In Portugal, the pine forest of Leiria marked the beginning of intensive planting monoculture of maritime pine.

The pine forest was sent initially planted by King Afonso III (and not by D. Dinis as is commonly believed) in the thirteenth century, in order to halt the progress and degradation of dunes and protect the city of Leiria and its Castle , farmlands of its deterioration due to the sands carried by the wind, and it became a major concern for the region’s inhabitants. This was done to seed a large area that follows the coast. Some authors attribute to the pine plantation start of D. Sancho II.

It would then later between 1279 and 1325, increased substantially by King D. Dinis, to the current dimensions.

Where proceeded for cutting trees, this was followed by replanting – in this way the pine remained intact.

The pine forest of Leiria was very important to the Maritime Discoveries, because the wood of pine was used for the construction of vessels. The pitch (tar extracted from pine trees) was also used to protect the caravels, so there are still furnace where it was manufactured.

Later acquired much importance to economic development and population growth in the area in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, since it was the main drivers of industries such as shipbuilding, the glass industry, metallurgy and naval stores (through the pine gum extraction in the nineteenth century) – the wood was used both as a raw material as a source of energy for industries and homes.

The Pine Forest Today

The pine forest is still today as a place of recreation. At present operation is possible within the pine forest. The forest is thick and allows many activities related to nature, such as biking or walking. Along the roads that cut through the pine forest we can find various viewpoints, picnic parks and water sources, and the place much visited during the summer. The pine forest is intersected by river de Moel, which gives the place an air bucolic.

The pine forest has many dune formations.

Portuguese monarchs had always called intermittent “king’s courts” (Curia Regis), consultative assemblies of feudal nobles and landed clerics (bishops, abbots and the masters of the Military Orders) to advise on major matters. This practice probably originated in the protofeudalism of the 6th-century Visigothic Kingdom. But, during the 13th century, with the growing power of municipalities, and kings increasingly reliant on urban militias, incorporated towns gained the right to participate in the king’s court. The Cortes assembled at Leiria in 1254 by Afonso III of Portugal was the first known Portuguese Cortes to explicitly include representatives of the municipalities. In this, Portugal was accompanying the pattern in neighboring Iberian kingdoms (e.g. the Kings of León admitted town representatives to their Cortes in 1188).

Medieval Kings of Portugal continued to rely on small assemblies of notables, and only summoned the full Cortes on extraordinary occasions. A Cortes would be called if the king wanted to introduce new taxes, change some fundamental laws, announce significant shifts in foreign policy (e.g. ratify treaties), or settle matters of royal succession, issues where the cooperation and assent of the towns was thought necessary. Changing taxation (especially requesting war subsidies), was probably the most frequent reason for convening the Cortes. As the nobles and clergy were largely tax-exempt, setting taxation involved intensive negotiations between the royal council and the burgher delegates at the Cortes.

Delegates (procuradores) not only considered the king’s proposals, but, in turn, also used the Cortes to submit petitions of their own to the royal council on a myriad of matters, e.g. extending and confirming town privileges, punishing abuses of officials, introducing new price controls, constraints on Jews, pledges on coinage, etc. The royal response to these petitions became enshrined as ordinances and statutes, thus giving the Cortes the aspect of a legislature. These petitions were originally referred to as aggravamentos (grievances) then artigos (articles) and eventually capitulos (chapters). In a Cortes-Gerais, petitions were discussed and voted upon separately by each estate and required the approval of at least two of the three estates before being passed up to the royal council. The proposal was then subject to royal veto (either accepted or rejected by the king in its entirety) before becoming law.

Nonetheless, the exact extent of Cortes power was ambiguous. Kings insisted on their ancient prerogative to promulgate laws independently of the Cortes. The compromise, in theory, was that ordinances enacted in Cortes could only be modified or repealed by Cortes. But even that principle was often circumvented or ignored in practice.

The Cortes probably had their heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries, reaching their apex when the usurping John I of Portugal relied almost wholly upon the bourgeoisie for his power. For a period after the 1383–1385 Crisis, the Cortes were convened almost annually. But as time went on, they became less important. Portuguese monarchs, tapping into the riches of the Portuguese empire overseas, grew less dependent on Cortes subsidies and convened them less frequently.John II (r.1481-1495) used them to break the high nobility, but dispensed with them otherwise. Manuel I (r.1495-1521) convened them only four times in his long reign. By the time of Sebastian (r.1554–1578), the Cortes was practically an irrelevance.

