Bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most angular in shape and positioned at the corners. The developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and the adjacent bastions, it is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced. By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower and curtain wall obsolete; this was exemplified by the campaigns of Charles VII of France who reduced the towns and castles held by the English during the latter stages of the Hundred Years War, by the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the large cannon of the Turkish army. During the Eighty Years War Dutch military engineers developed the concepts further lengthening the faces and shortening the curtain walls of the bastions.
The resulting construction was called a bolwerk. To augment this change they placed v-shaped outworks known as ravelins in front of the bastions and curtain walls to protect them from direct artillery fire; these ideas were further developed and incorporated into the trace italienne forts by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, that remained in use during the Napoleonic Wars. Bastions differ from medieval towers in a number of respects. Bastions are lower than towers and are of similar height to the adjacent curtain wall; the height of towers, although making them difficult to scale made them easy for artillery to destroy. A bastion would have a ditch in front, the opposite side of which would be built up above the natural level slope away gradually; this glacis shielded most of the bastion from the attacker's cannon while the distance from the base of the ditch to the top of the bastion meant it was still difficult to scale. In contrast to typical late medieval towers, bastions were flat sided rather than curved.
This eliminated dead ground making it possible for the defenders to fire upon any point directly in front of the bastion. Bastions cover a larger area than most towers; this allows more cannons to be provided enough space for the crews to operate them. Surviving examples of bastions are faced with masonry. Unlike the wall of a tower this was just a retaining wall; the top of the bastion was exposed to enemy fire, would not be faced with masonry as cannonballs hitting the surface would scatter lethal stone shards among the defenders. If a bastion was stormed, it could provide the attackers with a stronghold from which to launch further attacks; some bastion designs attempted to minimise this problem. This could be achieved by the use of retrenchments in which a trench was dug across the rear of the bastion, isolating it from the main rampart. Various kinds of bastions have been used throughout history. Solid bastions are those that are filled up and have the ground with the height of the rampart, without any empty space towards the centre.
Void or hollow bastions are those that have a rampart, or parapet, only around their flanks and faces, so that a void space is left towards the centre. The ground is so low, that if the rampart is taken, no retrenchment can be made in the centre, but what will lie under the fire of the besieged. A flat bastion is one built in the middle of a curtain, or enclosed court, when the court is too large to be defended by the bastions at its extremes. A cut bastion is that, it was sometimes called bastion with a tenaille. Such bastions were used; the term cut bastion is used for one, cut off from the place by some ditch. A composed bastion is when the two sides of the interior polygon are unequal, which makes the gorges unequal. A regular bastion is that which has proportionate faces and gorges. A deformed or irregular bastion is one. A demi-bastion has flank. To fortify the angle of a place, too acute, they cut the point, place two demi-bastions, which make a tenaille, or re-entry angle, their chief use is before a crownwork.
A double bastion is that which on the plain of the great bastion has another bastion built higher, leaving 4–6 m between the parapet of the lower and the base of the higher. Semi-circular bastions were used in the 16th century, but fell out of favour because of the difficulty of concentrating the fire of guns distributed around a curve. Known as "half-moon" bastions. Circular bastions or roundels evolved in the 15th and early 16th centuries but were superseded by angled bastions. Bastille Battery tower Roundel Whitelaw, A. ed. The popular encyclopedia. P&G, pp. 50–54, ISBN 978-1-906394-07-3 Nossov, Konstantin. H. (19
Portuguese Inquisition
The Portuguese Inquisition was formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of its king, John III. Manuel I had asked for the installation of the Inquisition in 1515 to fulfill the commitment of marriage with Maria of Aragon, but it was only after his death that Pope Paul III acquiesced. In the period after the Medieval Inquisition, it was one of three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition along with the Spanish Inquisition and Roman Inquisition; the major target of the Portuguese Inquisition were those who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism, the Conversos known as New Christians, Conversos or Marranos, who were suspected of secretly practicing Judaism. Many of these were Spanish Jews who had left Spain for Portugal, when Spain forced Jews to convert to Christianity or leave; the number of victims is estimated as around 40,000. As in Spain, the Inquisition was subject to the authority of the King, it was headed by a Grand Inquisitor, or General Inquisitor, named by the Pope but selected by the king, always from within the royal family.
