The Castle starts his history in the fourteenth century with the foundation of Vila Nova de Cerveira. After the signature of treaty
Alcanices
that define the frontiers of the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, D. Dinis put into practice his plan of settlement and defense of borderer lands. He wrote a letter to your representative on this earth to inform that it was his desire to make a hamlet and build a castle. In 1321, attributed to Cerveira their first Charter Letter and sent a hundred of men to reinforce populating of this land on the banks of the Minho River. He gave privileges to anyone who would come here to live: who had committed a crime, even if severe, could to gain forgiveness living in this land from then on if he lived a regimented life.
Thus began the construction of this fortification oval in shape. We call it the castle, but objectively it is a fence because beyond the military function, has always housed private homes in well-defined roadways. Already at the time of King Dinis hardly would fit on the inside the fence all the houses of a hundred settlers. The Village should extend beyond the walls. The access to the Castle wasn’t made like today by the Port under the Chapel of Our Lady of Help, but by the Watchtower. We can still see the shield of King Dinis to surmount this entry. On the river side has been opened another door, the “Porta da Traição”.
The barbican surrounding the castle is posterior, from the time of the revolts of 1383-85. This second line of walls, the lowest, will be the work of D. Fernando or D. João.
In the nineteenth century, between the municipality and the Ministry of War, it was established a contentious that lasted for several years until the beginning of the twentieth century.
In the twentieth century, and with a different mentality of the patrimony, after works of revitalization of the Castle, it started a process of adaptation to the Inn. The Pousada of D. Dinis, named in honor of the king, was inaugurated in 1982.
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira
Alcanices
that define the frontiers of the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, D. Dinis put into practice his plan of settlement and defense of borderer lands. He wrote a letter to your representative on this earth to inform that it was his desire to make a hamlet and build a castle. In 1321, attributed to Cerveira their first Charter Letter and sent a hundred of men to reinforce populating of this land on the banks of the Minho River. He gave privileges to anyone who would come here to live: who had committed a crime, even if severe, could to gain forgiveness living in this land from then on if he lived a regimented life.
Thus began the construction of this fortification oval in shape. We call it the castle, but objectively it is a fence because beyond the military function, has always housed private homes in well-defined roadways. Already at the time of King Dinis hardly would fit on the inside the fence all the houses of a hundred settlers. The Village should extend beyond the walls. The access to the Castle wasn’t made like today by the Port under the Chapel of Our Lady of Help, but by the Watchtower. We can still see the shield of King Dinis to surmount this entry. On the river side has been opened another door, the “Porta da Traição”.
The barbican surrounding the castle is posterior, from the time of the revolts of 1383-85. This second line of walls, the lowest, will be the work of D. Fernando or D. João.
In the nineteenth century, between the municipality and the Ministry of War, it was established a contentious that lasted for several years until the beginning of the twentieth century.
In the twentieth century, and with a different mentality of the patrimony, after works of revitalization of the Castle, it started a process of adaptation to the Inn. The Pousada of D. Dinis, named in honor of the king, was inaugurated in 1982.
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira
