Frechas

Frechas is a Portuguese civil parish, located in the municipality of Mirandela, in the district of Bragança. The population in 2011 was 929, in an area of 18.54 km².HistoryIts early settlement is still clouded in a lack of documented references; although archaeological remains are various, the earliest established settlement was the fortified colony of Fraga do Castelo in Vale da Sancha.Before 1258, Lourenço Soares received a foral for the settlement of Frechas; it remained in the hands of him and the sons of Nuno Martim of Chacim by 1285. Frechas, at one time, was the municipal seat of its own municipality (which was extinguished in 1836). King Manuel I first issued a foral on 10 March 1513 to the unincorporated territory. It included provisions for a civil governor, two municipal judges and councilmen (as well as associated staff, which were subordinate to the ombudsmen of Vila Flor). Their de juro and heretical donatorio, was the Master of the Casa de Vila Flor (House of Vila Flor), who was represented in Frechas by a notary, while a judge from Torre de Moncorvo administered the King's justice. Ecclesiastically, the old parochia or vicarage, was under the jurisdiction of the rector of São Lourenço de Libela, under the patron saint of São Miguel.