The Grand Inquisitor would nominate other inquisitors. In Portugal, the first Grand Inquisitor was D. Diogo da Silva, personal confessor of King John III and Bishop of Ceuta, he was followed by Cardinal Henry, brother of John III, who would become king. There were Courts of the Inquisition in Lisbon, Évora, for a short time in Porto and Lamego, it held its first auto-da-fé in Portugal in 1540. Like the Spanish Inquisition, it concentrated its efforts on rooting out those who had converted from other faiths but did not adhere to the strictures of Catholic orthodoxy; the Portuguese Inquisition expanded its scope of operations from Portugal to Portugal's colonial possessions, including Brazil, Cape Verde, Goa, where it continued investigating and trying cases based on supposed breaches of orthodox Roman Catholicism until 1821. Under John III, the activity of the courts was extended to the censure of books, as well as undertaking cases of divination and bigamy. Aimed at religious matters, the Inquisition had an influence on every aspect of Portuguese life – political and social.
In Portuguese India, the Goa Inquisition turned its attention to Indian converts from Hinduism or Islam who were thought to have returned to their original ways. In addition, it prosecuted Hindus and Muslims who broke prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or interfered with Portuguese attempts to forcibly convert non-Christians to Catholicism. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus were forced to move out of Goa, it was established in Goa in 1560 by Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques, who occupied the palace of the Sabaio Adil Khan. The ancient Christian community of Malabar Nasranis on the south Indian coast was persecuted in the Portuguese Inquisition; the Portuguese described the Malabar Nasranis as Sabbath-keeping Judaizers and burnt their Syriac-Aramaic manuscripts at the Synod of Diamper. Among the main targets of the Inquisition were the Portuguese Christian traditions and movements that were not perceived as orthodox; the millenarian and national Feast of the Cult of the Empire of the Holy Spirit, dating from the mid 13th century, spread throughout all mainland Portugal from into the 14th century.
In the following centuries it spread throughout Portugal's Atlantic islands and empire, where it was the main target of prohibition and surveillance by the Inquisition after the 1540s, since it had disappeared from continental Portugal and India. This spiritual tradition, practiced by non-religious officials and popular Brotherhoods in the Middle Ages and following centuries, was restored only after the second half of the 20th century in some municipalities of mainland Portugal. By except for a few faithful and accurate local traditions, it had undergone major deletions and changes of the ancient rituals. According to the traditional Feast of the Empire of the Holy Spirit, celebrated at the feast of Pentecost, a future, third age would be governed by the Empire of Holy Spirit and would represent a monastic or fraternal governance, in which the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the intermediaries, the organized Churches would be unnecessary, infidels would unite with Christians by free will.
Until the 16th century, this was the main annual festivity in most of the major Portuguese cities, with multiple celebrations in Lisbon and Coimbra. The Church and the Inquisition would not tolerate a spiritual tradition popular and without the mediation of the clergy at the time, most celebrating a future Age which would bring an end to the Church; the cult of the Holy Spirit survived in the Azores Islands among the local population and under the traditional protection of the Order of Christ. Here the arm of the Inquisition did not extend its power, despite reports from local ecclesiastical authorities. Beyond the Azores, the cult survived in many parts of Brazil and is celebrated today in all Brazilian states except two, as well as in pockets of Portuguese settlers in North America among those of Azorian descent; the movements and concepts of Sebastianism and of the Fifth Empire were sometimes targets of the Inquisition, both considered unorthodox and heretical. But targeting was intermittent and selective since some important familiares (associated pe
1383–1385 Portuguese interregnum
The 1383–1385 Portuguese interregnum was a time of civil war in Portuguese history when no crowned king reigned. It began when King Ferdinand I died without a male heir, ended when King John I was crowned in 1385 after his victory in the Battle of Aljubarrota. Portuguese interpret this era as their earliest national resistance movement countering Castilian intervention. Bourgeoisie and nobility worked together to establish the Aviz dynasty securely on an independent throne, unlike the lengthy civil wars in France known as the Hundred Years' War, England as the War of the Roses, where aristocratic factions fought powerfully against a centralised monarchy. In 1383, King Ferdinand I of Portugal was dying. From his marriage to Leonor Telles de Menezes only a girl, Princess Beatrice of Portugal, survived, her marriage was the major political issue of the day, since it would determine the future of the kingdom. Several political factions lobbied for possible husbands, which included French princes.
