The Wars of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Religion
War
of the Restoration
Chaves
once again appears in the history books at the time of the Wars of the
Restoration, after 1640, when Portugal, under John IV fought
successfully to regain its independence from Spain, lost when the
Portuguese monarch Sebastian had been killed in Morocco in 1580 leaving
no descendents. Three
Spanish monarchs—Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV, had reigned in
Portugal, from 1580 to 1640—called by the Portuguese the age of the
Philips. Taking advantage
of the unpopularity of the governor, Margaret of Savoy, duchess of
Mantua, and her secretary of state, the leaders of the party of
independence carried through a nationalist revolution on December 1,
1640. The Spanish garrisons
were driven out and on December 15 the Duke of Bragança was crowned as
John IV (1640-56).
Although
John was crowned in 1641, the success of the new regime was not finally
assured until 1688, when Spain at last recognized Portuguese
independence. From
past experience, the Portuguese knew that in the region of the north
Chaves would be the selected site for a possible invasion from Spain.
Thus the government took the decision of reinforcing this small
town with a defensive structure obeying the rules laid down by the
French architect Vauban and some engineers of the Low Countries who were
knowledgeable of the hardships of the Thirty Years War, which was going
on at the time.
In
the region of the north Chaves would be the selected site for a possible
invasion from Spain. Thus
the government took the decision of reinforcing this small town with a
defensive structure obeying the rules laid down by the French architect
Vauban and some engineers of the Low Countries who were knowledgeable of
the hardships of the Thirty Years War, which was going on at the time.
The
prediction was carried out. Many
were the attempts made by the forces of Philip IV, coming from Galicia,
to invade Portugal through the Tâmaga valley.
All failed. The
stronghold, each year more re-enforced, was able to resist all invasion.
The
first fort built (1658-1662)
was Fort São Francisco, which arose on a hill about five hundred meters
from the old castle. This
hill, called Petisqueira or Pedisqueira, was connected to the walls of
Chaves and formed a defensive point for any northern invasion.
A convent had occupied this high point, and centuries before that,
a luxurious bath in the time of the Romans.
Now the fort was incorporated into the walls of the old town,
which were rebuilt to withstand a more modern invasion.
Later,
in 1664, Chaves was to see construction begin on a new defensive redoubt.
It was Fort São Neutel, and was built on another hill about one
kilometre still further north. Its
shape was polygonal, like that of Fort São Francisco, and it had an
outside wall with a granite bridge crossing a moat.
It was hoped that it would solve defensive problems since it was
a known fact that whenever the enemy approached Chaves from the north
they only had to set up their artillery pieces on this hill and place
the town and its fort under bombardment.
Now forces would have to take this fort or go around it to reach
Chaves.
During
this period, 1657-62), on the other side of the river, in the place
known as Madalena, a small fort was erected to protect the entrance to
the bridge. It was defended
by moats, which surrounded it and walls with guardposts.
Of this past, there are no traces.
War
of the Spanish Succession
Next
came the War of the Spanish Sucession (1701-13) and new incursions into
the north of Portugal. Portugal’s
recent friends, France and England were on opposing sides; and although
Portugal sought to remain neutral, it eventually joined the
Anglo-Austrian Grand Alliance in 1703, by which it afforded a base for
the archduke Charles (later the emperor Charles VI) to conduct his war
for the Spanish throne. Once
again Chaves was witness to the frightening hours of fires, of all-night
vigils, and of bombardments. But
this time the garrison of Chaves was able to make some incursions on its
own into Spanish territory, without any substantial results.
The
School of Surgery
In
the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Order of Saint John
Hospitaler established itself in the hospital of Saint John of God in
Madalena. They served the
town well, not only for the zeal with which they took care of the sick,
but also for the installation of a school of surgery, which was very
useful, considering that at that time medical-surgical studies were very
backward in Portugal. In
the army there were “chief surgeons” who followed the profession
more from everyday practice than from the science that the schools could
impart to them. The
surgeon’s assistants that helped them were usually without any
scientific preparation.
The
ward founded in the military hospital of Chaves, installed on the left
bank of the Tâmega, inside the spacious walls of Madalena, was, in its
class, one of the most famous in Portugal, because one of the priests of
the order of Saint John Hospitaler who worked there, was a doctor in
medicine from the University of Coimbra.
Under his guidance the school was well attended and graduated
many surgeon assistants.
The
Seven Years War
The rugged pass at Samardão between Vila Pouca and Vila Real (photo by José Semelhe)
A
half century later, in 1762, when the famous Marquis of Pombal was now
behind the throne of John V, Portugal had to invoke the English alliance
because Spain, prompted by the renewal of the Bourbon Family Compact
alliance with France, once more decided to invade Portugal.
And the place for the entry of the invaders would be Chaves again.
This time there wasn’t even a declaration of war.
The
military governor of the province of Tras-os-Montes was General João de
Almeida, related to the Marquis of Pombal and future “mayor” of
Porto.
In
May of 1762 a force led by a French officer, the count of O’Reilly,
attacked Chaves. It fell
into the hands of the agressor and would only be liberated one year
later when the peace negotiations were completed.
As
mentioned above, the invasion was launched without a previous
declaration of war. In the
beginning the plan of Madrid was to conquer Portugal by way of
Tras-os-Montes. Four mixed
columns crossed its borders; one of these took Chaves without serious
resistance.
After
staying in the stronghold for a fortnight, O’Reilly moved south
towards Vila Real, with Porto as his objective.
For a large part of the journey, until he reached the heights
before Vila Real, he met no hostile forces, which he thought strange,
knowing that the Portuguese, believing the old adage:
“from Spain not a good wind or a good marriage,” would not
let his troops go by without some resistance.
In the pass north of Vila Real his bad feelings were confirmed.
When his column was entering the mountainous terrain, groups of
irregular sharpshooters appeared from above and began to attack the
battalion with a rain of small bullets.
Panic took hold of the front-line troops and they were forced to
retreat to Chaves, with serious losses.
This feat of the Transmontano snipers would be one of the reasons that the government in Madrid invoked to confirm the state of war, stressing that, in Portugal “the people had conspired secretly to murder these advanced detachments, using devious means which showed that they were commanded by officers in disguise."