The ornate convent has been put up in limestone from Porto de Mós, that has turned yellow ochre in the course of time. It has an original Portuguese style, a mixture of rayonnant and flamboyant Gothic architecture combined with strong elements of English Perpendicular, that finds few parallels in Europe. As with all Dominican churches, this church has no bell tower.

The western façade, facing the large square with the equestrian statue of general Nuno Álvares Pereira, is divided in three by buttressess and huge pilasters : the Founder’s Chapel (Capelo do Fundador), the side wall of an aisle and the projecting portal. On the right side of this façade are the Imperfect Chapels (Capelas Imperfeitas), a separate octagonal structure added to the complex.

Off the east side, next to the church choir is the chapterhouse (Sala do Capitulo). The closier of King João I borders on the church and this chapterhouse. The structure continues into the cloister of King Afonso V (Claustro de D. Afonso V). On the northern side of the complex lies the Tomb of the Unknown Warriors.

The portal shows in the archivolt a profusion of 78 statues, divided over six rows, of Old Testament Kings, angels, prophets and saints, each under a baldachin. The splays on both sides display (inferior copies of) statues of the apostles, with one standing on a chained devil. The tympanum shows us Christ enthroned, sitting under a baldachin and flanked by the Four Evangelists, each with his own attribute.

Nave and choir

The church is vast and narrow (22m) in proportion to its height (32.4 m). The nave was raised to its present height by the second architect Huguet, altering the proportions of the church and giving it its present aspect. Its interior gives a sober and bare impression by its complete lack of ornaments and statues in the nave. The ribbed vaults, supported by compound piers, are closed by ornamented keystones. Light enters the church through ten stained-glass windows of the clerestory and the tall, traceried windows in the side walls and the transept and through the two rows of lanciform windows in the choir. The choir extends into two-bay transepts and consists of five apsidal chapels, with the central one projecting.

Batalha probably had the first workshop for stained-glass windows in Portugal. The art was introduced in Portugal by German artists from the regions of Franconia and Nuremberg. The oldest windows date back to the end of the 1430s. But the Manueline, ogival stained-glass windows in the choir date from the 1520s and 1530s and were produced by Portuguese masters, among them Francisco Henriques. They represent scenes from the lives of Christ and Mary: the Visitation, the Epiphany, the Flight to Egypt and the Resurrection of Christ.

The architect Mateus Fernandes and his wife are buried under a marble tomb-slab close to the portal. The tomb of the knight Martim Gonçalves de Maçada, who saved the king’s life during the battle at Aljubarrota, can be found close to the Capela do Fundador.

Founders’ Chapel - Tomb of John I and Philippa

Tombs of the four princes (from left to right): Ferdinand, John, Henry, Peter

The square Founders’ Chapel (Portuguese: Capela do Fundador) was built between 1426 and 1434 by the architect Huguet on orders of King John I to become the first royalpantheon in Portugal. It gives a perfect synthesis between Flamboyant Gothic and the English Perpendicular style, as Philippa of Lancaster had brought along a few English architects. The chapel consists of three notional bays and a central octagon buttressed by eight piers, adorned with crockets, supporting deeply stilted arches.

The joint tomb of King John I of Portugal (d.1433) and his wife Philippa of Lancaster (d.1415) stands under the star vault of the octagon. Their statues lie in full regalia, with clasped hands (expressing the good relations between Portugal and England) and heads resting on a pillow, under elaborately ornamented baldachins. The coats of arms of the Houses of Aviz and Lancaster are put on top of these baldachins, together with the insignia of the order of the Garter. On the cover plate of the tomb are inscribed in repetition the mottos of the king Por bem (For the better) and of the queen Yl me plet (I am pleased).

This octagon is surrounded by an ambulatory with complex vaulting. At the south wall stand a row of recessed arches with the tombs of the four younger sons of John I, together with their spouses. From left to right: Ferdinand the Holy Prince (a bachelor, he died a prisoner in Fez in 1443, his bodily remains were later recovered and translated here in 1473), John of Reguengos, the Constable of Portugal (d.1442) with his wife Isabella of Barcelos (d.1466), Henry the Navigator (under a baldachin, d.1460, a bachelor), and Peter of Coimbra (regent for Afonso V, 1438-1448, who was killed at the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449, his remains were only translated here in 1456) with his wife Isabella of Urgell (d.1459).

