Private Tour Évora - Wine Tasting - Beautiful Medieval Village of Monsaraz

2377/5000 The medieval castle At the time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the town was initially conquered by the forces under the command of the legendary Geraldo Sem Pavor (1167). After the defeat of D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185) in Badajoz (1169) was recovered by the Almoado Caliphate under the command of Abu Iacube Iúçufe (1173), to be definitively conquered by D. Sancho II (1223-1248), with the aid of the Order of the Templars, in 1232, to whom it made the donation of these domains. From this time we were reminded of the Templar knight Gomes Martins Silvestre, settler of Monsaraz, whose tomb is currently in the Mother Church of Santa Maria da Lagoa. D. Afonso III (1248-1279), in order to increase his settlement and defense, granted him a Charter of Foral in 1276. In this period, the settlement action of Monsaraz is linked to the figure of the knight Martim Anes Zagallo, who is believed to have as the mayor of the town and his castle, having begun the construction of the new Alcáçova, at which time the primitive Mother Church of Santa Maria da Lagoa and other buildings began. Castle of Monsaraz. In the context of the crisis of 1383-1385, the village and its castle were attacked by English archers under the command of the Earl of Cambridge, supposedly allies of Portugal, falling in the early summer of 1385 under the rule of the King of Castile , when it invaded the Alentejo. Abandoned by the Castilian troops in march, they were recovered by the forces loyal to D. João I (1385-1433), under the command of the Constable D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, before the battle of Aljubarrota. In 1412, by donation of the Constable to his grandson D. Fernando, Monsaraz became part of the domains of the House of Braganza. Under the reign of D. Manuel I (1495-1521), the town and its castle are figured by Duarte de Armas (Book of Strengths, c.1509). In 1512, the sovereign granted the New Foral to the village. From the Restoration War to our days In the context of the Restoration War of Portuguese Independence, due to its proximity to the Guadiana river and the Spanish border, the Council of War of D. João IV (1640-1656) determined the modernization of its defenses, involving the village with adapted walls to the shots of the artillery of the time, receiving traces abaluartados in the style Vauban, with project of Nicholas of Langres and Jean Gillot: the Fort of San Bento de Monsaraz.