Portuguese shield and crown on top of a pillory at Estoril, near Tamariz beach.
Legend has it that Afonso I (1st portuguese king: 1109-1185) killed the five moorish kings of the Seville, Badajoz, Elvas, Évora and Beja taifas(*), before decimating the enemy troops. Hence, in gratitude, he incorporated five shields (the quinas) arranged in a cross — representing his divinely-led victory over the five enemy kings — with each one carrying Christ's five wounds in the form of silver bezants.The seven castles are traditionally considered a symbol of the Portuguese victories over their moorish enemies, under King Afonso III, who supposedly captured seven enemy fortresses in the course of his conquest of the Algarve (south of Portugal), in 1249.
(*) A taifa in the history of Iberia was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, an emirate or petty kingdom. (source: Wikipedia)
(*) A taifa in the history of Iberia was an independent Muslim-ruled principality, an emirate or petty kingdom. (source: Wikipedia)
12 comments:
great instructive post... ;-9
Times were sure brutal back then. Love how you got a bit of the palm tree in this, nice :)
Belle composition avec un ciel magnifique
nice composition with beautiful skies
A little piece of History is always welcome, thanks.
love the post, and the sky is to say the least beautiful.
he might have been so furious! but like this king, magellan (portugese explorer) too has conquered many islands.
I miss the blue...Thank you for it and this piece of history!
Wonderful piece of history. Great shot of the sky.
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Great history! I love these sorts of posts - full of information! The photo is beautiful too - that sky is lovely!
Interesting! So Iberia then was much like Italy with its city-states. Thanks for the great info.
I just love how you compose your photos! This is fabulous, as usual.
So much interesting symbolism! I love the big white clouds and the perspective in the photo, too!
I'm with Kelly, the image is very poignant to accompany the text which is vey interesting and informative.
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