page_title: Castle of Castro Marim
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Castle of Castro Marim / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The church and the castle of Castro Marim
context_page_description: The Castle of Castro Marim is a medieval castle on a hilltop overlooking the civil parish of Castro Marim, in the municipality of the same name, in the Portuguese Algarve. The castle was part of the defensive line controlled by the Knights Templar, a stronghold used during the Portuguese Reconquista, and adapted during the Restoration War to defend the frontier.
  The castle is located in a unique landscape due to the proximity of salt and mouth of the Guadiana River. Within the castle fortification are two epigraphic inscriptions: one, the first to record a settlement established by a Portuguese monarch, while the second carving identifies the alterations occurring under the reign of King Denis.
context_section_description: In the vicinity of the fortress there must have existed a castro, dating to the Neolithic period, and successively occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks (854 BC) and Carthaginians (at the end of the 4th century BC).  This settlement was finally destroyed in a major cataclysm, before the arrival of the Romans. Following their arrival, the fortification was reconstructed and began occupying an important regional position economically and politically, extending into the Moorish occupation. 
  Throughout the decade of 1230, the Portuguese Reconquista of the eastern Algarve, by forces of the Order of Santiago, created an influx of settlers into the region of Castro Marim. In 1238, King Sancho II of Portugal captured the mouth of the Guadiana River, which laid the scene for the definitive capture of Castro Marim in 1242, by Paio Peres Correia. Its place along the former Arab-Christian divide meant that settlement by Christians remained weak, resulting in the initiatives in 1274 by King Afonso III of Portugal to populate the settlement of Castro Marim. On 8 July 1277, a foral charter was issued by the King in order to create incentives to settlement, at the same time ordering the reconstruction of the fortress. 
  During the last quarter of the 13th century, King Denis of Portugal compensating for the loss of Ayamonte to Castile, reinforced the fortifications of Castro Marim, then referred to as Castelo Velho (Old Castle), and then constructed the Castelo de Fora (the barbican) to defend the population of the settlement. On 1 July 1279, the replacement or construction of the castle gate began: it was one of the first public works begun under the reign of King Denis (from an inscription located on the site). This project was part of the larger expansion of Portuguese control, conferred officially on 1 May 1282, when the King issued an expanded foral decree (charter) for Castro Marim and its surroundings. 
  In a papal bull issued by Pope John XXII, on 14 March 1319, Castro Marim (which was part of the bishopric of Silves), was donated to the recently created Military Order of Christ, establishing its first headquarters in Castro Marim because the "castle is very strong and has a favorable defensive place, which is on the frontier with other known enemies". In 1334, the Order's headquarters moved to Tomar, resulting in the castle's abandon, but the settlement's administration was transferred to the Order of Santiago, who began constructing the Church of Santiago within the castle's square.
  On 10 April 1421, King John I authorized the settlement of 40 malcontents, in order to expand the population and promote settlement.  
  In April 1453, King Afonso V visited the castle and issued decrees to regulate the fishing in the settlement. 
  On 20 August 1504, a new foral was issued by King Manuel I who ordered the restoration of the fortifications, including the walls of the castle. Designs were executed in 1509-1510, by Duarte de Armas, with several modernized barbicans (a missing or destroyed merlons) and irregular plant, that accompanied the topography of the region and encompassed the village. In the eastern corner was a rectangular tower lined with merlons and accessed by a large gate with arched door; to the west was a smaller tower, but with a gate surmounted by a sculpted coat-of-arms (with main shield and five smaller shields); in the north, was a small arch close to the ground for sewage, flanked by barbicans; and to the north, the rectangular castle was constructed with cylindrical towers in each corner, surmounted by merlons and crowned by a conical wood structure (likely ceiling beams with tile); the southern aspect also included a cell block/tower, with low rectangular bulwark and two levels of windows. The keep consisted of a rectangular bulwark, with a false portico, protected by low body protruding from the wall, devoid of merlons. In the interior of the fortress's longitudinal courtyard were various shelters, including a chapel and two cisterns. Within the historic town walls were visible the two- to three-storey houses, a chapel wit
caption: The castle's profile overlooking the parish of Castro Marim
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