Curiously, the Cortes gained a new importance with the Iberian Union of 1581, finding a role as the representative of Portuguese interests to the new Habsburg monarch. The Cortes played a critical role in the 1640 Restoration, and enjoyed a brief period of resurgence during the reign of John IV (r.1640-1656). But by the end of the 17th century, it found itself sidelined once again. The last Cortes met in 1698, for the mere formality of confirming the appointment of Infante John (future John V) as the successor of Peter II of Portugal. Thereafter, Portuguese kings ruled as absolute monarchs. No Cortes were assembled again for over a century. This state of affairs came to an end with the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which set in motion the introduction of a new constitution, and a permanent and proper parliament, that however inheirited the name of Cortes Gerais.

List of Portuguese Cortes

Afonso I (1139–1185)

• 1143 – Cortes of Lamego (legendary) – to confirm D. Afonso Henriques’s title as the independent King of Portugal, and establish the rules of succession to the throne. Ostensibly, prevents succession by females if they are married to a foreigner. This has been since proven to be a purely legendary fabrication, invented at the time of the Restoration of 1640.

Sancho I (1185–1211)

Afonso II (1211–1223)

• 1211 – Cortes of Coimbra - First definitive Cortes. Established the first general laws (Leis Gerais do Reino), protecting the king’s property, stipulating measures of administering justice and the rights of his subjects to be protected from abuses by royal officials and confirming the clerical donations of his predecessor. Also, affirm the validity of canon law for the Church in Portugal, but also introduces the prohibition of the purchase of lands by churches or monasteries (although they can be acquired by donations and legacies).

Sancho II (1223–1248)

Afonso III (1248–1279)

• 1254 – Cortes of Leiria - first to include burgher delegates from the incorporated municipalities^[4] Introduction of the monetagio, a fixed sum paid by the burghers to the Crown as a substitute for the septennium(the traditional revision of the face value of coinage by the Crown every seven years). Also introduce staple laws on the Douro River, favoring the new royal city of Vila Nova de Gaia at the expense of the old episcopal city of Porto.

• 1256 – Cortes of Guimarães

• 1261 – Cortes of Guimarães - to discuss the recent debasement of the currency; allow Afonso III’s recent debasement, but extract pledges forbidding future debasements. In return for a new property tax, the old “septennium” is replaced with a new rule allowing only one revision of coinage per reign.^[5]

• 1273 – Cortes of Santarém - to consider Pope Gregory X’s bull ordering the restoration of property and rights of Portuguese bishops (seven of the nine Portuguese bishops had formally protested to the pope about the heavy-handed Inquirições Afonsinas, the royal investigations, launched in 1258, into the titles of episcopal lands, ostensibly to “recover” alienated royal property.) The Cortes find the king has not violated anything.

Denis (1279–1325)

• 1282 – Cortes of Évora - to review a royal offer to Pope Martin V to resolve the episcopal quarrel (the terms are unacceptable to the pope and rejected; documents suggest the offer was originally crafted by the king in consultation with the clergy alone in Guarda, and so the Évora Cortes may have only been considering a reply to the papal rejection.)^[6]

• 1283 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1285 – Cortes of Lisbon - to consider renewal of papal demand for restoration of episcopal rights again. Papal position rejected again. Cortes approves a new round of Inquirições, and requests the investigations be extended to the nobility (i.e. review their titular claims to tax-exempt property). Also approves new law forbidding the sale of lands to religious corporations (and forcing them to sell all land acquired since the beginning of his reign).

• 1288 – Cortes of Guimarães - Cortes reiterates request for inquisitions into noble titles.

• 1289 – Cortes of Lisbon - ratify concordat with Pope Nicholas V, settling the episcopal question.

• 1323 – Cortes of Lisbon

Afonso IV (1325–1357)

• 1325 – Cortes of Évora - enacted sumptuary laws on Jews and Muslims.

• 1331 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1334 – Cortes of Santarém - approve marriage of heir Peter to Castilian noblewoman Constance of Peñafiel, clearing the way for an interventionist war on behalf of her father, Juan Manuel de Vilhena, against KingAlfonso XI of Castile.

• 1335 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1340 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1352 – Cortes of Lisbon - protest against the introduction of juízes de fora (external judges, nominated and paid for by the crown), as a violation of local charters and customary rights.

