It used to be called the ‘Castle of the Moon’ because it seemed to reach so far into the sky - come and see just why it was given this name.

Probably dating back to the 13th century and founded by King Afonso X of León, the ‘Castle of the Moon’ became part of Portugal in 1297 following the Treaty of Alcañices and had its charter renewed in 1517 by D. Manuel.

The castle played a valiant role in defending the country at the time of the French invasions. As you gaze from its walls, taking in the panoramic view of the surroundings, you get a feel for the strategic importance of the place. Meanwhile the square castle is an excellent example of Romanesque and Gothic military architecture with its citadel well protected by a double ring of walls.

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Castelo de Alfaiates

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The Castle of Vilar Maior (Portuguese: Castelo de Vilar Maior) is a well-preserved medieval castle located in the civil parish of Aldeia da Ribeira, Vilar Maior e Badamalos, in the municipality of Sabugal, Guarda district, Portugal.

History

Discoveries in 1956 that included a sword, some rock art (consisting of geometric designs) and axes, in the Quinta da Formiga and in Fraga, suggest a period of occupation dating from the Neolithic, late Bronze Age and Roman period. At about this time, from similar examples, it is presumed that a pre-Roman castro existed on the site. Around 60 A.D. Romans conquered the Lusitanian castro, but reconstructed and refortified the site. Fragments from tiles, ceramics and coins, in addition to vestiges of mosaics and Roman pavement, were discovered in and around the former castro.

In 1139, the settlement was taken by Leonese troops from the Moors and a castle reconstructed on the site. It eventually began to pertain to the Order of São João do Pereiro. A 1227 Latin document referred for the first time to the Vilar Maior, a toponymy that was associated with the early small colony; "vilar", which is a diminutive of "vila" (or town) referred to the site occupied by a group of one of two families.

In 1230, the site was reconquered by Leonoses forces from Portuguese troops.[1] On 6 August 1232, a letter was issued by King D. Alfonso IV of León to encourage settlement in the region. But this was annulled by King D. Fernando II of León, who reintegrated Vilar Maior into the municipality of Sabugal. His successor was then responsible for the reconstruction of the castle in the intervening years.

Between 12th and 13th century, the location was easily defended by natural defenses, but with the advent of canons the site began to be considered vulnerable.[1] By the second half of the 13th century, a new settlement letter was issued by King D. Alfonso X of Castile. By 1280, from an inscription, the urban perimeter wall ordered constructed by Alfonso X of Castile or, at least, the line that terminated at the Rua do Arco was concluded.

In 1296, the castle was conquered by forces loyal to King D. Dinis, at the time garrisoned by Leonese D. Sancho Peres de Ledesma. A foral (charter) was conceded on 27 November 1296. The castle, or at least the keep tower, was constructed by King Dinis, with the assistance of the Knights Templar. By 12 September 1297, the territory was integrated into the Portuguese kingdom, during the sequence of the Treaty of Alcanices.

Between 1367 and 1383 there were interventions in the castle under the initiative of D. Fernando, followed-up in 1398 by King D. John I. This work on the site, ultimately, led to the creation of the couto of Vilar Maior, which had attained a population of approximately 1000 residents by 1440. By the 1496 "Inquirição" (Inquiries), Vila Maior had reached a population of 234 residents.

On 1 January 1510, the towns foral was upgraded and new interventions in the castle were undertaken by King D. Manuel I. Designs by Duarte d'Armas observed that the citadel included a double line of walls. Yet, even in this interpretation there were ruins and a line of walls that encircled the keep tower. The second line of walls, identifiable by a barbican, improved the defense and protection of the entryway. The keep tower was covered in tile and was accessible by a stone staircase that parted from the courtyard to the second level doorway. The design also included scaffolding around the tower, permitting a better line of protection around the keep and improving its protection. The scaffold protected the archers and created the conditions for vertical vollies identical to the machicolations, making the castle's defense more complex. Alongside the bridge were remains of town walls, therefore suggesting a third line of defenses. Today there are remnants of this group in the staircase near the old municipal building, along the Rua da Costa, and within the Museum of Vilar Maior; a majority of these walls were destroyed to make way for the walls of the cemetery.

On 16 May 1516, the judges of Vilar Maior and Ciudad Rodrigo were responsible for recognizing the borders between the Portugal and Spain, demarcating the frontier in their decision.

By 1527, the Cadastro do Reino (Kingdom's Cadastre), there were 60 dwellings in Vilar Maior, and a population of 422 inhabitants.

By the 17th century, the castle had no defensive importance, resulting in reconfiguration and adoptions of the bastions, in comparison to the neighbouring defenses at the Castle of Almeida and Castle of Penamacôr. 

On 27 January 1653, D. Fernando Teles de Menezes Silva, was made the Count of Vilar Maior, later Marquês of Penalva and Alegrete, and Commander of the Order of Malta.

