User:Parutakupiu/History of Porto

Origins

Pre-history

The whole area currently occupied by the city of Oporto and the surrounding lands were inhabited since pre-historic times. This occupation is corroborated by the many different archaeological remains found through the years, and also some urban toponyms which are associated with them (e.g. Antas, in English: Dolmens). Some of these remains were found at Oporto's western oceanic area (Ervilha, Nevogilde, S. João da Foz, Castelo do Queijo, Boa Nova), dating back at least four or five thousand years to a culture named asturian. Less older megalithic burial monuments and remains of castro settlements were referenced in São Gens, Guifões (Matosinhos), São Pedro Fins, Gondomar, etc., as well as numerous primitive pottery items and some bronze artifacts.

The existence of an ancient indigenous castro on a high top just south of the São Bento train station (between Corpo da Guarda, Chã and Loureiro streets) was verified by Mendes Corrêa, during some major works to open a new avenue through that area towards Dom Luís I bridge. He was motivated by some 14th to 17th century documentation which mentioned a cividade on that top near some currently existing toponyms. Silex instruments, hairpins and bronze fibulae along with some typical castrejan pottery were found by Corrêa on that site. Building demolition allowed the exposure of old double-leveled walls as seen on many castros.

Roman domain

After the death of Lusitanian leader Viriathus, the conquest and romanization of northwestern Iberia accelerated. The Douro river was first transposed by the Roman troops on 137 BC under the command of general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus who submitted the local populations between that river and Minho. Only with Augustus, did peace (Pax Romana) established on this region. The populations established on what is today's Oporto area, especially the Corpo da Guarda's cividade, were also submitted with more or less resistance.

It is believed that the old roman road connecting Lisbon (Olissipo) and Braga (Bracara Augusta, Gallaecia's capital) made its way through portuense soil along the Vila river on the western slopes of Corpo da Guarda and Penaventosa hills, although no remains of it were found. However, the strong roman establishment on this area of Oporto was confirmed when, in 1940, during major urbanization works on Sé Cathedral's square, several roman artifacts were unburied: pieces of marble and granite columns, parts of small buildings, a sacrificial altar dedicated to the sea Lares and a coin of Constantine the Great.

An intermediate station called «Calem» was described in "Antonine Itinerary" as the last stop 35 miles before Braga, but it is unknown whether it is located on the north or south bank of Douro's mouth. In 1905, Leite de Vasconcelos admitted its location on the north shore based on writings by 4th century roman grammar Servius who quoted Sallust, a 1st century BC roman historian. These stated the existence of Gallaecian city called «Cales»; since this province's southern border was the Douro river, Servius's texts strengthened the idea that Cales was positioned on today's Oporto territory and was the roman road's intermediate station. Moreover, Mendes Corrêa hypothesized that the Corpo da Guarda's cividade was Cales. Still, this hypothesis concerning Cales' location was questionable as far as Sallust's geographical data validity are concerned because only seven years after his death did Gallaecia reach the Douro (27 BC). Sousa Machado stressed that Cale, far from being a proper name, was the toponymization of a common name which meant "channel", "port" as in a river passage. Cale was therefore assigned to the embarkation/disembarkation points on Douro's banks which allowed the roman road's transposition of the river.

Suebi and Visigothic domain

Cale was replaced by Portucale from the 5th century onwards, when roman domain was fading after barbarian hords (Suebi, Alans, Vandals and Visigoths) invaded and settled in the peninsula. It was mentioned for the first time in the chronicles of Hydatius, roman bishop of Aquae Flaviae (Chaves). The northwestern Iberia was chosen by the Suebi for its strong climatic similarity with their homeland (south Germania); circa 410, a roman-loyal kingdom was founded under Hermeric, but the local populations didn't accept well the invaders and only in 438 peace was ratified, with the intervention of Braga's bishop Balconius. In 456, Hermeric's grandson, Rechiar, was defeated by the Visigoth king Theodoric II at the Battle of Orbigo, near Astorga. Hydatius tells that Rechiar escaped and refugeed in a place called «Portucale» (he was soon captured and killed in Braga).