The king settled for his wife's first choice, King John I of Castile. Ferdinand had waged three wars against Castile during his reign, the marriage, celebrated in May 1383, was intended to put an end to hostilities by a union of the two crowns; this dynastic union meant. The two candidates, both illegitimate half-brothers of Ferdinand, were: John, son of Peter I of Portugal and Inês de Castro, at the time living in Castile John, Great Master of Aviz, another natural son of Peter I popular among the Portuguese middle class and traditional aristocracyOn October 22, 1383, King Ferdinand died. According to the marriage contract, Dowager Queen Leonor assumed regency in the name of her daughter Beatrice and son-in-law, John I of Castile. Since diplomatic opposition was no longer possible, the party for independence took more drastic measures, starting the 1383–1385 crisis; the regent's privy council made the error of excluding any representation of the merchants of Lisbon. On the other hand, the popular classes of Lisbon, Porto, Évora, Estremoz and some other municipalities of the kingdom rose in favour of John, Master of Avis, seeing him as the national candidate.
The first move was taken by the faction of John of Aviz in December 1383. João Fernandes Andeiro, Count of Ourém, called Conde Andeiro, the detested lover of the dowager queen, was murdered by a group of conspirators led by João of Aviz. Following this act, acclaimed "rector and defender of the realm" by the people of Lisbon, supported by the city great merchants, was now the leader of the opposition to the pretensions of John I of Castile, who tried to be recognised as monarch iure uxoris, against the Treaty of Salvaterra; the armed resistance met the Castilian army on April 1384, in the Battle of Atoleiros. General Nuno Álvares Pereira won the battle for the Aviz party. John I of Castile retreated to Lisbon in May and besieged the capital, with an auxiliary fleet blocking the city's port in the river Tagus, in a severe drawback to the independence cause. Without the capital and its riches and commerce, little could be done to free the country from the Castilian king. On his side, John I of Castile needed Lisbon, not only for financial reasons, but for political ones—neither he nor Beatrice had been crowned as monarchs of Portugal, without a coronation in the capital he was only a designated king.
Meanwhile, John of Aviz had surrendered the military command of the resistance to Nuno Álvares Pereira. The general continued to harass the invading army. John of Aviz was now focused on diplomatic offensives. International politics played an important role in deciding Portuguese affairs. In 1384, the Hundred Years' War was at its peak, with English and French forces in a struggle for the crown of France; the conflict spilled beyond the French borders, influenced, for instance, the Western Schism in a papacy only moved to Avignon from Rome. Castile was a traditional ally of France, so, looking for assistance in England was the natural option for John of Aviz. In May, with Lisbon under siege, an embassy was sent to Richard II of England to make a case for Portuguese independence. Richard was seventeen years old in 1384, power lay with his uncle John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and regent of England. Despite initial reluctance to concede men, John of Gaunt agreed to levy troops to reinforce the Portuguese army.
Lisbon feared defeat by the Castilian siege. Blocked by land and by the river, the city had no hope of relief by the Aviz army, too small to risk an intervention and was occupied subduing other cities. An attempt was made by a Portuguese fleet to relieve the Castilian blockade. On July 18 a group of ships led by captain Rui Pereira managed to break the blockade and deliver precious supplies of food to Lisbon; the cost was high, since three of four boats were seized and Rui Pereira himself died in the naval combat. Despite this minor success, the siege held on, but the siege was hard not only on the inhabitants of Lisbon: the army of Castile was dealing with a shortage of food supplies, due to the harassment of Nuno Álvares Pereira, the bubonic plague. It was the outbreak of an epidemic in his ranks that forced John I of Castile to raise the siege on Sept
Foral
The word foral is a noun derived from the Portuguese word foro from Latin forum, equivalent to Spanish fuero, Galician foro, Catalan fur and Basque foru. The Carta de Foral, or Foral, was a royal document in Portugal and its former empire, whose purpose was to establish a concelho and regulate its administration and privileges. A newly founded town would need the king's approval through a Foral, in order to be considered one. In this case, the town's administration and privileges would be defined in that document. Forais were granted between the 16th centuries; the Foral was the basis for municipal foundation, thus the most important event of a city or town's history. It was critical to a successful land settling and an increase in crop yields, by giving more freedom and dignity, via a concession, to farmers, in an age when people were subject to near slave work, as servants of landlords; the Foral made a concelho free from feudal control, transferring power down to a neighbours council, with its own municipal autonomy.
