"Un fuerte armado y municionado a su costa": Bastioned fortifications in the border between Caceres and Portugal during the War of Secession of Portugal

Abstract

The War of Secession of Portugal (1640-1668) has a special transcendence in the history of Extremadura; this peripheral region suffered intensely the disastrous effects of this long and devastating conflict, in which there were few battles and the main military actions were the sieges and punishment expeditions. The recent finding of cartographic material has revealed a wide system of fortifications all over the Extremaduran border; most of them were built in small villages for which these elements tried to avoid the Portuguese attacks.  By that reason, the local councils paid the construction and repairs of these buildings.

This article increases the number of works that we possess nowadays on these fortifications, publishing in it a series of 13 planes that are conserved in the Bibliothéque National de France; these planes demonstrate for the first time the existence of these fortifications across a wide tour for the ‘altoextremeña’ border. We study why these fortifications were built, their means of financing and their practical utility; we finally defend that these planes evidence that the Crown and military authorities worried about the strategic relevance of these places.