Leite de Vasconcelos considered that the roman Cale or Cales and the suebi Portucale (or Portumcale) were the same location, with the latter meaning "Cale's port" (in this case Cale was assumed as toponym). In this path was also Mendes Corrêa, who conceived Portucale as roman-influenced demic nucleus established on the mouth of the Vila, underlying Corpo da Guarda's old castro (the Cale), where the roman road continued to Braga. Therefore, Portucale was a late-roman early-suebi toponym, used to distinguish the Cale-derived population which left the fortified castro moving closer to the lower, unprotected Douro bank, as a consequence of the long-lasting peace period (Pax romana). Portucale emerges at the entrance of a valley going through the Douro's north bank massive granitic hills, much alike Straßendorf, and would constitute the nucleus of today's Oporto.

With Portucale's increasing population and economic growth - excelled by Catholicism's consolidation among the Suebi - the location was elevated to bishopric in 572, although it was firstly based at Magneto (Meinedo, Lousada), moving to Portucale on 582 (according to the Council of Lugo's records) to occupy a small church at a Suebi-built wall-protected area on the Penaventosa hill, where today lies the cathedral. The records of the III Council of Toledo (589) mention two Portucale bishops: Argiovitus and Constantius.

With the new bishopric status, Portucale also acquired the title of "city" (civitas) and its growing importance was demonstrated when Leovigild gave it coinage rights, a priviledge for the main visigothic cities, for which there are few existing examples from him and other kings (e.g. Reccared I, Liuva II, Sisebut and Suintila). Leovigild's coins contained "LEOVIGILDVS•VICT" ("victorious Leovigild") which could have been intended to "commemorate" his conquest of Portucale.

Despite the internal political quarrels and external military affairs during the following two centuries of Visigothic ruling in Oporto's area, in no way was the civitas portucalenses life affected. The fact that it always had residential bishops employing their ecclesiastical power undisturbedly and travelling safely to Toledo and other synod host cities, is a testimony of the public tranquility and high economic level of this city. In 693, bishop Félix was entrusted with the Braga metropolitan diocese, during the XVI Council of Toledo, another statement of Portucale‘s importance.

Muslim conquest and Reconquista

In 711, the Iberian peninsula is invaded by Ummayad muslim armies, led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad, which crossed the Gibraltar, coming from northern Africa. The last Visigothic king, Roderick was killed by Tariq at the Battle of Guadalete ending with three centuries germanic rule over Iberian lands. Portucale, located far north from the muslims' entry point of invasion was undisturbed for the first two years, until 713, when Musa ibn Nusair (Tariq's general) reached Lugo, and 716, when Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa (Christian: Abdelaziz), Nusair's son, finally conquered and plundered Portucale.

After twenty five years under muslim domain, the christian visigothic resistant forces, protected on the Asturian mountains, took the opportunity of advancing south when internal fights, between the Arab invaders and the rebelling berber soldiers, weakened the muslim stronghold on subjugated northern cities. Alfonso I of Asturias, Pelayo's son-in-law, descended the highlands and reconquered Portucale among many other cities up to the Douro. He adopted a policy of "depopulation" on these lands in order to create the Deserto of the Duero between christian and muslim factions. Portucale was highly affected and started to wane since it lost most of its urban inhabitants and even the bishops moved to safer galaico-asturian lands, depriving the city from its ecclesiastical representant for two centuries.