As a result, the population would become directly and under the dominion and jurisdiction of the crown, excluding the Lord from the power hierarchy. The Foral granted public lands to the collective use of the community, regulated taxes and fines and established protection rights and military duties within royal service. A pillory is directly linked to a Foral, it was raised after the Foral was granted and placed in the main square of the town
Judaism
Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It is an ancient, Abrahamic religion with the Torah as its foundational text, it encompasses the religion and culture of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. Judaism encompasses a wide body of texts, theological positions, forms of organization; the Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, supplemental oral tradition represented by texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah; this assertion was challenged by various groups such as the Sadducees and Hellenistic Judaism during the Second Temple period.
Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic. Today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between these groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition, the significance of the State of Israel. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin and unalterable, that they should be followed. Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism promoting a more traditionalist interpretation of Judaism's requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of general guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Special courts enforced Jewish law. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, but in the sacred texts and the rabbis and scholars who interpret them.
The history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions; the Hebrews and Israelites were referred to as "Jews" in books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title "Children of Israel". Judaism's texts and values influenced Abrahamic religions, including Christianity and the Baha'i Faith. Many aspects of Judaism have directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Hebraism was just as important a factor in the ancient era development of Western civilization as Hellenism, Judaism, as the background of Christianity, has shaped Western ideals and morality since Early Christianity. Jews are an ethnoreligious group including those born Jewish, in addition to converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, or 0.2% of the total world population. About 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and another 43% reside in the United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe, other minority groups spread throughout Latin America, Asia and Australia.
Unlike other ancient Near Eastern gods, the Hebrew God is portrayed as solitary. Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism: the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of mankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation. Many generations he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, he commanded the Jewish people to love one another. These commandments are but two of a large corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, the substance of Judaism. Thus, although there is an esoteric tradition in Judaism, Rabbinic scholar Max Kadushin has characterized normative Judaism as "normal mysticism", because it involves everyday personal experiences of God through ways or modes that are common to all Jews; this is played out through the observance of the Halakha and given verbal expression in the Birkat Ha-Mizvot, the short blessings that are spoken every time a positive commandment is to be fulfilled.
The ordinary, everyday things and occurrences we have, constitute occasions for the experience of God. Such things as one's daily sustenance, the day itself, are felt as manifestations of God's loving-kindness, calling for the Berakhot. Kedushah, nothing else than the imitation of God, is concerned with daily conduct, with being gracious and merciful, with keeping oneself from defilement by idolatry and the shedding of blood; the Birkat Ha-Mitzwot evokes the consciousness of holiness at a rabbinic rite, but the objects employed in the majority of these rites are non-holy and of general character, while the several holy objects are non-theurgic. And not only do ordinary things and occurrences bring with them the experience of God. Everything that happens to a man evokes that exp
John II of Portugal
John II, called the Perfect Prince, was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigorating the Portuguese economy, renewing his country's exploration of Africa and the Orient. Born in Lisbon, the son of King Afonso V of Portugal by his wife, Isabella of Coimbra, John II succeeded his father as ruler of Portugal in 1477, when the king retired to a monastery, but only became king in 1481, after the death of his father and predecessor; as a prince, John II accompanied his father in the campaigns in northern Africa and was made a knight after the victory in the Conquest of Arzila in 1471. In 1473, he married an infanta of Portugal and his first cousin. At a young age, John was not popular among the peers of the kingdom since he was immune to external influence and appeared to despise intrigue; the nobles were afraid of his future policies as king. After his official accession to the throne in 1481, John II took a series of measures to curtail the power of the Portuguese aristocracy and concentrate power in himself.
