Of all the
attributes credited to the Romans after conquering and firmly establishing
their rule in the Iberian Peninsula, the
most profound and lasting was their introduction of the Christian religion.
Prior to the 1st century
AD, the Romans were already a highly religious people. In their daily lives,
they were devoted to a great number of gods and goddesses. With the Emperor
Constantine came the conversion to Christianity and belief in one almighty God.
Legend has it that
the apostle Paul brought the gospel to the Iberian
Peninsula in 40AD, but there is nothing to substantiate this.
More likely, the Romans introduced Christianity in the 2nd or 3rd century AD.
The Algarve was part of the Roman province of Lusitania when the Iberians and
Celts began converting from their multi-deity paganism to the new religion. By
then the Romans had forced the indigenous peoples out of their hilltop
fortifications and resettled them in towns (citânias) each with a centre of
administration and justice. They had developed industries such iron smelting
and brick and tile-making, built roads and bridges, and opened schools teaching
Latin - the basis of modern Portuguese.
The Romans may
have established the first fortress in the Porches area at the place we now
call Crastos, a word derived from the Latin Castrum, meaning the site of a
defensive position. Alternatively, they may have built fortified walls and
perhaps also a temple on a nearby narrow headland with sheer 30-metre cliffs on
either side. The present chapel is believed to have been constructed at least
in part from Roman ruins.
According to
local legend, the chapel commemorates an apparition of the Virgin Mary and thus
it acquired its name, Ermida da Nossa Senhora da Rocha, Chapel of Our Lady of
the Rock. Its most obvious ancient features are the capitals on top of the two
pillars in the arched entrance. The one on the right is manifestly Visigothic.
The one on the left is heavily weathered but probably dates from the same
period.
From their
Germanic roots in the western part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Visigoths
brought to an end the centuries of innovative Roman rule and created a
sprawling kingdom that included the most southern and westerly parts of Europe. At first, the Roman Christians regarded them as
heretics. With their Arian beliefs, the Visigoths held Jesus Christ in high
esteem but rejected the notion that he was the divinely created son of God. In
the late 6th century, however, they came around to accepting the Catholic faith
and fully integrated into the culture of the Hispano-Romans. Everything
suddenly changed in the year 712 with the arrival from North
Africa of invading Muslims.
The latest
newcomers were known in Christian Hispania by the Latin word maurus,
meaning people from Mauritania,
or the Greek mauros, meaning ‘dark’. The Moors, as they came to be known
in English, gave the name Al-Andalus to southwestern Spain and Al-Garb to southwestern Portugal. As
followers of the prophet Muhammad, they immediately came into conflict with the
Hispanic Roman Catholics.
The Christian
uprising against the Moors in Portugal – the Reconquista -
began before Portuguese national independence was declared in the north of the
country the 11th century. The Reconquista progressed sporadically
southward, interspersed by major defeats and setbacks – and also long periods
of regional peace.
Intermittently
during the first two centuries after their occupation, the Moors had to contend
with a foreign irritation along the shores of Iberia in
the form of marauding Vikings from Scandinavia.
Later, rivalries became even more complicated with warfare between two major
Islamic dynasties, the long-established and puritanical Almoravids, and the
Almohads, a fiercely reformist movement that originated in the Atlas Mountains
of Morocco.
During the
centuries of Moorish occupation, many Christians converted to Islam, either
spiritually or nominally. In the periods of relative peace, the Moors
contributed immensely to the culture and way of life of ordinary people. In
Porches, as elsewhere, they transformed agriculture by introducing new crops
and farming methods, including more efficient irrigation systems. Meanwhile,
across the country, the population increased along with prosperity even though Reconquista fervour
continued to simmer. At times in the Al-Garb in the 12th and 13th centuries it
more than simmered. It raged furiously.
Chelb, modern
Silves, less than 10km from Porches, became the capital of Al-Garb under the
Almoravids. The Almohads seized it in 1156. A busy city, it had a
population of 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants, twice the population it has today.
The Arab geographer Idrisi, who lived from 1100 to 1166, recorded firsthand
observations while travelling extensively in Portugal and
elsewhere in Europe. He noted that Silves
was “fine in appearance with attractive buildings and well furnished bazaars.”
It had a port with a shipyard and a thriving trade dealing mainly in fruit and
fish with African and Mediterranean ports.
The people of Silves spoke pure Arabic and were particularly eloquent and fond
of writing poetry. Both the upper and lower classes were elegantly mannered.
Idrisi was less complimentary in his praise of Lisbon, describing it simply as “a compact
and well-defended town.”
Aside from its
architectural elegance, thriving commercialism and rich culture, Silves was
noted for its mighty Moorish castle next to a mosque on the high point of the
city. This was the scene of savage battles in which Portuguese forces were led
or supported by passing Crusaders from northwestern Europe on their way to the Holy Land.
The first
important year for the Reconquista in the Algarve came
in 1189, the year of the 3rd Crusade. The Portuguese king D. Sancho I asked
passing crusaders from Denmark and Friesland to attack the castle in Alvor, 13 km
southwest of Silves. Six thousand men, women and children were said to have
been killed during that battle.
That same
year, Sancho struck a deal that resulted in a combined Portuguese, English,
German and Flemish fleet setting sail from Lisbon for Silves in mid summer. On the
fourth day out of Lisbon, the fleet sailed
up the Arade River and anchored close to the
capital. Those living in the lower part of the city quickly fled to the
better-protected upper part. As the Christians advanced, burning everything in
their path, the Muslim civilians took sanctuary within the castle walls.
The Christians
lay siege to the castle. The defending Moors held out for 49 days before the
Christians managed to mine their way in for a second time and cut the main
water supply. A condition of their surrender was that the Muslims could leave
the castle with whatever possessions they could carry. As they left, however,
the Crusaders stripped them of their belongings and sent them empty-handed on a
200 km trek to Seville,
the nearest Moorish bastion. The Crusaders looted the castle for three days
before the disgusted Portuguese king ordered them out of the castle and back to
their ships.
The following
summer, Almohad forces from Seville tried
to retake the city. That this attack failed was partly due to the fortuitous
arrival in Lisbon of a Palestine-bound
fleet under the command of England’s
Richard I. ‘The Lionheart’ sent a contingent to help with Silves’ defence. The
summer after that, Richard’s Crusaders were in Acre in the Kingdom of Jerusalem when the Moors returned
once more to Silves to exact revenge for their 1189 humiliation. All of Sancho
I’s previous victories south of Lisbon were
nullified as the Almohads recaptured Silves and swept through southern Portugal leaving
towns in ruins. Another five decades were to pass before Silves was finally
conquered by the Christians.
We can only
hazard a guess as to what impact these dramatic events had on Porches, a small
village and fortress outpost, close by and within Silves’ heavily contested
control. But Porches played an unlikely culminating role.
Final victory for
the Christians came in the reign of Sancho II and was led by his top military
commander, Paio Peres Correio, master of São Tiago.
He attacked Estômbar, 6 km southwest of Silves, and then went on to overcome
Moorish strongholds all over the Algarve, including the castles at
Alcoutim, Castro Marim, Tavira, Salir and Alvor.
Faro and
Albufeira fell during the reign of Sancho II’s brother, Afonso III. That left
just three Moorish redoubts: Loulé, Aljezur and Porches. Upon the capture of
Porches from the Moors in 1249, Alfonso became the first ruler to use the title
King of Portugal and the Algarve.