It was on the first years of Alfonso III of Asturias's reign that Portucale was revived on account of the repopulation campaign pursued by his predecessors. In 868, galician warlord Vímara Peres retook Portucale during his king-ordered quest of conquering and securing the lands between Minho and Douro rivers; in doing so, he founded the first County of Portucale with Vimaranis (Guimarães) as founded capital. Portucale became the centre of a restoration and repopulation wave which spread beyond its diocese limits (towards the Lima, Tâmega and Vouga rivers), nurturing an embrionic ideal of territorial unity and autonomy on the county, under the city's name, which would later create the portuguese nation. In 997, on an expedition to destroy the holy christian shrine of Santiago de Compostela, muslim ruler Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (or Almanzor), marched from Cordoba to Galicia through Portucale, where his army was reinforced. The fact that the city was spared and was only a "passage" might originate from an agreement between Almanzor and count Mendo Gonçalves II. These non-agression pacts were very important when Portucale was at the country's christian-muslim border, allowing a brief return of the bishop – Nonego (d. 1048) and Sesnando (1048–1075) – to its seat, before a series of archdeacons which lasted until a new bishop was elected in 1113 – Hugo. Until then, the civitas portucalense didn't stop helping leonese troops to conquer lands south of the Douro and beyond Coimbra; by 1093, muslim Lisbon had surrendered.

In 1071, the last count of Portucale, Nuno Mendes, was killed by king Garcia II of Galicia at the Battle of Pedroso, after the former took advantage of a dinastic succession war in Ferdinand I of Castille-León's feuds, to break off and become independent. After his death, the county, with Portucale, was briefly annexed by Garcia (who even used the title "King of Galicia and Portucale") before both territories were reannexed to León and Castile by Alfonso VI, the following year.

In 1093, Portucale‘s administration was given by Alfonso VI to Henry (in Portuguese, Henrique), a nephew of the Duke of Burgundy Eudes I, for his help in battling the muslims in the kingdom's southern borders; this re-established the County of Portucale (Condado Portucalense). He settled the region’s northern border at the Minho and effectively referred to his territory as "portucalense province".

From Portucale to Porto

The conquests and repopulations made by Vímara Peres fueled a territorial unity which spread the city's name to the whole county territory. By mid-10th century, documents already named the region «portucalensis» and one hundred years later, it was already a political fact that Portucale made, together with Galicia and Asturias, the kingdom of León. Because the old roman urban toponym became a wider territorial designation, the civitas portucalense changed its name from Portucale to Portus (in Portuguese: Porto), with documents from the 12th century already mentioning it by this name (e.g. Pope Calixtus II's bull of 1120) or "Portus Dorii" (Douro's Porto) or simply "Portu". These were replaced by the portuguese-sounding and written "Poorto" or today's "Porto", as is testified on late 13th century royal documents. But today's name might have been on the mouths of Portucale inhabitants since the 12th century, especially when bishop Hugo's prelate started a new period of politic and social influence in the city.

12th to 14th century – Episcopal city

Donation of the City and expansion

By 1120, Portucale was governed by Henry’s widow Teresa, Alfonso VI's daughter, who vainly called herself queen (in Latin: "regina Tharasia"). It was with this title that she signed a letter of donation of the Porto borough to bishop Hugo and his successors. The original letter doesn’t exist anymore, but copies from Afonso II’s chancellery, in 1218, state it. Besides the borough, also hunt and pasture fields – spreading today’s Bonfim, Campanhã, Cedofeita, Miragaia, Paranhos, São Nicolau, Sé, Santo Ildefonso and Vitória parishes – were donated to the diocese, but the real limits were hardly known due to the lack of the real document and ambiguity on the latin toponyms. At that time, besides the original borough (the civitas), there were population centres around some churchs (e.g. Águas Santas (Maia), Campanhã , Cedofeita, Paranhos) inside the donation limits and others outside of them but on current Porto’s municipal area (e.g. Aldoar, Lordelo, Nevogilde, Ramalde, São João da Foz). Presumably, Ribeira's zone (the roman Portucale and Vila's mouth) was the most populated centre because of the fishing and sailing activities. According to Mendes Corrêa, the late medieval city was formed by the «progressive extension and agglutination» of four major nucleus: the pre-roman Corpo da Guarda cividade, the primitive roman Portucale on the Vila's mouth, the Suebi-fortified Penaventosa hill; and the riverside area between the Vila and Frio rivers (Miragaia). These expanded progressively elevating Porto to third portuguese city, in the late 15th century.