Évora

During the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Monsaraz 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), it was recovered by the Almohad Caliphate under the command of Abu Yaqub Yusuf I (r. 1163-1184) (1173), to be finally conquered by D. Sancho II (1223-1248), with the assistance of the Templar Order, in 1232, to whom he made the donation of these domains. From this period, we have the memory of the Templar knight Gomes Martins Silvestre, who populated Monsaraz, whose tomb is currently in the Mother Church of Santa Maria da Lagoa.

D. Afonso III (1248-1279), aiming to increase its settlement and defense, granted it a Charter of Foral in 1276. During this period, the settlement of Monsaraz is linked to the figure of the knight Martim Anes Zagallo, who is believed to have held the position of alcaide of the village and its castle, having started the works of the new alcáçova, at a time when the primitive Mother Church of Santa Maria da Lagoa and other buildings also began.

With the extinction of the Order in Portugal, and its patrimony passed to the Order of Christ (1319), Monsaraz was erected into a Commandery of the new Order, depending on Castro Marim. It was during the reign of D. Dinis (1279-1325) that the reconstruction of the Keep Tower (1310) and the enlargement of the village walls began, structures that, with alterations, have reached our days.

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, at the beginning of the summer of 1385, under the dominion of the king of Castile, when he invaded the Alentejo. Abandoned by the marching Castilian troops, they were recovered by the forces loyal to D. João I (1385-1433), under the command of the Constable D. Nuno Álvares 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.

During the reign of D. Manuel I (1495-1521), the village and its castle were depicted by Duarte de Armas (Book of Fortresses, c. 1509). In 1512, the sovereign granted the New Charter to the village.

Évora is a city located in the Alentejo region of Portugal, and it is one of the most historically significant towns in the country. Its rich past has led its historic center to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 for its exceptional universal value. The surrounding region of Évora has a rich history that dates back many millennia before Christ (B.C.), having been the main nucleus of megalithism in the interior of Portugal during the Neolithic period. Some of the notable monuments in the area include the Anta do Zambujeiro, an ancient funerary monument erected over 5,000 years ago, which is one of the largest in Europe, and the Cromeleque dos Almendres, a set of around 95 standing stones erected in two phases, the first in the late sixth and the second in the third millennium B.C., which is the largest of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the largest in Europe.

Archaeological excavations, however, have not yet shown whether the area of the current city was inhabited before the arrival of the Romans. Some authors, however, attribute the foundation of the city to a pre-Roman tribe, the Eburones. The name of this tribe derives from the ancient Celtic word "eburos" (yew tree). Évora was located in the territory of the Celtici, a tribal confederation south of the Tagus River that included tribes such as the Eburones (inland), the Sefes, and the Mirobricenses, whose main settlement was Miróbriga, now Santiago do Cacém, on the coast of present-day Alentejo. The Roman author Pliny, writing in the first century, calls the city of Évora "Ebora Cereal," presumably due to the agricultural abundance of the region, and considers it a fortified settlement that already existed before Roman domination. The etymological origin of the name Évora comes from the ancient Celtic word "ebora/ebura," the genitive plural of the word "eburos," the name of a type of tree, so its name means "of the yews."

During the Punic Wars, the city of Ebora was the scene of an acculturation between Iberian and Greek cultures. The Carthaginians conquered a substantial part of what is now the Iberian Peninsula, and even though they did not conquer the city of Évora, the impact they had there was significant. Building techniques such as dry foundations and Carthaginian walls were found in 1992 near the Roman temple of Évora. Also, during Carthaginian domination on the Mediterranean coast of Hispania, several men from Olisipo, now Lisbon, and Ebora, now Évora, were hired as mercenaries by Carthaginian troops and used in combat throughout the Mediterranean. Inscriptions written in Greek were found on the island of Lesbos, from a mercenary who had served in the Macedonian army and had supposedly come from Évora and served in the Carthaginian army as a founder before later joining the army of Pietro III of Macedonia. When Carthage declined, Évora was once again politically isolated from the rest of the Mediterranean, but its marks were never forgotten, which was later evidenced during the time of Viriato, where his troops were equipped with ancient Carthaginian weapons and Lusitanians used the hoplite tactic in an attempt to defend their lands from the Romans.

According to a legend popularized by the humanist and writer from Évora, André de Resende (1500-1573), Évora would have been the headquarters of the troops of the Roman general Sertorius, who, with the Lusitanians, would have faced the power of Rome. What is certain is that Évora was elevated to the status of municipality under the name Ebora Liberalitas Julia, an honorary title granted by Julius Caesar.

After a long period of war in the Empire, the Pax Romana established by Augustus (r. 27 BC-14 AD) allowed for a great administrative reform, in which Évora was integrated into the Province of Lusitania. The city was benefited with a series of urban transformations, of which the Roman Temple of Évora - probably dedicated to imperial worship - is the most important vestige that has survived to this day. The Corinthian temple was located in the ancient forum, the main public square of Roman Évora. Archaeological excavations at the site showed that the temple was partially surrounded by a reflecting pool and the entire forum was bounded by a monumental porticoed gallery. The preservation of the temple is due to the fact that it was converted, in the medieval period, into a butcher shop. Another important vestige of the time are the ruins of public baths, located in the building of the Town Hall of Évora. In addition, until 1570 there was a Roman triumphal arch adorned with statues in the current Praça do Giraldo, unfortunately already destroyed.

Little is known about the layout of the Roman city, but it is known that it was arranged on the highest elevation in the center of the modern city and its epicenter - the acropolis - corresponded to the current area between the ruins of the Roman temple and the Évora Cathedral. In this area, the city's two main roads, the cardo (N/S axis) and the decumanus (E/W axis), were supposed to intersect. The city also had a 1,080-meter-long wall, built in the 3rd century in a context of instability of the Empire, with four gates at the cardinal points, from which the cardo and decumanus originated. From these gates, the city was connected to the Roman road system, which linked it to other cities on the Peninsula. Some sections of the wall still exist, incorporated into later constructions. An important vestige is the so-called Arch of D. Isabel, a remnant of the north Roman gate.

In the parish of Tourega, the well-preserved remains of a 500-square-meter Roman villa with a thermal complex show that around the city there were rural establishments maintained by the lordly class.

In the late Roman period, with the Christianization of the Peninsula, Évora was the seat of a bishopric. A certain Quincianus bishop of Évora (Quintianus episcopus Elborensis) appears in the list of bishops who attended the Council of Elvira, held around the year 306.