Castle of Montemor-o-Velho

Parish of Montemor-o-Velho

Background

The primitive settlement of the site of Montemor-o-Velho dates back to prehistoric times, occupied successively by Romans, Visigoths and Muslims, attracted by the tin from Beira Alta, which was carried by the Mondego river. Some of the stone ashlars integrated into the base of the keep of the medieval castle are evidence of the Roman period.

This is one of the few municipalities in Portugal that are territorially discontinuous. Montemor-o-Velho is a case in point. unique in the Portuguese context, since the discontinuity of the municipality is due to the existence, in the southeast of its territory, of a very small enclave belonging to the neighboring municipality of Soure (parish of Figueiró do Campo), nestled between the parishes of Pereira and Santo Varão in Monte Maior.

The medieval castle

The first documentary references to the town and its castle date back to the 9th century, when Ramiro I of Asturias and his uncle, the abbot João of the Convent of Lorvão, conquered it (848). The sovereign transferred these domains to his uncle, with the task of defending the castle, maintaining its garrison, whose mayorship João handed over to D.Bermudo, son of his sister, D.Urraca. That same year, it resisted the siege imposed on it by the Caliph of Cordoba, Abd-ar-Rahman II.

The possession of the region between the Douro and Mondego rivers alternated between Christians and Muslims from the second half of the 10th century until the beginning of the 11th century. According to the Chronicle of the Goths, the original fortification of Montemor was conquered by the forces of Al-Mansur (2 December 990) - who rebuilt it, with Froila Gonçalves being his "tenens" -, to be recovered by the Christians (Mendo Luz, 1006 or 1017, succeeded in the government of the castle by Gonçalo Viegas), again conquered by the Muslims (1026), reconquered by Gonçalo Trastamariz (Chronicle of the Goths, 1034), who remained as its governor and chief border guard. Back in Muslim possession, the definitive Christian possession, however, only took place in 1026. would occur under Ferdinand I of Leon after the definitive conquest of Coimbra (1064), securing the border on the Mondego.

The military domain of the region of Coimbra was handed over by the sovereign to Count D. Sesnando Davides, who in addition to pacifying and defending it, carried out a vast work of reorganization, including the construction or reconstruction of several castles, such as Coimbra, Lousã, Montemor-o-Velho, Penacova and Penela.

After the sovereign's death, the repair and reinforcement work on Montemor-o-Velho, which had been ruined by successive campaigns and left unprotected by the depopulation of the region, was carried out under the reign of his successor, Alfonso VI of León and Castile, who had probably ordered it in 1088, but before 1091, the year of the death of Count Sesnando. By order of the latter, the construction of the church had begun in 1090 by the presbyter Vermudo, on the condition that half of the rents would belong to the See of Coimbra. Completed in 1095, the deed of donation of that part was drawn up. In the same year, the town received a Charter. One of these sources from 1095, referring to the original fortification destroyed by the Moors, describes its abandonment and the vegetation covering the ruins.

The charter of Montemor-o-Velho was confirmed a few years later by Count D.Henrique, before 1111, possibly in 1109, when there is news of new construction work on its castle.

When Portugal declared its independence in 1128, there is no news that the mayor of Montemor, Paio Midis, was against Afonso I of Portugal (1112-1185). The castle is mentioned by the Arab geographer Muhammad Al-Idrisi in the middle of that century.

Historically, Montemor was a land of infantados, first of D.Teresa (daughter of Sancho I of Portugal, from 1211), then of Afonso IV of Portugal (1322) and also of D.Pedro, Duke of Coimbra (1416).

After the death of Sancho I of Portugal, the mayor of Montemor refused to pay homage to D. Afonso II (1211-1223), due to a willful disagreement between this monarch and his sisters - D.Teresa and D.Mafalda - regarding the donation of the castle and its domains to them. Surrounded by the forces of the sovereign, with the infanta D.Teresa having taken refuge here, the siege was eventually lifted and the issue resolved thanks to the intervention of Pope Innocent III, in 1216, who sentenced that both this and the Castle of Alenquer be handed over to the Order of the Templars. During this period, a new charter is mentioned, in 1212, issued by the sovereign.

