Castle of Lagos

The Castle of Lagos is a medieval castle located in the Municipality of Penela, Coimbra DistrictPofortugal.

History

Early History

Due to its strategic location, this stretch of coastline was successively occupied since prehistoric times. In Antiquity, the region was visited by Greek navigators, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. When the Romans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, the primitive village had the Latinized name or Lacóbriga. , was transferred to the place where today stands the current parish of Santa Maria ( c. first century BC). The new settlement received for its defense a quadrangular wall. Occupied by Visigoths and Muslims, these, from the eighth century, called it in Zawiya and redid it about.

Abd-ar-Rahman III, Caliph of Cordoba conquered the town in 929 and provided it with towers. The size of these works reflects the economic and strategic importance of the village enjoyed, access to Muslim Silves.

Middle Ages

During the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula, the region was conquered by King Sancho I (1185-1211) in 1189. Almohad Caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur reconquered the place in 1191, only to be retaken in 1241 by Paio Peres Correia.

During this time, there is little reliable information about the defenses under Muslim rule. King Afonso III (124801279) began works on the work of construction, continued by King Denis (1279-1325) his successor Afonso IV (1325-1357).

From 1361, the town of Lagos was separated from the jurisdiction of Silves, reaching administrative independence.

In the context of the Portuguese discoveries, Lagos played an important role. Nearby Sagres, is in one of the support bases for the conquest of North Africa and the operations of Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), when the first phase of Discovery.

Here left

• 1415 - Portuguese expedition to conquer Ceuta in North of Africa;
• 1419 - vessels for the discovery of Madeira; 1427 - craft to the discovery of the Azores;
• 1434 - Gil Eanes vessel than doubled Cape Bojador on the West African coast;
• 1458 and 1472 - the expeditions of King Afonso V (1438-1481) to conquer Ksar es-Seghir, Asilah and Tangier in the North of Africa. Despite this strategic importance, the Cortes 1475 were registered complaints about the poor condition they were in the Algarve fortifications, including this, Lagos.

Later Middle Ages

With the reign of King John II (1481-1495), the Company of Guinea was moved from Lagos to new premises in Lisbon (1481-1482). This sovereign and his successor would also have carried out conservation work on the defenses of Lagos, who did endow with an aqueduct for the water supply, built somewhere between 1490 and 1521. King Manuel I (1495-1521) granted a second Foral Charter in 1504. , reformed a decade later, making the start of the Governors Palace of the building.

Under the expansionist project of King Sebastian (1568-1578), Lagos became a city (1573), it becomes the capital of the Kingdom of the Algarve and the residence of the Captains General and Governors. His successor, Cardinal Henry (1578-1580), confirmed the title in 1579.

During Iberian Union, the strength of the defenses of Lagos. For example, it fiercely opposed the landing of British force of Francis Drake in 1587, leading Drake to seek more vulnerable point in that stretch of coast. The damage applied by the English artillery to Lagos as well as the fear of new attacks that coast, led to the reconstruction and modernization of its defenses in the following years.

• 1598 - completed work on the second wall
• 1621 - modernization and strengthening of the most fortified medieval section

Post Middle Ages

At the time of restoration of Portuguese independence, conservation works were undertaken on the walls (1642), when it was formulated the proposal to build a fortress large, pentagonal plant with five bastions at the corners, on the cliff south city (1643).

Later, the city and its defenses would be severely affected by the tsunami that devastated the Algarve coast as a result of the earthquake of 1755. The resulting destruction was such that the civilian and military governments are transferred to Tavira, less affected. At the end of the century, the city center was transferred from the old Plaza de Armas (current Praça Infante D. Henrique) to the Cano Square (now Square Gil Eanes

In the 19th century, the city experienced a surge of economic growth, especially in the fishery industry.^[1]

The walls and ramparts are classified as a national monuments by decree published on June 20, 1924.^[2]

From the second half of the 1950s, the government, through the Directorate General for National Buildings and Monuments, in view of the celebrations of Centenarians, conducted a wide intervention in the built-up heritage of Lagos, rebuilding addorsed buildings to ancient walls and bulwarks, rebuilding the Palace of the Governors, rebuilding sections of walls and the opening of Discovery Avenue in landfill increased protection between the city and the sea.^[3]

Recently (2001), the Baluarte of Port Vila, was reclassified as astronomical observatory.^[4]

Characteristics

All the city's defenses has incomplete plant in an irregular pentagon shape.

The medieval about involved the medieval town that developed around the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo.

The new fence, adapted to firearm artillery, constituted by three bastions flanks removed (from Santa Maria, Alcaria and San Francisco) and four towers or bastions means (the Plaza de Armas, the Conception, Port Room and Santo Amaro).

References