Moimenta da Beira

Moimenta da Beira is a municipality in the northern part of Portugal, located in the district of Viseu. The population in 2011 was 10,212, in an area of 219.97 km².HistoryMoimenta's history is fairly recent: Alfonso III of Asturias conquered Lamego from the Moors, when the first settlements along the Douro began by remnants of Visigothic tribes. "And there they entered into power, becoming absolute masters of everything that the force of arms would take", from the writings of the Scribe Santa Rosa Viterbo.These bands created rural villages and homes that received in their local dialects the names Leomil, Baldos, Alvite, Toitam, Mileu, Segões, Sever and Ariz. The inhabitants of the mountains and castros, such as Pêra, Caria and São Félix, began to descend into the valleys, abandoning the rudimentary and fragile fortifications to work in the towns for the signeurial masters.During this epoch, one of these lands (actually insignificant), whose name was implied to the localities ceremonial and funerary importance; it served as a place of homeage and worship of the dead, and its name Moimenta (monument) was in reference to its mausoleum in honour of the dead.By the 12th century all the civil parishes that now exist were already part of the Moimenta administration, although Leomil (Couto) and Caria (Honra) had their own magistrate until 1258.One hundred years later, in the 14th century, the lands of the municipality of Moimenta da Beira, had three ecclesiastical parishes: Santa Maria de Caria, Santa Maria de Lobozaim and São Tiago de Leomil. Sever and Alvite were part of the Couto de São João de Tarouca (a military administration) created in 1140, while Vilar was part of the Honra de Fonte Arcada (an honorific title bestowed to nobility). After the 14th century, as the management of rural territories necessitated an administrative authority, eight municipalities were established in the region, which extended into the 19th century: Paçô; Nagosa e Castelo; Sever e Alvite; Pêra e Peravelha; Ariz e Peva; and Moimenta (then known as Moimenta de São João Baptista de Leomil), were formed at the expense of Leomil. Meanwhile, the parishes of Paradinha, Cabaços e Baldos, were deannexed from Leomil (resulting in this municipality only retaining the parishes of Sarzedo and Paraduça). Finally, the municipality of Caria, already a municipal seat with pillory in the Vila da Rua, included the small parishes of Arcozelos, Aldeia de Nacomba, Faia, Penso, Carregal, Lamosa, Quintela da Lapa and Segões.