Peter I (1357–1367)

• 1361 – Cortes of Elvas - negotiate concordata with the clergy; protest royal nomination of elective judges. First recorded use of beneplácito régio (requirement of royal review and assent before regulations issued by the Papal Curia could be applied to the clergy in Portugal).

Ferdinand I (1367–1383)

• 1371 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1372 – Cortes of Porto - protest against the Fernandine wars.

• 1372 – Cortes of Leiria - Cortes rejects king Ferdinand’s request for financing.

• 1373 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1375 – Cortes of Atouguia

• 1376 – Cortes of Leiria - recognize Beatrice of Portugal as the heir of King Ferdinand.

• 1380 – Cortes of Torres Novas

• 1383 – Cortes of Santarém

John I (1385–1433)

• 1385 – Cortes of Coimbra - to debate the pretenders to the throne, acclaim John, Master of Aviz, as King John I of Portugal. Also impose that the king must include burgher representatives in the royal council (from triple nomination lists supplied by the towns) and to impose no taxes or tributes, nor make war nor peace, without the consent of the Cortes. Also the first Cortes to grant the king the sisas (excise taxes on transactions, existing locally since at least 1311, but only now definitively made a royal tax.)

• 1386 – Cortes of Braga

• 1387 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1387 – Cortes of Braga

• 1389 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1390 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1391 – Cortes of Évora

• 1391 – Cortes of Coimbra - introduce the Jewish badge, a red star of David to be worn by Jews visibly on their clothing.

• 1391 – Cortes of Viseu - to reimpose price controls and labor laws (corvée) suspended during the 1380s crisis.

• 1394-95 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1396 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1398 – Cortes of Coimbra - establish that all debts since 1385 must be paid in real coinage (by the metal content at time of contract), rather than nominally with debased currency.

• 1398 – Cortes of Porto

• 1399 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1400 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1401 – Cortes of Guimarães

• 1402 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1404 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1406 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1408 – Cortes of Évora

• 1410 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1412 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1413 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1414 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1416 – Cortes of Estremoz

• 1417 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1418 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1427 – Cortes of Lisbon - to negotiate second concordata with the clergy, setting limits on ecclesiastical privileges.

• 1430 – Cortes of Santarém

Edward (1433–1438)

• 1434 – Cortes of Santarém - wholesale review of the laws of the realm, introduction of capitulos gerais.

• 1435 – Cortes of Évora - ratification of the Lei Mental, establishing direct male primogeniture in the inheritance of feudal grants, otherwise they revert to crown.

• 1436 – Cortes of Évora - to finance Tangier expedition.

• 1437 – Cortes of Leiria - to ratify treaty with Marinid Morocco and deliver Portuguese Ceuta in exchange for the captive infante Ferdinand the Saint Prince. Failed.

Queen Eleanor of Aragon, (regent for Afonso V), (1438–39)

• 1438 – Cortes of Torres Novas - review the will of the late Edward of Portugal, appointing Eleanor of Aragon as regent for the young king Afonso V. Passes law requiring that the Cortes must henceforth be assembled annually (not really observed)

• 1439 – Cortes of Lisbon - assembled by constable John of Reguengos, elected Peter of Coimbra as regent of the realm.

Duke Peter of Coimbra (regent for Afonso V) (1439–48)

• 1441 – Cortes of Torres Novas

• 1442 – Cortes of Évora

• 1444 – Cortes of Évora

• 1446 – Cortes of Lisbon - to declare Afonso V’s majority (declared, but Peter’s regency continues at Afonso V’s request). Reveal the Afonsine Ordinances

Afonso V (in his own right) (1448–1481)

• 1451 – Cortes of Santarém - burghers chastise king for promulgating laws outside the Cortes; assert that laws passed in Cortes, can only be modified in Cortes.

• 1451 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1455 – Cortes of Lisbon - To present the newborn royal heir John (future John II, and receive oaths of loyalty. Burghers use opportunity to protest use of royal letters to circumvent 1451 restrictions.

• 1456 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1459 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1461 – Cortes of Évora

• 1465 – Cortes of Guarda - to consider an appeal from Joan of Portugal (consort queen of Henry IV of Castile) to intervene in Castile against the rebellion of Afonso of Asturias. Intervention is rejected by the Cortes.

• 1468 – Cortes of Santarém

from Castile on behalf of the heiress, Joanna la Beltraneja.

