Monsaraz
Encyclopedia
Monsaraz is a civil parish and municipal seat of the municipality of the Reguengos de Monsaraz, on the right margin of the Guadiana River in Portuguese
Alentejo region, near its border with Spain
. Its importance is belied by its population of lessa than 977 residents (2001 Census), covering an area of 88.29 km².
remains of: Anta do Olival da Pega, Bulhôa Menhir, Rocha dos Namorados Menhir and Outeiro Menhir. The hill, on which the main settlement is locate, was a pre-historic fortification, or castro
, that was the basis of pre-Roman occupation and funerary temples, carved from the local rock.
Monseraz was reorganized during the Roman occupation
, but later successively occupied by the Visigoths, Arabs, Mozarab
s, Jews
, and, after the Reconquista
, Christians loyal to the Afonso Henriques. In the 8th century, Monsaraz fell under the dominion of Arab forces who occupied the Iberian Peninsula, becoming known as Saris or Sharish, and following the control of the Taifa of Badajoz
(one of the more prominent Arab centres at the time). The name Monsaraz originates from the word Xarez or Xerez, the Iberian
transliteration of the Arabic Saris or Sharish, for the Gum Rockrose
(Cistus ladanifer L.), a plant that still today prospers in poor, dry, acidic slate
-based soil that surrounds Monsaraz. The Iberian words Xarez/Xerez latter evolved to the Portuguese
Xaraz and to the Castilian
Jerez (the Spanish name for the Sherry
wine). The settlement that became Monsaraz, originated from the Monte Xaraz, a fortified hill surrounded by Gum Rockroses. It is natural position, the highest hill in the area and proximity to the deep Guadiana valley, made it a location of strategic importance.
In 1167, the Castle and medina
was taken by Geraldo Sem Pavor, in an expedition that came from Évora (which had just been retaken, about the same time). After, Afonso Henriques' defeat in Badajoz
, Monsaraz was once again taken by Muslim forces. In 1232, supported by the Knights Templar
, King Sancho II
definitively retook the citadel and town, placing it under the control of the Templars, and obligating them to establish a garrison that would protect the border. The Christian
repopulation of Monsaraz ended around the reign of Afonso III
, when it was assigned an alcalde
, the knight Martim Anes, and first letter of foral
.
In 1263 it was already an important fortress, being the head of a municipality, with large privileges. The local economy was fundamentally based on agriculture
and livestock
, existing some small artesnal industries producing terra cotta
earthenware and hammered copper
.
After the Portuguese Interregnum
(1383-1385), the town of Monsaraz was integrated into the dominions of the House of Braganza
under Nuno Álvares Pereira
. By 1412, it is inherited by Fernando, his son, becoming one of the more precious profit centres in the Ducal estates.
In 1512, King Manuel of Portugal
issued a foral
(charter) to the Vila de Monsaraz, reformulating the public and jurisdictional administration of the municipality.
The demographic crises created by the plague
forced the Duke of Bragança, in 1527 to carry out small land reform
s in order to promote the settlement Monsaraz. The small plots were established in the area surrounding this village.
Following the Portuguese Restoration War
, in 1640, the castle received new tactical defenses, that included a new walled bastion
, that allowed the city-fort to be integrated in to the system of defences that connected Elvas, Juromenha, Olivença and Mourão.
The condition of the walled medieval city, the growth of the farm estates of Reguengos, the richness of the artesnal production and vineyards, and more importantly, the loyalty towards the Miguelist
forces during the Liberal Wars
were all factors that contributed to the shifting of the municipal seat from Monsaraz to Vila Nova de Reguengos in 1838. A fact that became permanent after 1851.
to the east, Corval to the west and Campinho to the south in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz. Across the reservoir to the east is the parish of Mourão (in the municipality of Mourão) and to the north the parish of Capelins (in the municipality of Alandroal).
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Alentejo region, near its border with Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Its importance is belied by its population of lessa than 977 residents (2001 Census), covering an area of 88.29 km².