During the events of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the castle was unaffected by the cataclysm.

During references from the 1758 Memórias Paroquiais, written by Francisco Antunes, the alcalde was identified as Joaquim José Nobre de Miranda. It was defined as encountered "encircled,  with little defense for being in ruins", had three watchtowers, also in ruins, with tile and wood and walled castle, with little water and many buildings in ruin. The two register tower was also in a pessimistic state of conservation.

In the 19th century, during French invasion of the peninsula, the settlement was invaded and pillaged.

During the 1834-1853 Liberal wars, the town was also suffered the consequences of the Liberal-Miguelist conflicts.

On 24 October 1855, the municipal status was extinguished, and the Vila Maior was integrated into the municipality of Sabugal.

By 1864, there were 160 dwellings and the population included little more than 679 inhabitants, which progressively increased in the intervening years (by 1890, there were 199 dwellings and 742 residents). By 1940, there were 267 dwellings and only 745 inhabitants.

In the 20th century, the former communal kiln/earthen stove was recuperated and transformed into a tourist post and handicrafts shop.

Architecture

The castle is located on the limit of the urban agglomeration, situated on a cliff plateau over the settlement dominated by the valley of the Rio Cesarão, protected in the east by the rocky cliffs of the river and west, by steep slopes. The city of Guarda is clearly visible from the heights of the plateau. In the relative proximity of the cemetery and the ruins of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Castelo; in the place of Correia, visitors can observe anthropomorphic tombs.

The castle is Romanesque/Gothic military structure; the structure follows an oval plan, with rectangular keep tower, three registers high, straight embrasures and broken Romanesque door accessible from the battlements. The keep tower is almost addorsed to the exterior and lacks merlons along the walls, accessible by five staircases from battlements. In the western exterior section, a wall extends to the outside wall. It has two doors: in the southeast, covered with broken barrel vault, preserving monumental hinges; and in the northwest, with broken bow on the upper surface and full arch inside, covered with a broken barrel vault and preserved stonework hinges.

There is a 35 metres (115 ft) circular cistern without covering in the interior of the courtyard.

The 35 metres (115 ft) high, rectangular keep tower without roof extends to three floors. The northern facade has straight arrow slits on each floor, and in the east, a line of embrasures is surmounted by shell with real guns framed by protruding rectangular frame, the first coming in the second, embrasure line with half-round frame and, top, embrasure line. The south facade has an embrasure along the third register and along the western line, where the first floor is almost addorsed to the wall and second floor door with broken arch. Most of the stones are inscribed with Templar abbreviations.

The interior was almost completely destroyed, and little remains of the visible structure of the floors, except for a flight of stairs in the north and east, and corbels supporting pavement. The battlements have a rounded profile, with vestiges of a third line of walls near the stairs that access the old hall, along Rua da Costa and Rua do Castelo and within the Museum of Vilar Maior. Remains of the third wall are also visible on the stairs leading to old town hall.

Commemorative inscriptions on the completion of the wall, or partial segment of the urban perimeter, are visible on the wall.

Castle of Vilar Maior

A Ponte de Sequeiros localiza-se no lugar de Sequeiros que teria dado nome à Ponte de Sequeiros , no rio côa, na freguesia de Badamalos ,  Concelho do Sabugal, distrito da Guarda, em Portugal.

Trata-se de exemplar de ponte fortificada sobre o rio Côa, que permite a travessia do rio numa vertente de grandes afloramentos graníticos, constituindo-se estes, por si próprios, numa defesa natural.

De construção provável XIII, esta ponte seria um marco de fronteira entre Castela e Leão antes da incorporação das terras do Riba-Côa no território nacional pelo Tratado de Alcanices

Houve também o lugar de Sequeiros que teria dado nome à Ponte de Sequeiros e que no século XVI tinha ainda cerca de meia dúzia de residentes e no século XVIII constava do Cadastro ainda com 3 residentes. Actualmente desapareceu e nem vestígios das casas ficaram tendo a pedra utilizada na sua construção desaparecido talvez tivesse sido utilizada para a construção de novas casas ou para construir muros de demarcação de terrenos. Os residentes deste lugar provavelmente teriam como tarefa guardar a Ponte de Sequeiros que era um importante lugar de passagem tendo servido de posto alfandegário nos tempos em que rio Côa constituía a linha de fronteira entre os Reinos de Portugal e de Leão.

Características

Em estilo românico, a ponte é sustentada por três arcos plenos, sendo o central de maior diâmetro. Em um de seus lados apresenta uma torre de planta quadrada com vão também em arco pleno. O seu pavimento é lageado com continuidade em calçada.

Ponte de Sequeiros

O Castelo do Sabugal, também referido como Castelo das Cinco Quinas devido ao formato incomum de sua torre de menagem, localiza-se na freguesia, cidade e concelho do Sabugal, no distrito da Guarda, em Portugal.