As one of example of the measure he took, he deprived the nobles of their right to administer justice on their estates. The nobles started to conspire. Letters of complaint and pleas to intervene were exchanged between the Duke of Braganza and Queen Isabella I of Castile. King John took the precaution of renegotiating the "Tercerias de Moura" agreement to insure that his son Afonso was living safely back at court before he would move against Braganza, the most powerful noble in the realm. In 1483, additional correspondence was intercepted by royal spies; the House of Braganza was outlawed, their lands confiscated and the duke executed in Évora. The Duke's widow, Isabella of Viseu, John's cousin and sister-in-law, fled with her children to Castile. In the following year, the Duke of Viseu, John's cousin and brother-in-law, was summoned to the palace and stabbed to death by the king himself for suspicion of a new conspiracy. Many other people were executed, murdered, or exiled to Castile, including the Bishop of Évora, poisoned in prison.
Following the crackdown, no one in the country dared to defy the king and John saw no further conspiracies during his reign. A great confiscation of estates followed and enriched the crown, which now became the dominant power of the realm. Facing a bankrupt kingdom, John II showed the initiative to solve the situation by creating a regime in which a Council of Scholars took a vital role; the king conducted a search of the population and selected members for the Council on the basis of their abilities and credentials. John's exploration policies paid great dividends; such was the profit coming from John II's investments in the overseas explorations and expansion that the Portuguese currency had become the soundest in Europe. The kingdom could collect taxes for its own use rather than to pay debts thanks to its main gold source at that time, the coast of Guinea. John II famously restored the policies of Atlantic exploration, reviving the work of his great-uncle, Henry the Navigator; the Portuguese explorations were his main priority in government.
Portuguese explorers pushed south along the known coast of Africa with the purpose of discovering the maritime route to India and breaking into the spice trade. During his reign, the following achievements were realized: 1482 – Foundation of the coastal fortress and trade post of São Jorge da Mina 1484 – Discovery of the Congo River by Diogo Cão. 1488 – Discovery and passage of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartolomeu Dias in Mossel Bay. 1493 – Start of the settlement of the São Tomé and Príncipe islands by Álvaro Caminha. Funding of land expeditions by Afonso de Paiva and Pêro da Covilhã to India and Ethiopia in search of the kingdom of Prester John; the true extent of Portuguese explorations has been the subject of academic debate. According to one theory, some navigations were kept secret for fear of competition by neighbouring Castile; the archives of this period were destroyed in the fire after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, what was not destroyed during the earthquake was either stolen or destroyed during the Peninsular War or otherwise lost.
When Columbus returned from his first voyage early in 1493, he first stopped in Lisbon to claim his victory in front of King John II. King John II's only response to this was that under the Treaty of Alcáçovas signed with Spain, Columbus's discoveries lay within Portugal's sphere of influence. Before Columbus reached Isabella I of Castile, John II had sent a letter to them threatening to send a fleet to claim it for Portugal. Spain hastened to the negotiating table, which took place in a small Spanish town named Tordesillas. A papal representative was present to act as mediator; the result of this meeting would be the famous Treaty of Tordesillas, which sought to divide all newly discovered lands in the New World between Spain and Portugal. John II died at Alvor at age 40 without legitimate children, he was succeeded by his first cousin Manuel I. The nickname the Perfect Prince is a posthumous appellation, intended to refer to Niccolò Machiavelli's work The Prince. John II is considered to have lived his life according to the writer's idea of a perfect prince.