The three tombs on the west wall are copies of the original tombs of King Afonso V (r.1438–1481), John II (r.1481–1495) (empty because the soldiers of Masséna threw away the bones) and his son and heir, Prince Afonso (who died in an accident at the age of seventeen, predeceasing his father).

Unfinished Chapels[edit]

Portal of the unfinished chapels

As Capelas Imperfeitas (The Unfinished Chapels) remain as a testimony of the fact that the monastery was never actually finished. They form a separate octagonal structure tacked on the choir of the church (via a retrochoir) and only accessible from the outside. It was commissioned in 1437 by King Edward of Portugal (“Dom Duarte”, d.1438) as a second royal mausoleum for himself and his descendants. But he and his queen Eleanor of Aragon are the only ones buried here (Eleanor died in exile in Toledo in 1445, her remains were only translated here in 1456).

The original design, begun by Huguet, was altered by successive architects, especially Mateus Fernandes (who is buried inside the church). The octagonal rotunda has seven radiating hexagonal chapels. In the corners of the chapels stand the massive unfinished buttresses, that were intended to support the vault. These pillars, designed by Diogo Boitac, are decorated with Manueline motives carved in stone.

The portal rises to a monumental fifteen metres. It was originally built in Gothic style, but was transformed beyond recognition by Mateus Fernandes into a masterpiece of Manueline style (completed in 1509). It is completely decorated into a lacework of sumptuous and stylized Manueline motives : armillary, spheres, winged angels, ropes, circles, tree stumps, clover-shaped arches and florid projections. This homage of King Manuel I to his predecessor King Edward mentions his motto Leauté faray tam yaserei (I will always be loyal). This motto is then repeated more than two hundred times in the arches, vaults and pillars of the chapels.

The Renaissance loggia, added at about 1533, was probably meant for musicians. It is ascribed to the architect João de Castilho.

Chapterhouse

The Chapterhouse (Portuguese: Sala do Capitulo) reminds the visitors of the military reason for its foundation: two sentinels guard the tombs of two unknown soldiers killed in World War I.

This square room is especially notable for its star vault lacking a central support and spanning a space of 19 square meters. This was such a daring concept at the time that condemned prisoners were used to perform the task. It was completed after two failed attempts. When the last scaffolds were removed, it is said that Huguet spent the night under the vault in order to silence his critics.

The stained-glass Renaissance window in the east wall dates from 1508. It depicts scenes of the Passion and is attributed to the Portuguese painters Master João and Francisco Henriques.

Royal Cloister

King John I Cloisters of Batalha Monastery.

The Royal Clositer (Portuguese: Claustro Real) is cloister was not part of the original project. It was built under the architect Fernão de Évorabetween 1448 and 1477. Its sober outward appearance is in stark contrast with the Flamboyant Gothic style of the church. The carved tracery decoration in Gothic style (including quatrefoils, fleurs-de-lis and rosettes) by Huguet in the ambulatory forms a successful combination with the Manueline style in the arcade screens, added later by Mateus Fernandes. Two different patterns alternate, one with the cross of the Order of Christ, the other with armillaries.

The colonnettes, supporting these intricate arcade screens, are decorated with spiral motives, armillaries, lotus blossoms, briar branches, pearls and shells and exotic vegetation.

Lavabo

Situated in the northwestern corner of the Claustro Real, this work of Mateus Fernandes is of a beauty and harmony difficult to describe. It consists of a fountain and two smaller basins above. The whole is bathed in a golden glow seeping through the intricate tracery of the arches around it.

Cloister of King Afonso

This sober cloister next to the Claustro Real was built in conventional Gothic style with double pointed arches. It was constructed in the second half of the 15th century by the architect Fernão de Évora. It stands in contrast with the Manueline flamboyance of the somewhat larger Claustro Real. The keystones in the vault carry the coat-of-arms of D. Duarte I and Afonso V.

