Castle of Mogadouro

The Castle of Mogadouro is a medieval castle located in the civil parish of Mogadouro, Valverde, Vale de Porco e Vilar de Rei, in the municipality of Mogadouro, Portuguese district of Bragança.HistoryThe castle was constructed between 1160 and 1165, in an area then occupied by a small residential nucleus.Mogadouro was referred in documents associated with its donation by the Braganção (resident from Bragança) Fernão Mendes to the Knights Templars in 1186. During this period of the Iberian Peninsula Reconquista, the region of Miranda was the scene of numerous battles, that involved settlements in Mogadouro, Algoso, Miranda do Douro, Outeiro de Miranda and Vimioso (which marked the Christian defensive line in northeastern Portugal).In 1197, the region was traded by King D. Sancho I (along with Penas Róias) for Idanha: the monarch became the principal patron of the region's churches by 1199. Yet, the region transferred back to the Knights Templar in 1223, although patronage of the ecclesiastical orders continued to come from the monarch.