The castle once again became a point of contention in the conflicts between Sancho II of Portugal (1223-1248) and Afonso III (1248-1279) when, in 1245, in view of the deposition of the former, Bishop D.Tibúrcio and some canons of the See of Coimbra, feeling insecure in that city, sought refuge in the citadel of the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho, whose mayor had proclaimed himself in favor of Sancho II of Portugal.

Later, in the context of the rebellion of Prince Afonso, future Afonso IV, against his father, King Dinis (1279-1325), the castle - unguarded - was conquered without combat by the prince's forces (January 1, 1322). During this period, in the 14th century, it underwent extensive renovation, and it is believed that the construction of the Barbican and the northern section of the fence dates back to this phase. It was here, in its citadel, on January 6, 1355 that Afonso IV met with his advisors to decide the fate of Inês de Castro, from where they left the following day to be executed.

The military and strategic importance of this castle remained throughout the following centuries, with it being said that its large size allowed for the barracks of up to five thousand men-at-arms inside. It is a fact that its command was always exercised by prominent figures of the Portuguese nobility. In 1472, Afonso V of Portugal (1438-1481) made D.João de Portugal, later Duke of Bragança, Marquis of Montemor-o-Velho.

In the context of the succession crisis of 1580, it is believed that the castle received a visit from D.António, Prior of Crato, when he visited the town for five days in September 1580, when he tried to organize the defense of Portugal's independence along the Mondego line.

From the Peninsular War to the present day

At the beginning of the 19th century, during the Peninsular War, its premises were occupied by Napoleon's French troops, under the command of Jean-Andoche Junot, between 1807 and 1808. Three years later, on the way to the retreat of the defeated troops of André Masséna, it was looted and vandalized, along with the village. With the extinction of the Religious Orders in Portugal (1834), its parade ground began to be used as the village's cemetery. During this phase, the local population reused its stones. In 1877, one of its towers was adapted as a Clock Tower.

The Castle of Montemor-o-Velho and the Church of Santa Maria da Alcácer do Sal are listed as National Monuments by Decree published on June 23, 1910. In 1929, on the initiative of a private individual, Antônio Rodrigues Campos, a defense campaign was undertaken that even promoted some restorations to the monument.

Architecture

At an elevation of fifty-six meters above sea level, in stone masonry, the complex has an irregular plan, consisting of the small castle, a main fence, the surrounding crenellated Barbican, an enclosure to the north and a lower redoubt to the east.

The small castle consists of a redoubt defined by the use of the angular space between the Keep, to the southeast, and the north curtain, reinforced by four cubes. The Keep, located to the east, has a square plan divided into floors. The cubes have a square and semicircular plan, two of which have broken arch openings.

Two doors were torn down in the Barbican: the Porta da Peste, on the southeast side, next to the Keep, replacing the ruined main door, and the Porta da Nossa Senhora do Rosário, torn down to the south and remodeled later. On the slope facing northwest, the walls descending from the Barbican extend. These two curtain walls rise perpendicularly to the body of the castle and are topped by sturdy square towers. In the southwest sector are the ruins of the old manor house, which extended into the area of ​​the Barbican. This manor house was begun in the 11th century by D.Urraca, sister of D.Teresa de Leão, and was later remodeled by the princesses, daughters of Sancho I of Portugal, to become a typical manor house.

Also noteworthy within the walls are the Church of Santa Maria da Alcáçova, which dates back to the 11th century, and its current form dates back to the Manueline period; the Chapel of Santo Antônio, parallel to the Barbican, and the Church of Madalena, whose current form dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries. In the new enclosure, the ruins of the Chapel of São João still remain.

The legend of Abbot João

Local tradition states that in the 9th century, during the reign of Abbot João, the castle was besieged by the forces of the Caliph of Córdoba, commanded by a renegade Christian, Garcia Ianhez-Zuleima. Outnumbered, the castle's combatants, having great difficulty in maintaining their defense, decided to kill the others by beheading, even their relatives, in order to spare them captivity and possible insults from the Moors. Having done so, they attacked the superior enemy, prepared to die in combat. They did so, however, with such impetus that they defeated him. In the 18th century, under the reign of John V of Portugal (1706-1750), the tradition was enriched with a pious outcome: the relatives of the defenders, resurrected by a miracle, left the castle to meet the victors. The image of Our Lady of Victory with a red scar on her neck, in the local church, evokes the miracle.