History
Due to its geographic position, the hilltop of Monsaraz always occupied an important place in the history of the municipality, having been occupied by different peoples since the pre-historical record. It’s one of the oldest Portuguese settlements of the southern Portugal, occupied since pre-history, whose examples of permanent habitation include hundreds of megalithic monuments. These include the neolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
remains of: Anta do Olival da Pega, Bulhôa Menhir, Rocha dos Namorados Menhir and Outeiro Menhir. The hill, on which the main settlement is locate, was a pre-historic fortification, or castro
Castro culture
Castro culture is the archaeological term for naming the Celtic archaeological culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula from the end of the Bronze Age until it was subsumed in local Roman culture...
, that was the basis of pre-Roman occupation and funerary temples, carved from the local rock.
Monseraz was reorganized during the Roman occupation
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, but later successively occupied by the Visigoths, Arabs, Mozarab
Mozarab
The Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture...
s, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, and, after the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, Christians loyal to the Afonso Henriques. In the 8th century, Monsaraz fell under the dominion of Arab forces who occupied the Iberian Peninsula, becoming known as Saris or Sharish, and following the control of the Taifa of Badajoz
Taifa of Badajoz
The Taifa of Badajoz was a medieval Muslim kingdom in what is now parts of Portugal and Spain and centred on the city of Badajoz which exists today as the first city of Extremadura, in Spain....
(one of the more prominent Arab centres at the time). The name Monsaraz originates from the word Xarez or Xerez, the Iberian
Iberian language
The Iberian language was the language of a people identified by Greek and Roman sources who lived in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Iberian peninsula. The ancient Iberians can be identified as a rather nebulous local culture between the 7th and 1st century BC...
transliteration of the Arabic Saris or Sharish, for the Gum Rockrose
Gum rockrose
Cistus ladanifer is a species of flowering plant in the family Cistaceae. It is a native of the western Mediterranean region. It is indigenous to Spain, Portugal and north-west Africa. Common names include Gum Rockrose, Ladanum, Gum Ladanum and Brown-eyed Rockrose.It is a shrub growing 1-2.5 m tall...
(Cistus ladanifer L.), a plant that still today prospers in poor, dry, acidic slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
-based soil that surrounds Monsaraz. The Iberian words Xarez/Xerez latter evolved to the Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
Xaraz and to the Castilian
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Jerez (the Spanish name for the Sherry
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
wine). The settlement that became Monsaraz, originated from the Monte Xaraz, a fortified hill surrounded by Gum Rockroses. It is natural position, the highest hill in the area and proximity to the deep Guadiana valley, made it a location of strategic importance.
In 1167, the Castle and medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
was taken by Geraldo Sem Pavor, in an expedition that came from Évora (which had just been retaken, about the same time). After, Afonso Henriques' defeat in Badajoz
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....
, Monsaraz was once again taken by Muslim forces. In 1232, supported by the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, King Sancho II
Sancho II of Portugal
Sancho II , nicknamed "the Pious" and "the Caped" or "the Capuched" , , fourth King of Portugal, was the eldest son of Afonso II of Portugal by his wife, Infanta Urraca of Castile...
definitively retook the citadel and town, placing it under the control of the Templars, and obligating them to establish a garrison that would protect the border. The Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
repopulation of Monsaraz ended around the reign of Afonso III
Afonso III of Portugal
Afonso III , or Affonso , Alfonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , the Bolognian , the fifth King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249...
, when it was assigned an alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
, the knight Martim Anes, and first letter of foral
Foral
thumb|left|200px|Foral of Castro Verde - PortugalThe word foral derives from the Portuguese word foro, ultimately from Latin forum, equivalent to Spanish fuero, Galician foro, Catalan furs and Basque foru ....
.
In 1263 it was already an important fortress, being the head of a municipality, with large privileges. The local economy was fundamentally based on agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
, existing some small artesnal industries producing terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
earthenware and hammered copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
.
