Paderne Castle (Castelo de Paderne) is in
AlgarveThe Algarve from the Arabic word meaning "the west" is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal. It has an area of 5,412 square kilometres with approximately 410,000 permanent inhabitants, and incorporates 16 municipalities...
,
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
. This hill fort was built by the
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
in the second half of the 12th Century. Its is eight kilometers (five miles) from the
AlgarveThe Algarve from the Arabic word meaning "the west" is the southernmost region of mainland Portugal. It has an area of 5,412 square kilometres with approximately 410,000 permanent inhabitants, and incorporates 16 municipalities...
resort of
AlbufeiraAlbufeira is a Portuguese city and a municipality in the district of Faro, Algarve region. Its name came from the Arabic: البحيرة . The city proper has a population of 13,646. The municipality has a population of 35,281 inhabitants and a total area of 140.6 km²...
, on a River Quarteira bend close to the village and civil parish of
PadernePaderne is a village and a civil parish in the municipality of Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal. The village is situated 7.4 miles north of the town of Albufeira, 23 miles west of Faro and is 151 miles from Lisbon. The village has good transport links being very close to junctions on the A2 motorway to...
. It is 7.5 km (4.7 miles) north from the coast.
The castle is one of seven on the national flag of Portugal. Its location on a rocky peninsular bend was of strategic importance as it controlled the ancient Roman road "Via Lusitanorum" crossing the Quarteira River on the south. The
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
bridge still stands at the crossing point below.
Description
The castle is mostly ruinous, almost a hectare in size and has a
trapezoidIn geometry, a four-sided figure with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in British English. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted .-Definition and terminology:...
al perimeter footprint. The eastern side, which has the least natural defence has a substantial tower and is built of Taipa (Mixture of mud, chalk, lime and aggregate that sets like concrete). This tower, the only one left standing in the enclosure, protrudes from the wall and is connected to the main fortification by an upper passageway. On the outside of this tower it is still possible to make out the whitewash strips which were applied to the joins of the layers of taipa to give the impression that the tower was built from
masonryMasonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone such as marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, and...
. Nevertheless these mud walls are still 1.8 meters thick and are constructed on a substantial stone
plinthA plinth is the base of a cabinet in cabinet making.In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of...
which can be seen at the base of the perimeter walls. There are also at intervals, vertical openings to allow for drainage of any accumulative water inside the castle walls. Below the tower can be seen the remains of
rampartA defensive wall is a fortification used to defend a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
s which ran across the eastern perimeter but most of it has collapsed, probably at the time of the
earthquake of 1755The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and fires, which caused near-total destruction of Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and adjoining areas...
. This rampart which is lower than the main walls also defended the main Gateway to the castle, which is at a right angle to the main wall which created an 'L' shaped entrance designed to make any frontal attack that much more difficult. Not all the stonework in the entrance way is original, being replaced and made safe during restoration work. In side the precinct of the castle can be seen the remnants of a cistern. On the south wall are the ruins of the former chapel of Nossa Senhora do Castelo which was the Parochial church for the nearby village and date from the 14th century. The church was abandoned by the residents of
PadernePaderne may refer to several places:*in Portugal:**Paderne, Albufeira, a parish in the municipality of Albufeira**Paderne is a Portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Melgaço.*in Spain:...
in 1506 when a new parochial church was built in the village. In 2002 archaeological digs of the castle precinct have brought to light evidence of dwellings and streets within the castle compound and the discovery of the remains of a sophisticated
sewerageA sanitary sewer is a type of underground carriage system, , for transporting sewage from houses or industry to treatment or disposal...
system and vestiges of the network for the
cisternA cistern is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater...
s and channels for the collection and supply of drinking water. Paderne Castle was, in fact, a fortified village and predates the foundation of today’s town of Paderne, possibly by as much as two centuries.
Origins
The castle was essentially constructed in the time of the Almohad dynasty but vestiges of early fortifications have been found and it is assumed that there once was an early Roman fortification on the site. The Almohad were an Islamic dynasty whose power base was in North Africa. The Almohad dynasty like its predecessors the Almoravids were concerned about the advancing
Christian armyThe Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between...
from the north who were steadily advancing southwards. They pledged themselves to protect their territories and began an intensive period of military construction and fortification in the Algarve here at Paderne and also at
FaroFaro is a city in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the district of Faro and capital of the Algarve region. The Algarve and Faro district cover the same territory.-History:The Ria Formosa...
,
LouléLoulé is a city and a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 764.2 km² and a total population of 62,295 inhabitants. The city proper has a population of 12,103.The municipality is composed of 11 parishes, and is located in the District of Faro....
and
SilvesSilves is a town and a municipality in the Algarve, southern Portugal. The city has a population of 10,800 inhabitants and the municipality reaches 33,830 . The municipality of Silves is part of the district of Faro...
and many other locations in the area. Muslim depopulation of the countryside caused by the relentless Christian tactics of raiding and pillaging the local Muslim lands whilst avoiding outright conflict with the Almohad forces was another good reason for the fortification constructions such as Paderne which provided the local population with a place of relative safety from the raids.
Conflicts
In 1182 the castle is recorded as being conquered by the armies of
King Sancho ISancho I , nicknamed the Populator , second monarch of Portugal, was born on 11 November 1154 in Coimbra and died on 26 March 1212 in the same city. He was the second but only surviving legitimate son and fourth child of Afonso I Henriques of Portugal by his wife, Maud of Savoy. Sancho succeeded...
with the help of English Christian mercenaries during a continuous night raid. In 1191 Muslim forces of the Almohad dynasty under the command of Caliph Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Mansur recaptured the castle and surrounding lands. The castle remained in the control of the Almohads for 57 years until 1249 when the forces of
King Afonso IIIAfonso III , or Affonso , Alfonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , the Bolognian Afonso III , or Affonso (Archaic Portuguese), Alfonso or Alphonso (Portuguese-Galician) or Alphonsus (Latin), the Bolognian Afonso III ' onMouseout='HidePop("92896")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Paio_Peres_Correia">Dom Paio Peres Correia
D. Paio Peres Correia, a notable medieval Christian conqueror, who was born c. 1205, in Monte de Fralães, in the district of Barcelos in Portugal....
finally conquered the castle and ended Muslim control of the region. The troops of Peres Correia massacred all the inhabitants of Paderne castle in their conquest. It was shortly after this time that the chapel was built, thought to be on the ruins of the
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
as was the custom of the Christian re-conquest of
IberiaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
. Only future investigation will prove whether this is the case.