• 1471 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1472-73 – Cortes of Coimbra

• 1475 – Cortes of Évora

• 1475 – Cortes of Arronches

• 1476 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1477 – Cortes of Montemor-o-Novo

• 1477 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1478 – Cortes of Lisbon

John II (1481–1495)

• 1481 – Cortes of Évora

• 1483 – Cortes of Santarém

• 1490 – Cortes of Évora

Manuel I (1495–1521)

• 1495 – Cortes of Montemor-o-Novo - review will of late John II, invite political exiles to return, criticize proposed India expedition.

• 1498 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1499 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1502 – Cortes of Lisbon

John III (1521–1557)

• 1525 – Cortes of Torres Novas - require king to assemble the Cortes at least once every ten years.

• 1535 – Cortes of Évora - to declare Prince Manuel as heir to the throne (but died 1537).

• 1544 – Cortes of Almeirim

Catherine of Austria (regent for Sebastian) (1557–1562)

• 1562 – Cortes of Lisbon

Sebastian (in his own right) (1562–1578)

Henry (1578–1580)

• 1579 – Cortes of Lisbon - assembled by Cardinal-Regent Henry of Portugal to resolve controversy on the succession to the late Sebastian.

• 1580 – Cortes of Almeirim - to ratify Henry’s right to appoint Philip II of Spain as his successor. Disputed by burghers.

Philip I (II of Spain) (1581–1598)

• 1581 – Cortes of Tomar - recognize the ascension of Philip II of Spain as king of Portugal, set out conditions of his reign (see Iberian Union).

• 1583 – Cortes of Lisbon

Philip II (III of Spain) (1598–1621)

• 1619 – Cortes of Lisbon

Philip III (IV of Spain) (1621–1640)

John IV (1640–1656)

• 1641 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1642 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1645-46 – Cortes of Lisbon

• 1653 – Cortes of Lisbon

Luisa of Guzman (regent for Afonso VI) (1656–1662)

Afonso VI (in his own right) (1662–1668)

• 1668 – Cortes of Lisbon - declare Afonso VI insane, install Prince Peter as regent.

Prince Peter (regent for Afonso VI) (1668–1683)

• 1674 – Cortes of Lisbon - dissolved when the Cortes attempted to tie taxes to particular government expenditures.

• 1679-80 – Cortes of Lisbon

Peter II (in his own right) (1683–1706)

• 1697-98 – Cortes of Lisbon - the ‘Last Cortes’. To recognize Infante John (future John V) as the successor to the throne.

Absolute monarchy thereafter. No Cortes assembled in reigns of John V (1706–1750), Joseph I (1750–1777), Maria I (1777–1816), John VI (1816–1826), with the exception of the 1820 assembly of the Cortes Gerais e Extraordinárias da Nação Portuguesa to draft a new constitution. The other exception was during the reign of Miguel of Portugal (1828–34), when the constitution was suspended and an old-style Cortes was assembled by Miguel in Lisbon in 1828 to recognize Miguel as the sole legitimate heir to John VI.

The entire town was under Moorish rule, until 1135, D. Afonso Henriques conquered the castle, giving it a charter in 1142. The fortress was rebuilt by Sancho in 1192, which granted a charter in 1195. This year there -if the last attack of the Muslims.

Although Afonso III in 1254, gather cuts in Leiria, only the reign of King Dinis the castle would be enacted royal residence (this time was donated to Santa Isabel of Aragon along with the commander’s residence). From there, the population expansion occurred outside the protective walls of the castle. The walls again surrounded the village because the dangers of new wars with Castile were always present.

In 1385 began the dynasty of Aviz to the Battle of Aljubarrota. That’s when peace is established defenitiva with Castile. It has also started expansion in North Africa.

While the kingdom was said abroad, the town grew to the river. The streets and squares fifteenth receive the renowned medieval fairs in the kingdom. The economic development situation and social developments of the fifteenth century allowed in Leiria were created the first paper mill and one of the first typographical workshops kingdom.

It was during the sixteenth century who built the Cathedral and the Church of Mercy. In Rodrigues Lobo Square, the old city center, was built, also at this time, the Palace of the Marquises of Vila Real. In this place will have been a hospital at St. Maninho.

The poet Francisco Rodrigues Lobo says in its seventeenth-century poetry on the Church of St. Augustine’s Convent, baroque, and also the panoramic views only possible to reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Incarnation.

From this place one can see the city, the Monte Real Spa and the famous Pinhal de Leiria, base of the caravels used in the Portuguese Discoveries. This secular pine forest exists today and continues to circle the Lake Ervedeira.

