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Description
With a geographical location that gives it excellent natural conditions for defense, the Castle of Ansiães comes to us with an ancient history, whose beginnings can be traced back to around the 3rd millennium BC. Since then, the geomorphological characteristics of the site have greatly contributed to the almost successive occupation of this topography. This vocation for natural defense acquired particular importance during the Christian Reconquest. At that time, Ansiães was granted its first charter by the Leonese king Ferdinand the Great. The 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries define an exponential period in the growth of this walled stronghold. Afonso Henriques in 1160, Sancho I in 1198, Afonso II in 1219 and finally King Manuel I in 1510, recognized and promulgated charters for the town of Ansiães. Towards the end of the 15th century, and particularly in the 16th century, a depressing demographic trend began to affect the area and by 1527 some of the villages that made up the municipality already had a population greater than that of Ansiães. In the following centuries, this movement became more acute, culminating in the transfer of the county seat to Carrazeda, which took place in 1734 due to the fact that there were very few people living in the old stronghold.