He was admired as one of the greatest European monarchs of his time. Isabel
Olivenza
Olivenza or Olivença is a town situated on a disputed section of the Portugal–Spain border. Its territory is administered by Spain as a municipality belonging to the province of Badajoz, to the wider autonomous community of Extremadura. Portugal does not recognise the Spanish sovereignty over the territory, based on its interpretation of the rulings of the 1815 Congress of Vienna, holds a claim over it; as Olivença, the town was under Portuguese sovereignty between 1297 and 1801 when it was invaded by the Spanish during the War of the Oranges and ceded to Spain that year under the Treaty of Badajoz. Spain has since administered the territory, whilst Portugal invokes the self-revocation of the Treaty of Badajoz, plus the Treaty of Vienna of 1815, to claim the return of the territory. In spite of the territorial dispute between Portugal and Spain, the issue has not been a sensitive matter in the relations between these two countries. Olivenza and other neighbouring Spanish and Portuguese towns reached an agreement in 2008 to create a euroregion.
Olivenza is located on the left bank of the Guadiana river, at an equal distance of 24 kilometres south of Elvas in Portugal and Badajoz in Spain. The territory is triangular, with a smaller side resting on the Guadiana and the opposite vertex entering south-east and surrounded by Spanish territory. By an agreement between Spain and Portugal, the left bank of the river was recognized as being Portuguese territory, sets de facto border in that area. Besides the town, the municipality of Olivenza includes six villages: San Francisco, San Rafael, Santo Domingo de Guzman, San Benito de la Contienda, San Jorge de Alor. Another village, Táliga, was detached to become the seat of a separate municipality in 1850. Total population is 10,762; the total area is 750 square kilometres. Like the surrounding regions, population density is low, at 11 inhabitants per km²; some monuments include the Saint Mary of the Castle Church, Holy Ghost Chapel, Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Saint John of God Monastery, the keep, the ruins of the Our Lady of Help Bridge.
There are still traces of Portuguese culture and language in the people, although the younger generations speak Spanish only. At the beginning of the 1940s the city was mainly Portuguese-speaking, but after the 1940s a language shift towards Spanish took place. 1170 – Olivenza region falls for the first time into Portuguese hands during the conquests of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. 1189 – Muslims retake the region. 1230 – The Olivenza area is taken from the Muslims by King Alfonso IX of León. 1259 – The Knights Templar established in the nearby town of Alconchel, create the first settlement that can be identified as the origin of the town of Olivenza. The Templars built the first church of the town. 1278 – Olivenza and the surrounding area is granted by King Alfonso X of Castile and León to the Bishopric and Council of Badajoz, taking it back from the Knights Templar. 1297 – After the critical situation created in Castile with the death of King Sancho IV, King Dinis of Portugal forces King Ferdinand IV to sign the Treaty of Alcañices and cede, amongst other possessions, Olivenza to Portugal.
1298 – King Denis of Portugal grants Olivenza a foral, new city walls are built. 1510 – King Manuel I of Portugal renews the town charter and orders the building of fortifications and the Olivença Bridge over the Guadiana River, on the road to Elvas. Construction of Santa Maria Madalena Church begins; this church would be the residence of the Bishop of Ceuta for many years. 1668 – Treaty of Lisbon between Spain and Portugal reaffirms the borders defined in the Treaty of Alcanizes of 1297. 1709 – During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Ponte da Ajuda Bridge is destroyed by Spanish forces. Its ruins remain until today. 1801 29 January 1801 – France, allied to Spain, demands Portugal, British ally since the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373, to enter into an alliance with France in the war against Britain. Portugal refuses. 27 February 1801 – The brief War of the Oranges begins, with the French troops marching on Portugal followed by Spanish troops. 20 May 1801 – Spanish troops occupy, among other towns, Olivenza.
6 June 1801 – The war is over with the simultaneous signing of two treaties in Badajoz, the first between France and Portugal, the second between Spain and Portugal. As both treaties mention each other and share common clauses, they are referred to as just the Treaty of Badajoz. Under one of the terms of the Treaty, Spain gives back all the occupied towns except those on the left bank of the Guadiana river, which are ceded by Portugal to Spain, including its inhabitants, on a'perpetua
Portugal
listen)), is a municipality in the Portalegre District, Alentejo Region, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 8,456,[1] in an area of 247.20 square kilometres (95.44 sq mi).[2] It is bordered by Spain on the North and East, by Elvas Municipality on the Southeast, and by Arronches Municipality on the West.