During the history of Portugal were made many Cortes in Leiria:

Leiria Cortes 1254

In 1254, D. Afonso III summoned representatives of the clergy, the nobility and the people to carry out Leiria Cortes. From that date, the old court nobles and clergy gave rise to a new institution, the emerging concept of “political pact” between the monarch and his subjects. Over the centuries, the cuts that took place in the church of San Pedro, within the walls of Castelo de Leiria, gave birth to the modern Parliament.

Leiria Cortes 1372

Gathered the new cuts in Leiria in 1372, in the reign of Ferdinand, they were marked by some of the popular opposition to the king’s wishes, who wanted to increase taxes to cover the state treasury and wage war to Castile. Amongst other grievances, representatives of municipalities were unhappy with taxes, the monarch worsened without consulting them, and changing the value of the currency. Records underscores the already apparent dependence on the king himself before the powers of Cortes.

Leiria Cortes of 1376

These Cortes took place in November 1376 with the sole purpose of performing the preitos and menagens to infants Beatriz of Portugal and D. Fradique de Castilla. Not any of them remaining chapters and only come down to us the testimony of one chronicler Fernão Lopes, the attorney of the county of Arronches, Elvas, Évora-Monte, Leiria Sortelha and their representatives as well as the actual text of preitos and menagens.

Leiria Cortes 1438

Finally, Duarte called Cuts to Leiria in 1438. In them it came from a problem of larger amounts: the Infant rescue Ferdinand, who had been captured in Tangier and in exchange for whose release was demanded delivery of Ceuta square. The opinions shown to be divided and was not taken any resolution. The infant, of course, would eventually die in captivity.

According to one, with the castle in possession of the Moors, was preparing King Afonso Henriques to resume it. By watching the crows flew over the castle, it seemed that repeated “not now, tomorrow morning.” For this reason, she waited until dawn to deliver the attack, managing to retake the castle.

Another legend says that under the castle there is a dormant volcano, responsible for heating the hot water supply.

The latter ensures that there is a secret underground passage which allows communication with a castle church, opposite the city.

By consolidating his rule from 1128, the young D. Afonso Henriques (1112-1185), planned to expand their domains, then limited the north by the Minho River to the southwest by the Serra da Estrela and the south by the Mondego river. To this end, from 1130, invaded several times the neighboring territory of Galicia in the north, while it remained attentive to the southern border, constantly attacked by Muslims.

In support of this Linde south, made strategically lift from the ground, a new castle between Coimbra and Santarém (1135), on top of a rocky elevation, just south of the confluence of the river Lis with the Lena River, to whose trim under the Paio Guterres command, entrusted the defense of the new frontier that there was trying to establish (cf. Brevis history Gothorum). In the village also began, and would designate its castle, called Leiria. Two years later, the town and its castle were assaulted by the Almohad Caliphate, who took advantage of an onslaught of the forces of Dom Afonso Henriques to Galicia (1137). After a fierce resistance, Palo Guterres and his men were forced to abandon their positions.

Back in the kingdom, the king organized a counter-offensive to stem the advance of the Moors, whose combined forces defeated the epic Battle of Ourique (July 25, 1139). At the end of the year, Muslims, aware that the Portuguese monarch had initiated new campaign against the King of Leon, Galicia, again attacked and conquered Leiria and its castle, whose defenders at the time, suffered heavy casualties, from your mayor , D. Paio Guterres to fall prisoner. Back at the hands of D. Afonso Henriques (1142), the monarch granted a charter to the town, determining the reconstruction and strengthening of the structure of the castle, which made erect a chapel under the invocation of Our Lady of Pena (between 1144 and 1147 ).

After 2 times 2 times lost and regained the castle of Leiria belong permanently to the Portuguese Province, helping the conquest of Santarém and Lisbon and therefore in building the country.

His successor, D. Sancho I (1185-1211), granted a new charter to the village (1195), determining erect a fence you amuralhada1. The development of the village was so significant at the time, that made headquarters of the Cortes of 1254, convened by King Afonso III (1248-1279).

Other monarchs devoted attention to Leiria, highlighting D. Dinis (1279-1325), who lived there several times, coming to donate in July 1300, to Queen Santa Isabel, the village and its castle, chosen for creating his heir, Prince Afonso (this time the Town were located in the old seminary). Is D. Dinis that is attributed to adapt the castle to the Palace of function, reconstruction of Our Lady of Pena chapel and the start of construction of powerful Watchtower (8 May 1324), a few months before his death . This tower was completed in the reign of his successor, as epigraphic inscription on the outside.