]]> https://www.tomar.theperfecttourist.com/?feed=rss2&p=3249 0 https://www.tomar.theperfecttourist.com/?p=3239 https://www.tomar.theperfecttourist.com/?p=3239#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2015 19:19:24 +0000 http://tomar.theperfecttourist.com/?p=3239 The Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória (better known as Monastery of Batalha) is located in Batalha, Portugal, and ordered the construction in 1386 by King John I of Portugal2 as thanks to the Virgin Mary for the victory in the Battle of Aljubarrota. This Dominican monastery was built over two centuries until about 1517, during the reign of seven kings of Portugal, although since 1388 there have lived the first Dominicans. Example of the Portuguese late Gothic architecture, or Manueline, is world heritage by UNESCO, and on July 7, 2007 was elected as one of the seven wonders of Portugal. In Portugal, the IPPAR still classifies it as a National Monument since 1910.

In the beginning of the works of the Monastery of Batalha was built a small temple, whose remains were still visible in the early nineteenth century. It was in this building – Santa Maria-a-Velha, also known as Old Church – which was celebrated Mass, giving support to the shipyard workers. It was a poor work, made with scarce resources.

In schematic traces know the evolution of the site itself and the degree of progress of the works. It is known that the initial project corresponds to church, cloister and the monastic dependencies inherent, as the Hall of the Chapter, sacristy, refectory and attachments. It is a model that resembles adopted, in terms of internal organization, the great Alcobaça monastery.

The Chapel of the Founder, funeral chapel, was added to this initial project by himself King John I, as do the funeral roundabout known for Unfinished Chapels, the king’s initiative Duarte.

The lower cloister and adjacent premises, would be due to the initiative of King Afonso V, and notice the disinterest of King John II the building. Would you receive the royal favor with Manuel, but only to 1516-1517, that is, until its decision in decidedly favor the factory of the Jeronimos Monastery.

The monastery was restored in the nineteenth century, under the direction of Louis Mouzinho of Albuquerque, according to the traces of Thomas Pitt, the English traveler who had been in Portugal in the late eighteenth century, and which had expressed throughout Europe through the monastery of his prints. In this restoration, the Monastery suffered more or less profound changes, in particular the destruction of two cloisters, with the Unfinished Chapels and extinction in a framework of religious orders in Portugal, the total removal of religious symbols, trying to make the Monastery a glorious symbol of Avis dynasty and especially of its first generation (said illustrious Camões Generation). Data that time the current configuration of the Founder’s Chapel and the popularization of the term Monastery of Batalha (celebrating Aljubarrota) over Santa Maria da Vitória, in an attempt to definitively eradicate the names that remind the religious background of the building.

It was during the Battle of Valdevez against Alfonso VII of León that Muslim forces attacked and destroyed Leiria and Trancoso. Afonso Henriques’s anxiety at this incursion at his southern frontier hastened his negotiations with Alfonso VII of León after Valdevez, leading to the Treaty of Zamora and freeing Afonso Henrique’s troops to deal with the Muslim attack.

Historians are divided as to the location of this battle. At the time, the name “Ourique” designated a large area south of Beja. Since 12th century chroniclers where unfamiliar with the region where the battle took place, they might have decided to call the location “camp of Ourique” for lack of a more precise term.^[1] Nonetheless, the great distance that separated Ourique from the Christian lines farther north has led some historians to suggest various localities in central Portugal, abandoning the traditional idea that the combat occurred in Ourique in the Alentejo.^[2] It would have been difficult for the then Count of Portugal, with a realm little beyond theMondego River, to go all the way south to battle five Moorish Kings. One plausible alternative is Vila Chã de Ourique, located some ten miles from Santarém.^[3]

However, incursions by Christian armies deep in Muslim territory were not unheard-of. Alfonso VII had directed expeditions that had reached Cordoba and Seville, well beyond the limits of Castillian dominions, and in 1147 he managed to conquer the Mediterrenean port of Almería, south of Granada. This was possible because the largest Almoravid armies were positioned at the frontier, while armies stationed in small towns would rather retreat into their castles than face a strong enemy force. It is not at all unfeasible that Afonso lead a raid into the Gharb, and then, while retreating, was intercepted by sizable Almoravid troops intending to crush his army.^[4]

Despite the fact that the Christian Portuguese forces were strongly outnumbered, the Muslim armies were weakened by internal leadership problems, which led to Afonso Henrique’s victory and subsequently his proclamation as King of the Portuguese, as Afonso I, with the support from his troops, vanquishing and slaying, so legend says, five Moorish kings.

