Enchanted land
JARMELO
home of the jarmelistas
Jarmelo, a Lusitanian strategic castrum. Built around two peaks 942 metres above sea level. Under Viriato and later Sertorius they faced the might of Julius Cesar armies and the power of Rome till both Chieftains were treacherously assassinated.
Legio XIII (Gemina) occupied Lusitânia. The fortress and settlement encompassing the two hills were called Germanellus (latin for little twins).
A road part of the Empire’s network passed by. At about 800m it crossed a creek, Ribeira das Cabras. The creek had become a border. Toll was paid there. Today we call it Porto Jarmelo.
When Honorius was the Western Roman Emperor the Suebi crossed the Empire till they reached Galletia in 406. They established a pact, a foedus, with Emperor Honorius.It allowed for the existence of the Independent Regnum Suevorum as long as their King accepted the Roman emperor supremacy.
The first Suebi King (Hermerico) reigned from 409 to 441 over what was by then known as Jarmelo. The Kingdom of Suebi lasted until 585 when the Visigoths converted the Suebi Realm into the Sixth Province of the Visigothic Kingdom. It occupied a nearby hill 1056 m above the sea level with a town, Ward. Later to be said Guarda.
CASAL DE CINZA
Home of Fragas e Colinas
A parish, a land of the Military Order of Malta to raise jarmelistas.
a land of war and passionate love.
Within Guarda, King Sancho I (1185-1211) established, for the Order of Malta, the Patronage of the Church of Santa Maria do Mercado with a Cazal: the Cazal Cinza; today, Casal de Cinza.Very close to Casal de Cinza, Ribeira das Cabras was at the end of the 12th century the border between the Kingdom of León and the County of Portugal. Knights – Friars of the Order of Malta, then came to Cazal to inhabit Cazal Cinza.
Casal de Cinza facing the twin hills of Jarmelo belonged to the commandery of Oliveira do Hospital of the Order of Malta.
In 1237, with King Sancho II (1223-1248), Pero Afonso and his wife Maria Mendes from Casal de Cinza of the Order of Malta, donated to the Convent of Santa Maria de Aguiar (Castelo Rodrigo) of the Order of Cister, Porto Jarmelo, Vale de Frades, Nave da Freira, Lage Branca. It was the first document of the land of Fragas e Colinas.
In the coat of arms of Casal de Cinza remains to this day the Octagon. The Cross of the Order of Malta. The eight-pointed cross symbolizes the eight virtues: Loyalty; Faith; Sincerity; Humility; Justice; Piety; Courage; Generosity.
The most enchanted land could not be but the raising ground of Jarmelistas.
The most enchanted land
Lt-col. William Tomkinson (1790-1872)
Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular war.
In 1810 Ensign William Tomkinson (1790-1872) disembarked in Portugal with Wellington’s army. He was serving in the 16th Light Dragoons. He marched under General Cole to Guarda. He was for four years in the Peninsula War and served at Waterloo. Wellington at the end of August 1810 ordered General Cole to establish an intelligence network to track movements to gather information and harass the napoleonic troops under Marshall Massena, with the portuguese militia, William Tomkinson was then left in a risky, very dangerous position behind enemy lines to gather intelligence about Massena troops.
He went to a village, João Bragal (Joe Bugal) in the parish of Casal de Cinza. He kept a diary.
We copy the entrance of the 29th of August 1810:
SIR WILLIAM TOMKINSON JOURNAL
"August 29th. General Cole ordered us to Joe Bugal to watch the main road from Almeida to Guarda. This day month we marched to the ground we now left. It was a most excellent camp, the trees offering capital shade; and from the length of time we had been there, each man had a good hut, and the encampment wore the appearance of a small village. We were much safer from any sudden attack; the men and horses both continued healthy from having plenty to eat and something to employ themselves with. The man got as much rye-bread, mutton, potatoes, and wheat flour from the adjacent mills as they wanted, and the horses as much rye in the car and thrashed as they could eat, and now and then some wheat nearly ripe." *
* The Diary of a Cavalry Officer in the Peninsular War and Waterloo Campaign, 1809- 1815, Swan Sonnenchein, London.
Indeed , a most enchanted land. Now, storks come in Spring, have their offsprings.
To rear their young fly, a flight of dream and fantasy. But in this Enchanted Land dream, love and fantasy, once they were the Kernel of a tragic love history.
THE TRAGEDY
Pedro e Inês
Pedro and Inês tragedy was till Shakespeare's Romeo and Julieta, the first tragic love story in Europe. Countless plays and operas were written in many languages.
The tragedy
Prince Pedro (1320-1367), on his way to his marriage to D.ª Constanza Manuel, fell in love with Inês de Castro, a lady in waiting to his bride.
Inês bore him three children.
His father, King Afonso IV (1291-1357) for political and diplomatic reasons had Inês assassinated (7th January 1355) in front of her children.
One of the murderers was from Jarmelo.
Pedro’s heart turned into Jarmelo’s granite.
When Pedro became King of Portugal, Pero Coelho, the Jarmelo murderer, was immediately convicted. The King also expressed his profound love and sorrow by having Jarmelo levelled to the ground and the surrounding land salted.
On his coronation, Pedro had the body of Inês exhumed and sat her on a throne next to him. All Bishops, Clergy and Noblemen were made to kiss his royal ring and he made sure that all kissed the hand of the dead Queen, Inês.
A love for eternity to have a rendez-vous at the Christian Resurrection. Pedro had two magnificent tombs be sculpted in the Abbey of Alcobaça. One for himself, the other for Inês. They face each other. At the beginning of the Christian End on Earth and the start of Eternity the first vision of Pedro and Inês will be of one another.
LUSIADAS
Ignez de Castro
In 1572, Luís de Camões wrote, in sixteen stanzas, in Lusíadas. Later, it was published in various languages: Portuguese, Latin, Spanich, Italian, French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin.
oPERA
Inês de Castro
Seventeen operas were composed, inspired on the tragic romance of Pedro and Inês de Castro.
Cari Giorni from the Opera Inês de Castro, composed by Giuseppe Persiani (1799 - 1869) and sang by Dame Cecilia Bartoli.
Cari Giorni from the Opera Inês de Castro, composed by Giuseppe Persiani (1799 - 1869) and sang by Dame Cecilia Bartoli.