The village has developed in such a way that it was there that took the Cortes of 1254, convened by King Afonso III, the first cortes1 which were called representatives of the nobility, clergy and people. Since then the site has a lot of time chosen for the cuts, the base on which to build what is now the Parliament. Under the reign of Ferdinand (1367-1383), when here gathered the Cortes of 1372, the town was in expansion to the banks of the river Lys.

Under King John I (1385-1433), who celebrated here in 1401, the marriage of his son Alfonso (future Count of Barcelos and Duke of Bragança), they started the construction works of so-called Hall of the Queen or New palaces, where stand the Gothic vain and the space of its rooms and câmaras.D. Manuel I (1495-1521) granted the New Foral Leiria (1510), heave, in 1545, the city status by King John III (1521-1557).

The current configuration of Leiria Castle to the sum of four major construction periods:

1 – the twelfth-century Romanesque;
2 – Gothic dionisino, the first half of the fourteenth century;
3 – Gothic joanino of the fifteenth century beginnings, and
4 – current restorer of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
Some of the interventions promoted by Korrodi were later undone, considering that your project sinned by excessive romanticism, without regard to the actual profile (original) of the monument. Proof of this are the false ruins that still exist in the inner courtyard and near the port of betrayal.

The castle has an irregular polygonal plan, marked by the strength of its defensive system (walls and towers) inside which stand out the Royal Palace, the Church of Santa Maria da Pena and the Keep. Defended externally by a Barbican, the fence is enhanced by towers of square plan at regular intervals. This about ripping two doors: the Puerta del Sol in the south in what is now the Cathedral tower, and the Port of Castelinhos to the north, flanked by two towers. Surpassing to the Puerta del Sol is entered in a square where are a few buildings, the former Bishop’s Palace (now headquarters PSP) and the Chapel of St. Peter. Climbing up a ramp, along the fence of the village, one reaches the entrance to the castle, the Port Albacara, arched back round in a tower topped by merlons bevelled and torn by frestões, which served as bell tower of the Church nearby Nossa Senhora da Pena.

The castle walls are topped by merlons quadrangular, being reinforced at their most vulnerable stretch (where the slope of the land is not as marked) by a Barbican, followed by an advanced around the north and east. On the west side, ripping the call Door of Betrayal in Broken Bow. The inner stronghold, surrounded by walls belt, is arranged in a higher northwest platform, and is dominated by the castle keep.

The main castle structures can be described succinctly:

Porta da Albacara  - Door Albacara (cattle collection in Arabic), in Romanesque style, elbow as Muslim use. In the basement of the towers that stand, are some headstones with Roman inscriptions, derived from the old “civitas” of Colipo, which existed near the barrier – in much of the castle was actually built with civita stones, nothing left this to not be the stones here transladadas.

Casa da Guarda, house of the guard, set erected at the time of restoration work started in 1915, as proposed originally from Korrodi. In his porch include some columns and late-Gothic corbels originated from the ancient cloister convent of Santa Ana de Leiria (1494-c. 1917-1920), the nuns of the Order of St. Dominic.

Torre dos Sinos, The Bells Tower, access door to the primitive fortified enclosure, pentagonal and with Romanesque arches and frames containing orbiculars cruciform signs or Templars. In the thirteenth century it was adapted as a bell tower of the nearby Church of Santa Maria Pena when they were torn new windows in Gothic style. It was also called, to medieval times, as Tower Buçaqueira, which may indicate that it was the hawks would house used by royalty in their hunts.

Igreja de Santa Maria da Pena, Church of Santa Maria Pena, evolution of the first temple of Leiria, casteleira chapel of Nossa Senhora da Pena. It has a single rectangular nave, with a nave and chancel in the Gothic style, accessed laterally by a pointed portal five archivolts supported by smooth columns. The polygonal apse reveals ribbed vaults cover 7 cloths. The side panels of the chancel are torn by cracks ogivais two fires, topped by quatrefoils. Was used as a palace chapel by Dynasty Avis.No choir can even see a Roman stone Collipo dedicated to Emperor Antoninus Augustus Pius, and out the sacristy Manueline have access to the ruins.