The earliest accounts provide little detail. In one account the Moorish forces are led by five Kings (Life of St. Theotonius), while in another, the Muslim forces are under the command of one King, Ismar (Chronicles).^[3]In the more detailed Chronicle of the Goths, Ismar waited until Henriques penetrated into Moslem territory, then systematically sent his troops from Seville, Badajoz, Elvas, Évora and Beja against the Portuguese count.^[3] Further, the Portuguese forces were surrounded on the hilltop where they encamped, Ismar hosted knights, who were executed later by Henriques, and that the Moorish king escaped in defeat.^[3] Arab and Spanish accounts do not clarify the circumstances, and confuse the issue, identifying the Ismar as, alternatively, Ismar Abuzicri or Ismar and Abuzicri, with later historians identifying Abu Zakariya, the governor of Santarém, as the protagonist. It is also likely that the numbers were inflated by the chroniclers from a large-scale raid to grand assault by Muslim forces.

It was presumed that after his victory over the five Moorish kings, the nobles acclaimed Afonso Henriques as king.^[8] In reality, documents after his victory continued to refer to Henriques as Prince or Infante.^[8][9]

Immediately after the battle, Afonso Henriques is said to have called for the first assembly of the estates-general (Portuguese: Cortes Gerais) of Portugal at Lamego, where he was given theCrown from the Bishop of Braga, to confirm the Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León. This was a patriotic falsification perpetuated by the clergy, nobility and supporters who promoted the Restoration of Portuguese sovereignty and the claims of John IV, after the Iberian Union.^[10] The documents that refer to the estates-general were “deciphered” by Cistercianmonks from the Monastery of Alcobaça to perpetuate the myth and justify the legitimacy of the Portuguese crown in the 17th century. The author of this falsification was Oliveira Marques, and even in 1632^[11] there were misgivings about the validity of the chronicler’s account or the existence of the Cortes of Lamego^[12] The account continued to support the notion that in the 12th century a meeting of the Cortes occurred in the Church of Santa Maria de Almacave, in Lamego, in 1143.^[10] During this meeting, after being acclaimed by estates-general, Afonso Henriques accepted a group of laws on royal succession and excluded the Castilian line of Kings from the Portuguese throne, made provisions for the nobility, on justice and the independence of Portugal.^[10] But, even as Spanish jurists and diplomats later demonstrated that the document was uncreditable, the Portuguese defended the authenticity of the account.^[13] Alexandre Herculano later recounted the patriotic re-imagining in his História de Portugal, which caused its own controversy, and was later perpetuated by the writings of Alfredo Pimenta (who defended the existence of the Cortes of Lamego).^[13]

In commemoration of the Battle of Ourique, the first Portuguese coat-of-arms appeared that included five small shields, to represent the five defeated Moorish kings (from one interpretation), which was later challenged by many authors.

Legend

Some years later, the idea of a miraculous intervention in the battle by Saint James in favor of the Portuguese appeared in the chronicles of the battle. Saint James was widely venerated in Iberia (with a main center of veneration in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, where his tomb was believed to be located), being generally seen as the Matamouros (English: Moor-slayer). As a consequence of Portuguese independence this legend was embellished with time, in order to distance the Portuguese from Spanish devotional practices and beliefs. Later interpretations replaced Saint James with Saint George and, finally, with Jesus Christ.

In the legend, Afonso Henriques is visited before the battle by an old man who saw in a dream that Henriques would be victorious because God would intervene in his favour.^[8] He advised the nobleman to leave the encampment alone when he heard the bell of the local chapel. Riding off he was surprised by a ray of light that showed him (in one interpretation) the sign of the cross and Jesus Christ on a crucifix. Afonso Henriques knelt in its presence and heard the voice of Christ who told him he would defeat the Moors, which he, through courage and his faith, succeeded the following day.

The legend of the miracle of the Battle of Ourique served thus as a political instrument to defend Portuguese independence as divine will. Yet, the legend first appeared in the 15th century and was forged by the monks of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, during the battles between John and the Kingdom of Castile.^[8] It was in 1419 that the legend first appeared in the Crónica de Portugal, and was accepted as fact, until Alexandre Herculano first reexamined the event, judging it a “pious fraud”, in his investigation in the middle of the 19th century.