Inside Portugal

05-04-2009

A monthly newsletter from the Portuguese National Tourism Office

 

May/Maio 2009

 

As the film Angels & Demons staring Portuguese-descended Tom Hanks gets ready to open, people are wondering about timeless mysteries. Ancient symbols, centuries-old mysteries, myths, fables and legends all swirl through Portugal's history, giving added meaning to the castles and sites travelers visit across the country today. A symbol-laden coat of arms, a secret order of Christian knights, a king mysteriously missing may all sound like the plot of a new film, but they are the foundation of Portugal's long history.

 

++The mystery of Portugal's flag and its coat of arms: an ancient message?

 

Seven castles, five shields and a model of the celestial heavens--these are all elements in the modern-day coat of arms of Portugal.

http://www.ngw.nl/int/por/images/portugal.jpg

 

The coat of arms is one of the oldest national symbols in Europe, dating back to before the 12th century. Today it sits in the center of the nation's flag, is worn on the jerseys of the national soccer team, is carved into countless castles, churches and bridges across Portugal, and is even seen on a Euro coin. But what do the elements of that coat of arms really mean? Well, short answer: nobody knows for sure.

 

Portugal became a nation in the 12th century when D. Afonso Henriques inherited his father's title of Count of Portucale and defeated his mother's army. Then he turned his attention to the Moors, who occupied lands to the south of Guimarães, considered the capital city of Portugal at the time.

 

Today, Guimarães is one of the country's most historic cities with several monuments from this early era. To protect it from the Moors, a castle was built here in the 10th century, with eight 92-foot towers. D. Afonso Henriques was baptized here in a small chapel.

 

D. Afonso Henriques took on a Moorish army at Ourique and won. He then declared himself king. There is a dispute as to where the battle actually took place. The Remedios Church in Castro Verde is filled with paintings of the battle. The Royal Basilica offers remarkable more artwork of the victory, in azulejo panels. Modern historians, however, say the battle couldn't have taken place so far south and probably occurred in Alfafar, just south of Coimbra.

 

What is certain is that the D. Afonso Henriques' victory led his Portuguese forces to proclaim him their king, which leads us back to the coat of arms. Legend says that the night before the battle, Christ appeared in a dream to D. Afonso Henriques and told him not to fear. This became known as "The Promise" and the five shields on the coat of arms are said to represent either the five defeated Moorish kings, or the five wounds that Christ endured at his crucifixion.

 

Each of the five shields on the coat of arms contains five small round objects, said to be representatives of the 30 pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Christ. Well, that's one theory anyway.

 

The coat of arms was changed during the reign of King Afonso III, who during the 13th century added seven castles to a border around the 5 shields. These castles may represent the towns of Mertola, Cacela, Tavira, Faro and Portimao--the last five Moorish strongholds to fall. Each of these towns has remnants of its castle walls visible today.

 

The number of castles on the coat of arms has varied over the years, but was fixed at 7 in the 15th century.

 

Eventually, an armillary sphere was added to the coat of arms.  An armillary sphere is a model of the celestial sphere and is used in naval navigation. It may have been added to the coat of arms to symbolize Portugal's great conquests at sea during its Age of Exploration. A ribbon also was also added and it may symbolize how Portugal's conquests unified the world.

 

Since the beginning, the colors of the nation were blue and white, but in 1901, when Portugal's last king was deposed and the First Republic installed, the crown that had topped the coat of arms on the flag for 400 years was removed, and the blue and white was replaced by green and red. The green symbolizes hope or the green fields of Portugal. The red represents the sacrifices of those who defended the nation. The new symbolism is often taken for granted today, but there are those few who still question it, as in one Fado lyric from "Armas Sem Coroa":

 

"Never forget that we were once Portugal, and what we are today, we did not vote for after all:

a coat of arms without a crown on a red and green cloth."

 

 

 

 

++Tomar – Secrets of the Templars

 

So much has been written these days about the Knights Templar (a secretive Christian military order), but the last chapter in their history was written in Portugal. The Templars were founded in 1112 A.D. to protect those on pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The Templars came to Portugal in the 12th century at the request of the new king, and they built a series of castles along the Tejo River to defend the new nation from the Moors. In the town of Tomar, they built a fortified monastery as their headquarters. Today that monastery is considered one of the most important medieval sites in Europe. It was patterned on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Israel and is characterized by the soaring height of its central nave, a rarity in architecture at the time it was built. The massive door was so high that legend says the knights attended mass on horseback.

 

In 1307, Pope Clement V extinguished the Order the Temple, but the Portuguese king D. Dinis turned them into a new, secret religious order, the Order of Christ. The Knights of the Order of Christ ultimately became entwined with the royal family in the 15th century. Under the leadership of Infante D. Henrique (Prince Henry), the knights took on the exploration of the coast of Africa, launching what has become known as Portugal's "Age of Exploration."

 

With the arrival of Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama in India in 1498, riches flowed into the country, especially into the castle at Tomar. King D. Manuel added a new cloister to the monastery in what became known as the Manueline style--rich in symbols of the sea.

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