Castro Verde (civil parish)

Castro Verde is a former civil parish in the municipality of Castro Verde, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Castro Verde e Casével. In the 2001, its resident population included 3819 inhabitants.HistoryTurdetani, Roman and Arab peoples left behind several markers in the lands, although its settlements were primarily the consequence of Lusitanian castros that dotted the landscape. With the arrival the Romans in the Iberian peninsula, the region of Castro Verde began to be settled by shepards and farmers. Its toponym, Castrum Veteris, was associated with a Roman military outpost which helped to protect the small pastoral communities from the 1st century BC, and later prospectors who searched for metal ore within the White Pyrite Belt.The Reconquista placed the region on the historical map; historical tradition holds that it was in São Pedro das Cabeças that the famous Battle of Ourique was waged by forces of Portuguese nobleman Afonso Henriques, who presumably decapitated five Moorish kings during the battle. Historically, the battle occurred on the plains of Ourique, a vast territory that included Castro Verde. In addition, the toponomic name of São Pedro das Cabeças came from legends that indicated that a number of cadavers and skulls found in these lands, from the numerous battles.Ecclesiastically, Castro Verde was a priory of the commendatory of Saint James (Comenda de Santiago), who received four moios of wheat and barley, and 20,000 réis for his annual land rents. Initially, the Dukes of Aveiro were the donatary chieftains of these lands, but they were eventually integrated into the possessions of the Crown.