Bragança

Bragança guards the northeastern approaches to Portugal, near the frontier with León and Castile. Its castle and walled settlement grew in a region of ancient hillforts and Roman roads. Sancho I granted the town a charter in 1187, and later kings renewed its privileges and established fairs to encourage settlement and exchange. War with Castile brought devastation to the frontier in the fourteenth century. Bragança was occupied, and warfare in 1381 was followed by hunger, disease and abandoned land. Royal patronage and renewed fairs helped the town recover; its strategic importance also encouraged the strengthening of the castle and its defenses under John I.