the inventory of the assets of the Monastery of Guimarães, in the year 1059, lists the Castle of Longroiva. These domains were part of the County of Portugal, and consequently those of the emancipated kingdom of Portugal. During this period, there was a significant increase in population in the region, attributed to D.Egas Gosendes de Baião, who is believed to have granted a Charter to Longroiva in 1126, and later to Fernão Mendes de Bragança (husband of the Infanta Sancha Henriques and, therefore, brother-in-law of Afonso I of Portugal), who is said to have donated these domains of Longroiva to the Order of the Knights Templar (1145), under the direction of Master Hugo Martonio (or Hugo Martins, in Portuguese). It is to this Order, under the guidance of Master Gualdim Pais, that the castle owes its current appearance (1176).

Denis of Portugal (1279-1325) granted a charter to the town and, in 1304, ordered some repairs to be made to the castle. During his reign, when the Order was dissolved, the town's domains and its castle were incorporated into the heritage of the Order of Christ (1319).

During the reign of D.Manuel (1495-1521), a Visitation in 1505 allows us to learn some details of this monument at the time:

• its parade ground had been almost entirely taken over by the Palace of the Commander of the Order of Christ; and
• in the keep, in the center of the parade ground, defended by a hurdício (a wooden gallery that, high up in the walls, allowed for a vertical attack on the enemy), there was a mullioned window, in Manueline style, which has survived to this day.

This sovereign granted a New Charter to the town (1510). During this period, Friar Garcia de Melo had works carried out where his rooms were (1517), with information becoming scarce from then on, and it is believed that it lost importance to the Castle of Trancoso.

From the 18th century to the present day

In the 18th century, a description of the castle stated that, in relation to the "new" palace of the commander, its houses "were already unroofed and in ruins", the cistern, which supplied the garrison, was blocked, and the castle doors, which had once protected access, no longer had any wooden bars or gates.

In the 19th century, the castle was transformed into a local quarry, and its walls were dismantled for this purpose. In 1855, the Municipality of Longroiva was abolished. During this period, probably after the abolition of the religious orders (1834), its parade ground began to be used as the town cemetery, a function that continues to this day.

The castle is classified as a National Monument by Decree published on August 18, 1943. The intervention of the government uncovered the old cisterns and carried out minor consolidation work on the ruins.

Currently, the entrance of the Templar house to the castle can be seen, and the rest of the building is in a state of degradation. The cemetery remains in the parade ground.

Architecture

Built on the highest level of the land, occupying an area of 555 hectares, the castle has a trapezoidal plan with traces of the Romanesque and Gothic styles. Its walls are quite degraded, with no alure or battlements.

The keep is divided internally into three floors and is divided by straight-arched openings, topped by battlements and cruciform arrow slits. On one of its faces, there is a mullioned window in the Manueline style. A tombstone with an epigraphic inscription indicates the date 1174, which reveals that this was one of the first to be built in Portugal.

Two cisterns opened onto the parade ground.