1217, who aided by the Knights of Avis under the leadership of D. Fernão Anes, drove the Moors out of the region and brought it under his own military authority. The present castle was built in 1308 by D. Lourenço Afonso, ninth head of the militia, with the consent of D. Dinis. We do not know if the castle was built on lhe sile of an earlier one as unfortunately the keep was blown up by D. Juan os Austria in 1662. It was attacked and set fire to several times by the CastiJians during the two wars of independence principa1ly in 1381 under the reign of D. Fer- nando I, while under the occupation of the Marques de Caracena, in 1665 it was linked to the Marquises of Abrantes and to the senior of the noble Lencasters, the Counts of Vilanova de Portimão.

The first Duke of Bragança D. Afonso was born in the castle in H77. He was the legitimate son of D. João I and D. Jnês Pires the latter, head of the religious order of Saints and daughter of Pero Esteves, the famous and respected farmer who tried relentlessly to restore her honour

and whom hislory dubbed, the picturesque but respectful name of Barbadão. The settlemenl was granted a charter by D. Manuel I on 2 November 1510, and it was established as the 12th seat in Parliament. The old medieval district ceased to exist in 1855, and since 1895 the town has belonged to the region of Estremoz and is now a simple rural parish, as the two sister parishes of Santo Amaro and São Pedro de Almouro were ceded at that time. In the latler which is very old indeed, numerous archeological remains from the Roman era have been unearthed. Currently Aveiros has a population of 2399 inhabitants.

In spite of the decline that set in after the transfer ofpublic power and subsequente loss oj economic and social status, the town still has some interesting religious and civic architecture. Worth visiting is the now djsused Royal Court and the Pi1lory, the latter an interesting exampl~ of regional marb.le in French renaissance style which dates back to 1539 and was restored il1 1739. It is made up of a column topped by an armi1lary sphere forming part of the beautifu' capital decorated with sculpted angels.

To the west of the town, standing upon a rocky base is the octagona1ly designed stockadt built in the reign of King Dinis. Built of shale it is designed with cylindrical turrets and squart towers. It has an entrance at each of the four cardinal points. Today these are sma1ler than tht main gate or the soca1led Sun Gate, which fe1l into ruin in the XVIII century leaving only tht clock tower whichdominates the square of the Mother Church of São Salvador. This interestin~ church, which replaced the medieval church ofSanta Maria Madalena, was authorised by Kin~ D. Sebastião and ratified by the Cardinal-Prince I;>. Enrique on 8 June 1559, the mastel stonemason being João Alvarez. The church. mode1led on the original plans for the co1legiat~ church of Santo Antão of Évora, was only consecrated in the year 1595, a delay caused perhap! by the disasters of Alcácer Quibir, where the Portuguese king died and Portugal was occupied by King Phi1lip II of Spain in 1580.

The rectangularly designed church with a sober , pillared façade, and an opulent round window, and a door with decoratedlintels. The church is divided into three wide naves with solid round marble col- umns of ionic design and a ribbed vaulting. The lat- ter is decorated with rosettes, crosses of the order of São Bento of Avis and single carved early renaissance f1o'wers. With its well-balanced lines and fine building material it gives a sense of strength and lightness compared to other buildings of the same style and period in the Alentejo.

Some of the side chapels deserve special mention ~ for their artistic value, such as that of São João Baptista built near the mother church and founded by Vicente Curvo in 1380, improvements being made by the noblemen Lopo Pereira and D. Inês Pegas in I602 and both buried there. They had the murais depicting painted seraphins and the decora- tion of the worked ceiling and the wooden altar- piece depicting São João Baptista.

The oldest altar-piece in the building in the church is in the chapel of São Bras. It has classical features dating from the time of the consecration of the church although it dates from 1.406, due to D. Lourença Andreu the wife of João Vicente. It is a balanced group of panels arranged in columns on three levels, framing a polyptic dating from around I600, featuring the folIowing saints: Santa Luzia, Santa Apol6nia, São Lourenço, Cristo da Coluna and Santo André. Crowning this in the foreground a painting depicts the Descent of the Holy Ghost.

The church has three main altars, two side ones of little architecturàl merit, and the high altar, . which has undergone recent repairs ( 1. 926). I.t is here, where the majestic altar piece dating from the changes made under King João V can be found. It consists of a carving in decadent baroque style. It has four Solomonic columns and composite capitaIs.

The naves are paved with the stones marking the burial place of Lusitanian warriors, many of the Order of Avis, much esteemed for their proud shields and Baroque lambrequins.

Adjoining the chancel, is the shrine of Santa Isabel, with the sumptuous effigy of the manager and founder of D. João V'sstud farm, founded in 1740, Dom Diogo Galvão Pegado Coutinho Freire J de Andrade Soares de ~Ibergar!a Galhardo Barreto ~ da Ponte Cabral Ferrelra da Camara Velho e Men- . donça, buried near other iIlustrious nobles of the

In the forecourt of the church other irregular , picturesque, popular, forms of religious architec- ture are found in the shape of the chapel of Misericordia and that of Our Lady of the Concep- tion, which formerly belonged to the old place of the Moorish commanders, and is currently an or- phanage. Both of XVII Baroque style, the first was built in the XV century, and was the pantheon for the descendants of the head of the Alcantara Monroy family, in Castile, who had settled in Por- tuga.l in the time of D. Afonso V, and of the chief magistrate of the court of King Phillip of Spain, Louis Serrão Lobo, who had changes made to the high altar in 1607. It has an altar piece of coloured regional marble, sculpted in Corinthian style (se- cond half of XVIII century).

Of great religious, and poetic and legendary fame is the hermitage of Our Lady of Mileu situated on the northern edge of the town, its past shrouded in fantasy, is where the bonesof the descendents of Barbadão are laid. Completely restored in 1788, it retains the artistic structure of that period, while deeply inset in the facade is a Roman tombstone. Inside the hermitage the simple, single nave lined with muraIs, is prized for its altar piece, a work of neoclassical mosaic plaster work. Even older, and mentioned by the historian of the "Santuário Mariano", Brother Agostinho de Santa Maria, is the revered stone image of the patron saint in rock, clad in richly embroidered garments.

The remaining churches in the Veiros are proof to a past where the faith reigned and flourished. .Although the churches of Santiago and São Sebastião have disappeared, those of Santa Catarina, Santo Antão o Novp .and Nossa Senhora dos Remédios still remain. The latter are Baroque works from the early XVII century with wide vaulted naves, rectangular in design resting on three rows of false arches, on square pillars bearing frescoes depicting the four evangelists.

Santa Catarina Church bearing the Gothic re- mains of the early 1500s, is surrounded by rugged cliffs and wild country overlooking the river plain of Veiros, preserves its primitive apse, ribbed vaulting and roughly worked corbels.

In the unhallowed chapel of the Holy Ghost, once occupied by a brotherhood founded in the XV century, two muraIs well protected by the sanctuary remain. Framed in Baroque decoration, they depjct the Adoratjon of the Three Kings and the flight out of Egypt (XVII century).