After the Portuguese Interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
(1383-1385), the town of Monsaraz was integrated into the dominions of the House of Braganza
House of Braganza
The Most Serene House of Braganza , an important Portuguese noble family, ruled the Kingdom of Portugal and its colonial Empire, from 1640 to 1910...
under Nuno Álvares Pereira
Nuno Álvares Pereira
Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, O. Carm. , also spelled Nun'Álvares Pereira, was a Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 Crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile...
. By 1412, it is inherited by Fernando, his son, becoming one of the more precious profit centres in the Ducal estates.
In 1512, King Manuel of Portugal
Manuel of Portugal
-Kings:* Manuel I of Portugal , 14th King of Portugal* Manuel II of Portugal , 34th and last King of -Infante:* Infante Manuel, Count of Ourém , son of Peter II of Portugal...
issued a foral
Foral
thumb|left|200px|Foral of Castro Verde - PortugalThe word foral derives from the Portuguese word foro, ultimately from Latin forum, equivalent to Spanish fuero, Galician foro, Catalan furs and Basque foru ....
(charter) to the Vila de Monsaraz, reformulating the public and jurisdictional administration of the municipality.
The demographic crises created by the plague
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
forced the Duke of Bragança, in 1527 to carry out small land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
s in order to promote the settlement Monsaraz. The small plots were established in the area surrounding this village.
Following the Portuguese Restoration War
Portuguese Restoration War
Portuguese Restoration War was the name given by nineteenth-century 'romantic' historians to the war between Portugal and Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon . The revolution of 1640 ended the sixty-year period of dual monarchy in Portugal...
, in 1640, the castle received new tactical defenses, that included a new walled bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
, that allowed the city-fort to be integrated in to the system of defences that connected Elvas, Juromenha, Olivença and Mourão.
The condition of the walled medieval city, the growth of the farm estates of Reguengos, the richness of the artesnal production and vineyards, and more importantly, the loyalty towards the Miguelist
Miguel of Portugal
Dom Miguel I, sometimes Michael , was the King of Portugal between 1828 and 1834, the seventh child and second son of King John VI and his queen, Charlotte of Spain....
forces during the Liberal Wars
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 progressive constitutionalists and authoritarian absolutists in Portugal over royal succession that lasted from 1828 to 1834...
were all factors that contributed to the shifting of the municipal seat from Monsaraz to Vila Nova de Reguengos in 1838. A fact that became permanent after 1851.
Geography
The parish of Monsaraz is located in the northeast corner of the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz fronting the Guadiana River and Alqueva DamAlqueva dam
The Alqueva dam is a dam located on the Guadiana River in the Alentejo region. The reservoir is the largest in Portugal and Western Europe.The complex project was made to produce hydroelectric power, irrigation for farms in the surrounding area, as well as a large reservoir where several tourist...
to the east, Corval to the west and Campinho to the south in the municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz. Across the reservoir to the east is the parish of Mourão (in the municipality of Mourão) and to the north the parish of Capelins (in the municipality of Alandroal).
Architecture
Civic
- Casa da Inquisição
- Casa da Roda dos Expostos
- Casa do Juíz de Fora
- Cine Monsaraz
- Cistern of Monsaraz
- Fountain of the Telheiro
- Mill of Água do Gato
- Novos Paços do Concelho
- Paços da Audência
- Pillory of Monsaraz
- Restaurante Sem Fim/Lagar
Religious
- Chapel of São Bento
- Chapel of São João
- Church of Nossa Senhora de Lagoa
- Church of Santiago Maior
- Church of the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Orada
- Church of the Misericórdia of Monsaraz
- Hermitage of Nossa Senhora do Carmo
- Hermitage of São João Baptista
- Hermitage of São Lázaro
- Hermitage of São Sebastião
- Hermitage of Santa Catarina de Monsaraz