Castle of Soure

Soure, Portugal, Portugal

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The Castle of Soure in Soure, Portugal, occupies a flat strategic site near the Arunca and Anços rivers as an advanced defense for Coimbra during the Reconquista, likely built around 1064 by Sesnando Davides as a simple rectangular fort without towers.

Its parents, Count Henrique and Teresa, granted a charter in 1111 to attract settlers, but it faced repeated Muslim assaults, including evacuation and destruction in 1116 and a devastating Almoravid sack in 1144 that killed or captured many Templars, who had held it since 1128.

Master Gualdim Pais rebuilt it robustly between 1171-1175 with square towers and an innovative ramped-base keep drawing from Holy Land experience; it later passed to the Order of Christ in 1319 under D. Dinis, underwent 15th-16th century reforms, but declined in the 19th century with towers sold or demolished before municipal restoration.