Babe (Bragança)
Encyclopedia
Babe is a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 civil parish in the municipality of Bragança
Bragança (district)
Bragança District is a traditional political division of Portugal, in the northeast corner bordering on Spain, covering 7.4% of the nations continental landmass. The capital of the district, Bragança, is 217 kilometres from Porto, the second largest town in Portugal, and 107 kilometres and 169...

. In 2001 this hilltop parish had less than 396 inhabitants, in an area of 25.61 km² (its population density was 15.42 residents per kilometre square.

History

A. Pereira Lopo, writing in 1898, alludes to the greatness of the Castro of Babe, which had been an important station during the Roman era. This includes many monuments located in its shadow, including altar stone dedicated to Jupiter (with the inscription "I.O.M.") and funerary stone with "A1 e EQVITIAL (ae) II" in base relief, with the vestiges of three figures. Lopo also characterized this mark as millenarian of origin, highly fragmented that served as a funerary marker, and also included a reference to Emperor Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...

.

There is not any consensus as to the origin of Babe, although some suggest the Arab Babi, which means small door , while others suggest that the name originated from the Roman era. Situated on the Roman road from Braga to Castela, remnants of the Roman settlement are can be found in funerary crypts and copper era implements. Popular tradition suggests that a road was constructed for the passage of Elizabeth of Aragon
Elizabeth of Aragon
Elizabeth of Aragon, also known as Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, T.O.S.F. , was queen consort of Portugal, a tertiary of the Franciscan Order and is venerated as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.-Biography:Elizabeth was a descendant of one of the most powerful families in Europe:...

 that passed through or alongside the village. Remnants of an ancient roadway were alluded to in the millenarian mark, and local toponymy “Porto Calçado”. It is likely that this was a Roman via, and supported by similar markers along the Rua de Colmenero.

The modern parish of Babe, dates to the medieval period, when it was referred to as Sancti Petride Babi, which it would continue to remain until the 13th century Inquirições” of King Afonso III
Afonso III of Portugal
Afonso III , or Affonso , Alfonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , the Bolognian , the fifth King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249...

. The documents associated with the King's inventory are the first records of a parochial institution (1258), although it is likely that the local church had existed prior to these records. The church dedicated to São Pedro , which, already on the decline, was substituted by the new Church of Santa Maria de Laviados, later to the invocation of Nossa Senhora da Conceição.

The Treaty of Babe, between John I of Portugal and John of Ghent, the Duke of Lancaster, was signed on 26 March 1387.

Babe's evolution has been affected by the population emigration and aging of the community.

Geography

A distance of 10.5 kilometres from the municipal seat of Bragança, Babe occupies an area accessible by the EN218, or along the EN308 from Gimonde
Gimonde
Gimonde is a Portuguese parish in the district of Bragança. The population in 2001 is 386, its density is 25.3/km² and the area is 15.27 km².-External links:*...

. Its located on the southern portion of the Montesinho Natural Park
Montesinho Natural Park
The Montesinho Natural Park is a protected area located in the municipalities of Vinhais and Bragança, northeastern Portugal. Sections of the southern slopes of the Serra da Coroa fall within the park....

  is bisected by the Igrejas River, as well as many of its tributaries.

The parish is bordered by Gimonde, Palácios, Caravela, São Julião and Laviados.

Architecture

  • Matriz Church of São Pedro (Saint Peter
    Saint Peter
    Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...

    ) - a stoic single-nave brick church constructed, nonetheless, in the Manueline
    Manueline
    The Manueline, or Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century, incorporating maritime elements and representations of the discoveries brought from the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral...

    -style;
  • Chapel of São Sebastião (Saint Sebastian);
  • Chapel of São José (Saint Joseph
    Saint Joseph
    Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....

    ) - dating back to 1697 (from an inscription on the façade).
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