Castle of Pena de Aguiar

The Castle of Pena de Aguiar (Castelo de Pena de Aguiar) is a medieval castle, alternately the Castle of Aguiar da Pena, situated in the civil parish of Telões, in the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, in the Portuguese district of Vila Real.

In the first century B.C. a Roman military fort was constructed to overlook the important roadway between Aquas Flavias (Chaves) and Lamecum (Lamego). At that time, the Romans were attracted to the region due to the presence of gold ore, silver and lead. In the following centuries, the region was successively occupied by Visigoths and Muslims until the eighth century.

By the 11th century, following the Christian Reconquista of the territory, the Kings of León recovered and restructured the former Visigothic administrative center. There are references to the conquest of the region by troops of Ferdinand I of León. At that time the countships of the region were reestablished, resulting in the construction of fortified residences that served as shelters and residences for the masters of the land.

Between the beginning of the 12th century and 13th century, the castle of Aguiar was constructed, and likely completed during the reign of Sancho I. At this time, the "castle" was an important strategic point in the Terra de Aguiar (the nucleus of municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar) and inhabited by partisans of D. Afonso Henriques (1112–1185), later referenced in medieval Hagiography in Santa Senhorinha de Basto. For this reason, the region was invaded and the Castle of Aguiar besieged by Leonese forces, that were charged with bringing the region to heal or imprisoning the supporters of Afonso Henriques. An important event in the independence of Portugal, it was D. Gonçalo Mendes de Sousas, master of the dominions of Aguair and Panóis, and man-at-arms of the nascent King who quickly hastened to give aid to the forces at Pena de Aguiar.

Later, during the reign of King D. Afonso III (1248–1279), the parish of Telões received its first Carta de Foral (Foral charter) on 10 July 1255. At this time, though, the fortification had already begun to lose its strategic importance, and following 1258, the population began to gradually abandon the maintenance of the defensive line.

Text adapted from “Castle of Pena de Aguiar” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle of Pena de Aguiar ranks #6,550 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #159 of the 200 mapped in Portugal. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Vila Real, 20 km away. See how Portugal compares in the castle statistics.

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