page_title: Lamego
section_title: Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Lamego / History / Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Unidentified Cultural Heritage Portugal
context_page_description: Lamego is a city and municipality in the Viseu District, in the Norte Region of the Douro in northern Portugal. Located on the shores of the Balsemão River, the municipality has a population of 26,691, in an area of 165.42 km².
  With origins before the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, Lamego is known for its historic city center, having a long history as a principal city of the former Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province. Legend holds that the first Portuguese Cortes were held in Lamego, in 1143. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lamego is based in the city center.
context_section_description: Lamego became Catholic when the Visigothic king Rekared I converted to Catholicism. In 569, during the Council of Lugo, there appeared references to Sardinário the Bishop of Lamego. During the reign of Sisebuto (612-621), the Visigothic monarch coined currency from Lamego, indicating the importance of the region to commerce and culture.
  Just outside the city center is the tiny 7th century São Pedro de Balsemão Chapel, a Visigothic chapel believed to be the oldest in Portugal (and second oldest in Europe).
  A region alternated between peace and war in the following years as Christians and Muslims fought the territory during the Reconquista, until Ferdinand I of León and Castile conquered the region definitively on 29 November 1057. As a consequence the bishopric was moved after these events (to later be restored in 1071).
  In 1128, the nascent national Egas Moniz, had his tenancy in Lamego while his residence was in Britiande, as master of the Riba–Douro, between Paiva and Távora (in addition to the lands of Côa).
   
  The most significant moment in the town's history was in 1139, when nobles declared Afonso Henriques to be Portugal's first king. The town's Gothic cathedral was built by him, although only the Romanesque tower is left from the original building, with its carved Renaissance portal and fine cloister dating from the 16th and 18th centuries. The 12th-century castle preserves a fine keep and a very old and unusual cistern with monograms of master masons.
  King Sancho I issued a charter of independence in 1191, as the local community grew around two poles: the ecclesiastical parishes of Sé and Castelo. In 1290, King Denis provided a market charter to the city, attracting merchants from Castile and Granada with their oriental spices and textiles.
  Lamego had a privileged positioned on the routes from western Iberia, as a transit point within the settlements of the Além-Douro, Braga and Guimarães, from Alcântara and Mérida to Córdoba and Seville. It was also one of the preferred routes on the Saint James Way pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. But, two events changed the economic and social circumstances in the region: the conquest of Granada which drove the last of the Moors from the Peninsula; and the discovery of the maritime connection to India, which resulted in a slow decline for the region.
caption: The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, built in 1129.
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