Guimarães Castle 4.9

The Castle of Guimarães, is the principal medieval castle in the municipality Guimarães, in the northern region of Portugal. It was built under the orders of Mumadona Dias in the 10th century to defend the monastery from attacks by Moors and Norsemen.The castle is a military fortification grounded primarily in the late Romanesque period, and elaborated during the early Gothic epoch of Portuguese architecture. Its area is delineated by walls forming a pentagram, similar to a shield, that includes eight rectangular towers, military square and central keep. Originating in the foundations of a Roman structure, from the writings of Alfredo Guimarães, it was later elaborated on the French model, in its current the form of a shield, with reduced central yard and difficult accesses. It includes several Gothic characteristics, owing to its remodelling at the end of the 13th century, when the keep and residences were constructed .HistoryEarly HistoryEmblematic of the medieval Portuguese castle, Guimarães is associated with the origins of the Portuguese nation. Yet, the phases and organization involved in its construction, from the 10th century onwards is very deficient, with many of its present structure resulting from its reconstruction in the second half of the 13th century. The examination of its walls and remains led Carlos A.F. de Almeida to proclaim, for example, that the flanking towers were constructed during the late Romanesque, early Gothic period.In the second half of the 10th century, owing to the death of Count Hermenegildo Gonçalves, the property of Vimaranes (today Guimarães) was inherited by his daughter Oneca. Countess Mumadona Dias, the count's widow, traded her property in Creiximir for the land in Vimaranes, and ordered the construction of a monastery situated on land today occupied by the Collegiate and Church of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira (PT010308340007). Later, in order to defend the curate at the monastery, the Countess ordered the construction of the castle. By 4 December 968, a codicilar document, the Countess referred to the castle (then designated as the Castle of São Mamede) as just having been constructed, in order to defend the friars and nuns in the monastery.