In the early nineteenth century, the Peninsular War, gives rise to new remodeling, which will last for the demolition of five towers, construction of three new batteries and adaptation of the castle church to magazine, which years later exploded and caused serious damage the castle.

A quota of about 750 meters above sea level, has two distinct grounds enclosed by walls, the Watchtower is situated on the parade ground, where also lies the cistern and the ruins of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Castle. The castle and the Monsanto walls are classified as a National Monument.

Legend: The Feast of the Holy Cross in Monsanto are connected to a legend, which refers to the fortress salvation during an attack, you do not need, it will be done by the Romans or by the Moors. Anyway, this enclosure that lasted for seven years had reached the strength of the surrounded limits, only one calf had already wheat and less able to feed, but as a desperate strategy, suggested that women fed calf with wheat and cast them into the walls. When falling on the rocks, the belly of the calf opened and spread wheat, convincing the enemy that the besieged were well supplied with food and decided to raise the siege. This episode is assigned to the 3rd May, when women wear their best clothes, and the sound of tambourines and popular songs, cast from the walls, white pots, symbolizing the calf saved the village.

The museum displays more than a hundred religious pieces, day-to-day and professional use used by Hebrew families, especially of Beira Interior and Trás-os-Montes.

More info: http://mpjh.org/Museums.html

One of the traditions, for example, states that the building would have been a prison with a hundred cells (hence the name), which would have been captive St. Cornelius (hence the alternative name).

On its original function, it was believed that it could have been a praetorium (Roman camp). However, archaeological prospecting programs in the surrounding area, undertaken in the 1960s and in the 1990s, indicate that this is more properly a uilla, being the representative of his pars urban tower was yet much of the pars rustica by digging.

In the sixteenth century, when the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, and the reconquest of the Spanish and Portuguese land by Catholic kings and Manuel, a law that forced the Portuguese Jews to convert or leave the country was established.

Many of them ended up abandoning Portugal, for fear of reprisals from the Inquisition. Others converted to Christianity in official terms, keeping your worship and cultural traditions in the family.

A third group of Jews, however, took a more extreme measure. Several decided to isolate themselves from the outside world, cutting off contact with the rest of the country and following their traditions to the letter. These people were called “Marranos”, alluding to the ritual prohibition against eating pork. For centuries the Marranos of Belmonte maintained their almost intact Jewish traditions, making it an exceptional case of criptojudaica community. Only in the 70s the community established contact with the Jews of Israel and officially Judaism as their religion.

In 2005 was inaugurated in the city the Jewish Museum of Belmonte, the first of its kind in Portugal, showing the traditions and the day-to-day this community.

The medieval castle
At the time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula, the areas of Penamacor were conquered by King Sancho I (1185-1211), that donated to the Knights Templar, in the person of his Master in the country, D. Gualdim Pais (1189). Aiming your restocking, a decade later the sovereign granted him a charter (1199), ratified in 1209. possibly will date this time the start of construction of the castle. Recent archaeological research at the Village Top (2003) has not yet confirmed an earlier occupation.

Given the progress of its settlement, D. Afonso III (1248-1279) there has instituted an annual fair (1262), attributing to his son and successor, King Dinis (1279-1325), the construction of a second waist the castle walls and the top of the keep and around the village (c. 1300). We found no information on the landlord of his dominions on the Order of extinction in this reign.

Later, under the reign of Ferdinand (1367-1383), was started one Barbican to complement the defense of the castle, work completed under John I (1385-1433). During the crisis of 1383-1385, the town and its castle sided by the Master of Avis.