Castle of Portel

In the context of the 1383–1385 Portuguese Interregnum crisis, Fernão Gonçalves de Sousa, mayor of Portel, took the sides with the Kingdom of Castile, and for fear of the residents rebelling, took their weapons to all and put them in the castle.

[1] In November 1384, the development of the Alentejo campaign by the forces of the Constable D. Nuno Alvares Pereira, a cleric of Portel, name John Matthew, opened them the village doors, facilitating the achievement of settlement and surrender the castle.

[2][3] Lost its defensive function, away from border and the main access roads to the Alentejo region, the castle was gradually abandoned until becoming ruins in the nineteenth century.

It is dominated post an imposing donjon of quadrangular plant, which stands at about twenty-five meters high, divided internally into two floors above the parapet line, both covered by rib vault warhead.

The defense of the castle was complemented by a barbican, that are conserved still important sections in the south, north and west, composed of curtain reinforced by turrets of quadrangular.