Ruínas da Colegiada, Collegiate ruins of the canons and clerics Crosier of Leiria. Place of archaeological interest, here there courtroom, cells and dormitories, dining room, kitchen, patio, cumuas and cistern that met the religious and served the Church of Pena.

Paços Novos, Paços do Castelo, or Paços Reais, New Town Hall, Town Hall Castle or Royal Hall, with square plan, the dimensions of 33 mx 21 m. It consists of lateral towers of four floors and a central body 3. In the lower floor, there is a large lounge with three robust Gothic arches (Hall of Arches), while on the second floor two smaller halls served the day-to-day Palace (kitchen, wine cellar, bedroom). On the third floor, the royal rooms are located in the extreme, divided by the Main Hall (Hall of Hearings) that opened into a gallery or loggia of Mediterranean Gothic arches from where you can enjoy a beautiful view over the city. Two bodies that make up the flank fourth floor, which had its interior divided into at the time, luxury sanitary facilities.

Pátio Interior, Interior Square of historical and architectural interest is testimony of the monument restoration policies in the twentieth century, highlighting the options for the false ruin and by intentionally unfinished work.
Celeiros Medievais, Medieval barns, set of three datable barns of the thirteenth century, vaulted in masonry, which should be complemented with primitavamente construction wood and mud, which no longer exists.

Porta da Traição and Falsas Ruínas, Door Treason and False Ruins, a wall of cloth torn west almost completely restored in the 1930s, marks the site of the original door, which is believed to have entered the Muslims in one of the castle taken. They also observe false ruins characteristics of Monument restore options between 1930 and 1950.
Torre de Menagem, Keep, prismatic plant, rising to 17 meters high (some added during its reconstruction), is divided internally into three floors topped by a terrace and crowned by merlons quadrangular. Sent perform on the foundations of an earlier tower by D. Dinis, a Gothic epigraphic tombstone, inscribed with the royal coats of arms, points out that fact in left at the door. It was used as a royal prison since mid-fourteenth century and is active also in the second half of the eighteenth century. In the enclosure, persist ruined remains of the fifteenth century works. Currently patent is a museum nucleus inside.

Torre Sineira da Sé, The Cathedral’s Bell Tower, in Baroque style, stands on one of the ancient medieval towers of Puerta del Sol. Around 1546, we proceeded to its enlargement and reform, and took advantage of the castle door to install the house bell ringer. Later, during the episcopate of Don Miguel de Bouillon (1761-1779) acquired the present form spire featuring on the crest of this bishop. Determined with six bells made in 1800 by the master-founder John Craveiro de Faria. It is quadrangular at the top consists of a pyramid having an angel as the top vane. Once worked as a prison and was next to the police.

Portas do Norte, Doors North, or Castelinhos, mark the beginning of the Romanesque walls of Leiria involving a perimeter of about 5 hectares to the north and east. Prior to 1152, gave access to the missing parish church of Santiago and Coimbrã Bridge. Are composed of two watch chariot and Barbican on whose porch falls one of the oldest coats of Leiria county (XIV century), in which it is observed, around a castle, two pine topped by crows, symbolizing the legend Foundation Leiria by D. Afonso Henriques.

Antigo Paço Episcopal, Former Bishop’s Palace, now occupied by the PSP, is a significant example of Portuguese architecture of the seventeenth century manor, highlighting the portal and the noble window superimposed. It stands on the site of the ancient royal Paços de São Simão where resided, among others, D. Afonso III, D. Dinis, Queen Santa Isabel and Ferdinand. It was here where took place the Cortes 1254.

Igreja de São Pedro, Church of St. Peter, Romanesque Coimbra (head) and southern (portico) was built in limestone and brick, with Romanesque sculptural figurations at the level of dogs and decorative friezes of archivolts. It became the second cathedral of Leiria (c. 1548-1574) and in the nineteenth century, used as an auditorium. Also it came to be used as a barn.

The name “Leiria” in Portuguese derives from ‘leira’ (from the medieval Galician-Portuguese form ‘laria’, from proto-Celtic *ɸlār-yo-, akin to Old Irish ‘làr’ ‘ground, floor’, Breton ‘leur’ ‘ground’, Welsh ‘llawr’ ‘floor’) meaning an area with small farming plots. It was occupied by the Suebi in 414 and later incorporated by Leovigild into the Visigoths kingdom in 585 A.D. Later the Moors occupied the area until it was captured by the first King of Portugal, Afonso Henriques in 1135, during the so-called Reconquista. The settlement was intermittently attacked until 1140. South of Leiria in that period was the so-called “no-man’s land”, until regions further south (like Santarém and Lisbon) were permanently taken and re-populated by the Christians. In 1142 Afonso Henriques gave Leiria its first foral (compilation of feudal rights) to stimulate the colonisation of the region.

