Montemor

Montemor-o-Novo grew beneath a castle on a prominent hill in the Alentejo. Sancho I granted a charter in 1203 to encourage settlement and defense, and the medieval fortifications were expanded under later kings. By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries regional commerce and the court's long stays at nearby Évora helped bring prosperity. The Cortes met here in 1495, when Manuel I resolved to pursue the sea route to India. He granted the town a new charter in 1503, and settlement spread down the northern slope beyond the walls.