240px, Interior view. Castelo de Torres Vedras is a castle in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 83,075, in an area of . History In 1148, Afonso I took th ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Characterized by a mix of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Manueline The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manuel ...

features, it is classified by IGESPAR as a Site of Public Interest.

History

Use of the castle area goes back to

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

as evidenced by the existence of two Roman cisterns, tombstones, coins and other artifacts. Primitive fortifications date back to the time of the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

. Its first walls were constructed by North Africans (known as Moors) during the time of Muslim control of Portugal. These walls were destroyed during the

Christian reconquest The ' (Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Galician language, Galician for "reconquest") is a Historiography, historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula be ...

when the castle was seized in 1148 by

Afonso I of Portugal Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French inf ...

, but were immediately rebuilt. In 1288

King Denis Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and ...

ordered that the defences be strengthened and extended and

Ferdinand I of Aragon Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sicily ...

ordered further improvements in 1373. The Castle of Torres Vedras has served as a temporary residence for several Portuguese kings. It was here that King John I gathered the Council that decided on the conquest in 1415 of

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, that marked the beginning of the outward-looking policies of Portugal. In 1510, Torres Vedras received a municipal charter (Foral), and six years later

King Manuel I Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as ...

, ordered reconstruction of the castle. Around 1520, the Palace of the Alcaides was constructed by the Chief Magistrate, João Soares de Alarcão. It remains the dominant feature of the castle, despite being in ruins. In 1589, during the

Philippine dynasty The Philippine dynasty ( pt, dinastia filipina), also known as the House of Habsburg in Portugal, was the third royal house of Portugal. It was named after the three Habsburg Spanish kings, all named Philip (; , ), who ruled Portugal between 1 ...

(1581-1640), forces of

António, Prior of Crato António, Prior of Crato (; 153126 August 1595; sometimes called ''The Determined'', ''The Fighter'', ''The Independentist'' or ''The Resistant''), was a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal who claimed the Portuguese throne during the 1580 d ...

commanded by Sir

Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

disembarked in Peniche and briefly took the Castle of Torres Vedras. The castle suffered heavy damage from the 1755 earthquake, particularly the Palace of the Alcaides and some of the walls. In 1809, it was integrated into the

Lines of Torres Vedras The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts and other military defences built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, ...

, which were defensive lines established by the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

to protect against French invasion during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. Together with the Fort of São Vicente on a hill immediately to its north, the castle, with about 500 soldiers, guarded the main road between

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. As part of the adaptation by the British

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

for this purpose the castle door was demolished. During the

Liberal Wars The Liberal Wars (), also known as the Portuguese Civil War (), the War of the Two Brothers () or Miguelite War (), was a war between liberal constitutionalists and conservative absolutists in Portugal over royal succession that lasted from 18 ...

(or Portuguese Civil War), sections of the walls facing east and some turrets on the north side were rebuilt. During the so-called Little Civil War in 1846, it served as barracks for the troops of the Count of Bonfim and was bombarded by the forces of the Duke of Saldanha, which caused the almost total ruin of the Palace. Despite its poor condition, the castle continued to function as a barracks until the end of the 19th century. In 1929, the Ministry of War transferred the property to the municipality of Torres Vedras. In 1955 there was a collapse of part of the wall to the northwest. In 1957 the castle was classified as a Property of Public Interest and this was followed by several repairs being carried out but there remained the danger of collapse to part of the walls, which happened in 1963, leading to additional repairs.

References

National monuments in Lisbon District Lines of Torres Vedras Buildings and structures in Torres Vedras {{Castles in Portugal Castles in Portugal

History

See also

References