FAQ

No, it is part of a multimedia presentation at the Center for Interpretation of the Battle of Aljubarrota; it is completed by readings of medieval chronicles and moving schematics of the ongoing battle.

The battle occured on 14th August 1385. The place of the battle now has a Foundation, a small church, plaques remembering the names of the fighters that fought (and some perished) on the battle and, a few miles away, one of the most beautiful medieval Monasteries, "Batalha" (Battle). The battle marked the end of the first Portuguese Dinasty and the beginning of the second, the same dinasty that launched the Portuguese Maritime Discoveries 30 years later (by the same people involved in the battle: Nun'Alvares, King John; with the help of Henry the Navigator and some other famous Portuguese); these Discoveries would launch Christianity for the first time in Africa and the Atlantic, leading to the discovery of, among others: Cape Hope, India, Japan, Brasil, Canada, America, etc. All these discoveries would be impossible had the outcome of the battle been another. It was also important for the Hundred Years War, since Castile was a French ally and the English "de-facto ruler", John of Gaunt, claimed the throne of Castile as "Lord of Spain"; unfortunately, the English never managed to take much advantage from this victory. (Years later, it would be a Portuguese woman, Isabella, to lead the efforts to capture Joan of Arc; she was the daughter of King John and sister to Henry the Navigator, and married the lord of Burgundy - from where the first Portuguese King came - , ally to England.)