Both Afonso I of Portugal and Sancho I rebuilt the walls and the Leiria Castle to avoid new enemy incursions. Most of the population lived inside the protective city walls, but already in the 12th century part of the population lived outside the walls. The oldest church of Leiria, the Church of Saint Peter (Igreja de São Pedro), built in romanesque style in the last quarter of the 12th century, served the parish located outside the walls.

During the Middle Ages the importance of the village increased, and it was the setting of several cortes (feudal parliaments). The first of the cortes held in Leiria took place in 1245, under King Afonso II. In the early 14th century, King Dinis I restored thekeep tower of the citadel of the castle, as can be seen in an inscription in the tower. He also built a royal residence in Leiria (now lost), and lived for long periods in the town, which he donated as feud to his wife, Isabel. The King also ordered the plantation of the famous Pine Forest of Leiria (Pinhal de Leiria) near the coast. Later, the wood from this forest would be used to build the ships used in the Portuguese Navigations of the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the late 14th century, King John I built a royal palace within the walls of the castle of Leiria. This palace, with elegant gothicgalleries that offered wonderful views of the town and surrounding landscape, was totally in ruins but was partially rebuilt in the 20th century. John I also sponsored the rebuilding in late gothic style of the old Church of Our Lady of the Rock (Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Pedra), located inside the castle.

Towards the end of the 15th century the town continued to grow, occupying the area from the castle hill down to the river Lis. King Manuel I gave it a new foral in 1510, and in 1545 it was elevated to the category of city and became see of a Diocese. The Cathedral of Leiria was built in the second half of the 16th century in a mix of latemanueline and mannerist styles.

Compared to the Middle Ages, the subsequent history of Leiria is of relative decadence. The city was stormed by the Peninsular War, namely in 1808 (the killing of Portela, by the troops of Gen. Margaron) and the Great Fire of 1811, caused by the Napoleonic troops retreating from the Lines of Torres Vedras. In the 20th century, however, its strategic position in the Portuguese territory favoured the development of a diversified industry.

Leiria is located in the Centro Region and sub region of Pinhal Litoral, about halfway between Lisbon and Porto. The distance to Lisbon is 137 kilometres (85 miles), to Coimbra70 kilometres (43 miles) and to Porto 177 kilometres (110 miles). The historic city centre spreads between the castle hill and the river Lis.

Leiria is also included in the Região de Leiria. As the main city in this community, the area of influence of Leiria spreads over the cities of Marinha Grande, Ourém, Alcobaça,Fátima, Pombal as well the municipalities/town seats of Batalha, Porto de Mós and Nazaré located nearby.

As well as being a site of historical interest, the Castle of Leiria provides a venue for cultural events . Situated close to the castle, the Church of Saint Peter (Igreja de São Pedro) is used as the venue of Leiria’s annual festival of music. Leiria is also home to m|i|mo, Portugal’s only Museum of the Moving Image and the Paper museum  (Museu do moinho do papel) situated at the site of Portugal’s first paper mill. The Theatre Miguel Franco in the market Sant’Ana (Mercado de Sant’Ana) and The Theatre José Lúcio da Silva are venues for theatre, music and dance performances, as well as cinema.

The city is the birthplace of several leading Portuguese poets, such as Afonso Lopes Vieira and Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, after whom the central square is named. Today the square is home to a thriving café culture, as well as being regularly used for cultural events. Other poetes: The King D.Dinis (Denis of Portugal) and the writer Eça de Queiroz who wrote his first realist novel, O Crime do Padre Amaro (“The Sin of Father Amaro”), which is set in the city and was first published in 1875. There are also Film and TV adaptations.^[5]

The city has several cultural associations and bookshops who give presentations of cultural and artistic projects, with Bookshop Arquivo and Cultural Association Célula Membrana offering the busiest calendar of events.

In recent years, Leiria has seen much re-development to the banks of the river Liz . These developments have created several new parks, public spaces, children’s play areas and a series of themed bridges. Additionally, a long promenade has been created which is popular with both walkers and joggers.

There are several summer Festivals held in the region. The town hosts a monthly antiques market.