Em posição dominante sobre a povoação, num pequeno planalto da serra da Malcata, controla a travessia do rio Côa em sua margem direita, donde a sua importância na antiguidade e na época medieval.

História

Antecedentes

De acordo com evidências arqueológicas, supõe-se que a elevação em que se situa o atual castelo, dominando o curso do rio Côa, foi ocupada por seres humanos desde época pré-histórica, que aí teriam erguido um castro.

Com a invasão romana da Península Ibérica, foi implantada uma extensa rede de estradas cortando a Península, uma delas cruzando o Côa neste trecho. Admite-se que este povo tenha mantido, neste mesmo sítio, uma pequena guarnição militar para a vigilância e defesa da travessia do rio. Séculos mais tarde, conheceu o domínio por povos germânicos e por Muçulmanos, dos quais não restaram maiores evidências.

O castelo medieval

À época da Reconquista cristã da Península Ibérica, as terras do Sabugal foram inicialmente conquistadas possivelmente por D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) em 1160, vindo a ser perdidas logo após para o reino de Leão.

Em 1190, Afonso IX de Leão criou o Concelho do Sabugal, tendo a vila sido fundada por volta de 1224, época em que foi principiado um reduto defensivo.

Integrante do território de Ribacôa, conquistado a Leão por D. Dinis (1279-1325), recebeu Carta de Foral daquele soberano português em 1296. Entretanto, a sua posse definitiva para Portugal só foi assegurada pelo Tratado de Alcanices em 1297. O soberano, a partir de então, procurou consolidar essas fronteiras, fazendo reedificar o Castelo de Alfaiates, o Castelo de Almeida, o Castelo Bom, o Castelo Melhor, o Castelo Mendo, o Castelo Rodrigo, o Castelo de Pinhel, o Castelo do Sabugal e o Castelo de Vilar Maior.

Iniciam-se, nesse contexto, os trabalhos de ampliação e reforma da sua defesa casteleira, desimpedindo-se o espaço intramuros onde se erguiam algumas casas da povoação e reforçando-se as muralhas que ganharam por dois grandes torreões dominados por uma alta torre de Menagem. As obras, referidas por Rui de Pina (Crónica de D. Dinis), foram concluídas em 1303, sob a direção de Frei Pedro, do Mosteiro de Alcobaça. Credita-se ainda, a este soberano, o estabelecimento, nestes domínios, de um couto de homiziados, privilégio que visava atrair povoadores. Alguns documentos confirmam que este privilégio se encontrava em vigor ainda em fins do século XV.

No reinado de D. Manuel I (1495-1521), o Castelo do Sabugal encontra-se figurado por Duarte de Armas (Livro das Fortalezas, c. 1509), tendo recebido obras de beneficiação, concluídas em 1515, conforme inscrição epigráfica sobre o portão principal. Este soberano concedeu o Foral Novo à vila em 1 de Junho de 1515.

Da Guerra da Restauração aos nossos dias

No contexto da Guerra da Restauração, foram procedidas obras de modernização em sua estrutura, bem como posteriormente edificada a chamada Torre do Relógio.

No século XVII aí esteve detido o poeta e cavaleiro Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas, célebre pelas suas aventuras e pelo seu não menos famoso poema épico Viriato Trágico.

No início do século XIX, no contexto da Guerra Peninsular, aquartelou tropas inglesas e portuguesas que deram combate às tropas napoleônicas em retirada, sob o comando do general André Masséna (Abril de 1811). Posteriormente desguarnecido e abandonado, a sua praça de armas foi utilizada pela população da vila como cemitério, de 1846 a cerca de 1927. Os habitantes, nesse ínterim, passaram a retirar pedras das muralhas para reutilizá-las em suas construções.

No século XX, em 1911 procedeu-se a demolição da Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Castelo. Mais tarde, na década de 1940, o processo de depredação do monumento foi detido graças à atuação da Direcção-Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (DGEMN), que promoveu ampla campanha de obras de consolidação e reconstrução.

Entre 1993 e 1994 uma nova campanha de trabalhos de restauração, procurando devolver ao monumento as suas feições originais. Mais recentemente, comprovando-se a existência de fissuras nas paredes e a derrocada parcial de elementos de um dos torreões da barbacã e de algumas ameias (1999), no alvorecer do século XXI, a DGEMN lançou um concurso para o restauro e consolidação das muralhas e torres do castelo, assim como a construção de um anfiteatro ao ar livre e das respectivas instalações de apoio (2001). Os trabalhos desenvolviam-se entre 2003 e 2005, quando se previa a reabertura do monumento ao público.

