These incorporated designs and mechanisms developed for the first time in 1490 by Leonardo da Vinci[15] and introduced into Portugal with the reconstruction of the castle of Torres Vedras.

[6][7] The House of Torres Vedras grew in stature and wealth over time with a number of favourable marriage alliances, most with members of Portugal's most eminent nobility, much of which highly placed in Court and in many cases interrelated with the Portuguese royal family.

[17] He had come to Portugal from Spain in 1525 with his grandmother, D. Maria de Velasco, First Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Catarina, wife of King João III.

[12] Despite the latter's five children, his family's loyalties were divided by the Restoration of 1640, and his descent was extinguished with the death of his homonymous grandson, the 2nd Count of Serém, 11th and last Marshal of Portugal.

As a result, a large part of his extensive estate was inherited through the line of his sister, and only sibling, Isabel, wife of the Alcaide-mor of Torres Vedras.

Their eldest son D. Martinho, 8th Alcaide-mor of Torres Vedras, served the king loyally in the Portuguesa navy and in Portuguese enclaves of Mazagan and Tangiers, but died aged 21 in 1623, did not marry and had no issue.

[2][18] Through these marriages, the House of Torres Vedras gained a number of morgadios, commanderies in the Order of Christ, the role of Mestre-sala and other titles and benefices.

In thanks for his fealty and his service in Ceuta, and to honour his son and heir, D. Martinho, who died heroically while taking the fortress of San Juan de los Reyes in Montjuic during the Siege of Barcelona in 1652, Felipe IV granted him the title of Marquess of Turcifal that same year.

[21][22] The Counts of Torres Vedras used the arms of the Spanish Alarcón family, as used by the Lords of Valverde, impaled with those of the Soares de Albergaria lineage in Portugal.