VILA VERDE
41° 39′ N; 8° 26′ W
Vila Verde is a Portuguese village located in the sub-region of Cávado, belonging to the North region and the district of Braga.
It is the seat of the Municipality of Vila Verde, which has a total area of 228.67 km2, 46,444 inhabitants in 2021 and a population density of 203 inhabitants per km2, subdivided into 33 parishes. The municipality is limited to the north by the municipality of Ponte da Barca, to the east by Terras de Bouro, to the southeast by Amares, to the south by Braga, to the west by Barcelos and to the northwest by Ponte de Lima.
Parishes
Administratively, the municipality is divided into 33 civil parishes (freguesias):
Aboim da Nóbrega e Gondomar;
Atiães;
Cabanelas;
Carreiras (São Miguel e Santiago);
Cervães;
Coucieiro;
Dossãos;
Escariz (São Mamede e São Martinho);
Esqueiros, Nevogilde e Travassós;
Freiriz;
Gême;
Lage;
Lanhas;
Loureira;
Marrancos e Arcozelo;
Moure;
Oleiros;
Oriz (Santa Marinha e São Miguel);
Parada de Gatim;
Pico;
Pico de Regalados, Gondiães e Mós;
Ponte;
Ribeira do Neiva;
Sabariz;
Sande, Vilarinho, Barros e Gomide;
São Miguel do Prado;
Soutelo;
Turiz;
Vade;
Valbom (São Pedro), Passô e Valbom (São Martinho);
Valdreu;
Vila de Prado;
Vila Verde e Barbudo.
The highest point in the municipality is located in Alto do Galinheiro, at 808 meters above sea level, in the parish of Valdreu.
Other elevations also stand out, such as Castelo de Aboim (771 meters), Barrete (741 meters) and Oural (722 meters).
During prehistory, the human presence in the municipality of Vila Verde was more evident in the northern part of the municipality, which is more mountainous, with numerous remains, engravings, funerary monuments (tumuli, menhirs), in particular the set of tumulus in the Borrelho hills. and Moinho Velho (Megalithic Necropolis of Bustelo), the citadel of São Julião, in Ponte São Vicente, and the castro de Barbudo, on Monte do Castelo.
The Roman presence is more discreet, with some treasures found in Barbudo and Gondiães, traces of quarries and gold mines and obviously traces of the XIX Roman road that connected Braga to Lugo, passing through the county, through Vila de Prado (Milha IV) to Rio Bad (15.4 km). In the absence of material remains, we can guess that during this period of approximately 400 years, the occupation of the territory was profoundly altered, with the presence of housing nuclei around farms (Villae Romana) in the valleys and in the southern part of the county. In particular, in the vicinity of Vila de Prado, an area rich in clay that has already been intensively exploited to supply the potteries of Bracara Augusta, but which could already be an important production centre.
The period that followed, the Swabian Kingdom, is more discreet in terms of material remains, but it is still extremely important, mainly for the municipality of Vila Verde, because almost half, 26 of the 58 former parishes of the municipality have a name of origin Sueva (not counting the numerous places with names of Germanic origin). For this reason, the Swabian presence was numerous and decisive in the configuration of the territory, as evidenced by toponymy.
With the arrival of São Martinho de Dume, and the reorganization of the diocese of Braga, Arianism and Priscillianism, still very present in the region, disappeared in favor of Catholicism. One of the centers of the Catholic religion in the municipality was the Early Christian Church of Santo Adriano, discovered by Father Freitas in Citânia de São Julião. From the end of the Swabian kingdom (585) until the arrival of the Moors (716, in the North), we also have no traces, but everything indicates that there were no major changes and that the presence of the Visigoths was certainly discreet, leaving possession of the land to the Swabian lords . And of course, the short Moorish presence did not change much either, although recent genetic studies prove a very important number of lineages of North African origin in the current population of Northern Portugal (9%), (possibly explained by the slavery of captured Moors in the south). However, this incessant climate of war gave rise to another type of occupation of the territory with the formation of housing units around the palaces built on top of a small eminence and heavily fortified (many of them still clearly visible).
The first organized medieval administrative division of the local territory takes place at the time of King Garcia of Portugal and Galicia, who divided the County into small tenancies after the revolt, and death of the Count of Portugal Nuno Mendes in the battle of Pedroso in 1071, leaving the future council of Vila Verde handed over to the Lord of Penegate, lord of the lands from Cávado to Neiva.
Bull of Inocencio III, confirming the creation of the commendation of Oriz
In before 1146, in the parish of Aboim da Nóbrega, the first commendation of Portugal was founded, it is the commendation of Aboim of the Order of the Hospital, shortly after in 1187 the first commendation of the future Order of São Bento de Avis, the commendation of Oriz.
