Porto de Mós

Porto de Mós was named Portus Mollis by the Romans, who shipped raw materials from the nearby quarries and iron ore mines on the then navigable river Lena from here.

The present-day town developed around the fortress, which the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, conquered in 1140 and again in 1148. He handed it over to the knight Fuas Roupinho, who initially defended it successfully against a renewed conquest by the Moors. In 1182, the town and castle were destroyed by the troops of King Gamir of Mérida before Fuas Roupinho managed to recapture them. Sancho I had the castle rebuilt in 1200 and it was renovated and extended by the Count of Ourém in 1450.