ALENTEJO (PORTUGAL) AND THE SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE IN FORTIFICATION IN THE MODERN PERIOD: THE CIRCULATION OF MASTERS AND IDEAS

Abstract

The question of mobility in architecture or engineering is an ancient process that grows with the rise of the professional group. History testifies several forms of this mobility (migration, emigration, mission, availability) and with a direct relationship to the importance of the professional status or the power of political and economic institutions (public, private, military and civilian, secular and religious). During the modern period, master architects, engineers and experts in a wide range of other fields travelled all over Europe disseminating their ideas, and in Portugal specialists of other nationalities had a significant influence. The advent of gunpowder and greater sophistication in construction techniques meant that the art of fortification came to be regarded as constituting military engineering. A large number of architects and engineers working in Portugal from the 16th century followed a geometrical pattern featuring angular bulwarks and regular shapes, and they were important figures in the training of Portuguese architects and engineers and in Portuguese military architecture, which ended up be exerting an influence abroad. Around a hundred engineers from abroad worked in Portugal following the Iberian Union, taking part in operations during the Restoration War (1641- 1668) to reinforce the land border, specially in Alentejo, because the topography of the region made it vulnerable to attack by land, accounting for the high concentration of fortresses; coastal fortifications were only reinforced/constructed much later, although some plans were produced during this period. John IV, in 1640, set up the Council of War and the Border Commission, whose well-defined role was to inspect fortifications and deal with all questions in this area. The translation of treatises, the national book production in the field, the richness of maps and imagery produced, are also witness of the vitality and interest aroused by fortifications in Portugal.