Características

Em posição dominante na cota mais alta do terreno, ergue-se o castelo, que apresenta planta no formato quadrangular. O topo das muralhas, em aparelho misto de cantaria de granito e de alvenaria de xisto, é percorrido por um largo adarve, protegido por merlões, nos quais se rasgam troneiras cruzetadas. O adarve é acedido por quatro escadas internas. Os muros são reforçados por três sólidos torreões nos ângulos, e por um quarto, localizado no centro do pano de muralha pelo lado sudoeste. Estas torres são rematadas por ameias piramidais, assim como a Torre de Menagem, de invulgar planta pentagonal, defendendo o portão principal. O interior desta última, em estilo gótico, é dividido em três pavimentos, com tetos abobadados e fechos ornamentados por escudos com as quinas nacionais. O compartimento superior é iluminado pelas portas que dão acesso a balcões misulados, com matacães.

Entre a torre de menagem e o torreão do ângulo leste inscreve-se um balcão ameado, vigiando a entrada principal da praça de armas. Inferiormente, na zona exterior, corre a cerca da barbacã - dispositivo defensivo que une e reforça as muralhas do castelo, igualmente rematadas por maciços merlões com aberturas de troneiras cruzetadas. Apoiam as suas muralhas dois pequenos cubelos circulares, abrindo-se próximo de um deles um pequeno portal de arco em ogiva.

A cerca da vila apresentava conformação aproximadamente oval, dela restando, atualmente, apenas pequenos trechos. Nelas se abria a Porta da Vila, próximo à chamada Torre do Relógio.

Castelo do Sabugal

The ancient human presence in the area is attested by the proto- historical traces found inside the current castle. In the early thirteenth century, the Côa River marked the frontier between Portugal and León, so there was a concern to build castles capable of defending it.

In 1220, Pedro Alvites, Master of the Knights Templar, granted a charter to Vila do Touro. Among other things, the population had the obligation to build a castle. Of this castle, we are only able to find two curtain walls, making use of the relief between boulders. The construction was probably never finished. According to the 1290 Inquiries, the castle was destroyed by the council of Guarda, worried about the threat it could represent to the council’s domain over the area.

In 1319, Vila do Touro, following the extinction of the Knights Templar, fell under the rule of the Order of Christ and had its charter renewed in 1510 by D. Manuel.

The town belonged, from the 13th century, to the Knights Templar and later its continuation, the Order of Christ. The castle, which began being built around that time, remains unfinished, with a single entrance gate and two wall curtains that adapt to the relief of the terrain. Inside we find several game boards engraved in outcrops bearing witness to how builders or the military garrison passed their time.

From its highest area, one can enjoy a wide panorama, with the main elevations of the region coming into perfect focus: São Cornélio, Cabeço das Fráguas, Guarda, Jarmelo, Caria Talaia, Sabugal Velho, etc.

Taking a brief walk, starting at the pillory, the Direita and Pedro Alvito streets have several (16th century) Manueline windows or of the following centuries. At the end of this street, we find the chapel of Our Lady of the Market, an interesting chapel with a porch. near the path that descends from the church, we come across a game board engraved on a rock outcrop. A few meters away is the entrance to the castle.

To the west of the road, we may find an interesting house, including, in its construction, a huge granitic boulder. In addition to the main church, two other chapels are worth a visit: St. Sebastian and St. Gens, in an elevated area bordering the town. here, near the chapel, we will find ancient land plots, as well as the crosses of the old Calvary.

https://www.cm-sabugal.pt

Castelo de Vila do Touro

Built on the top of a hill at a point of great strategic significance, on the remains of earlier fortresses dating back to the Bronze Age and Roman times, Castelo Mendo is a historical village surrounded by walls that were rebuilt in the twelfth century at the orders of D. Sancho I.

In 1229, D. Sancho II ordered the castle to be enlarged and granted the local population a charter to organise a fair, on condition that this was held three times a year. This was the first fair to be held on a regular basis in the whole of Portugal, and in 1281 D. Dinis ordered that this should be a free fair to be held on an annual basis. The fair's original storehouse still exists in the village on the site of what was once the fairground.

The village's name derives from that of the first governor, D. Mendo Mendes, appointed by D. Dinis in the fourteenth century. On one of the walls of the former jailhouse, it is still possible to see a stone sculpture which, according to popular tradition, represents Mendo, whilst on another house nearby one can see a representation of Menda, who was the wife of Mendo. This house is therefore known as the Casa da Menda.

Encircled by walls with six mediaeval gates (the main gate is flanked by two statues of pigs), the village essentially consists of simple stone houses, all of which originally had two storeys, the lower one being used to house the cattle, whilst the upper one was used as a residence. The extremely narrow streets made the village easy to defend, although a number of battles were fought here during the various wars in which Portugal was involved, especially those with the Spanish.

Restoration work has recently begun in the village and it is gradually regaining some of its original features, offering those visitors who venture inside its walls the chance to enjoy a journey into its rich and interesting past.



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