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Mosteiro da Batalha (Battle Abbey) was built by King Dom João I between 1388 and 1434 to celebrate King Joao’s victory over the Spanish at the battle of Aljubarrota. The battle took place on August 14th 1385. The Portuguese were vastly out numbered and King Joao promised the Virgin Mary that he would build a magnificent abbey in return for her assistance. The battle only lasted for an hour, this unexpectedly quick victory may well have been as a result of the presence of a group of English long-bowmen rather than direct intervention by the Virgin Mary.

Relations with England had been close since 1373 when Dom Fernando, Joao’s father had made an alliance with John of Gaunt. A year after the battle King João married John of Gaunt’s daughter Phillipa and following this marriage architects came from England to assist in the building of Batalha. In the same year (1386) Portugal and England signed the Treaty of Windsor which was described as “an inviolable, eternal, solid, perpetual and true league of friendship”.

Whilst the Gothic part of the Abbey was completed during the 45 years following 1388, making it very similar to the perpendicular style of the Gothic Abbeys and Cathedrals in England, with unbelievably tall columns, flying buttresses, pinnacles and long windows. In the 15th and early 16th centuries the building was transformed with manueline additions which added much intricate decoration of nautical ropes, exotic vegetation, and tropical animals discovered during Portugal’s maritime explorations during this period.

On entering the church immediately to the right is the ‘Founder’s Chapel’ in the centre is a tomb shared by King João and his wife Phillipa with the most beautiful tower and ceiling above. Around the walls of this chapel are the tombs of their sons, one of them being Prince Henry the Navigator. In the ‘Chapter House’ shown to the left is the tomb of the unknown warriors, one from World War 1 and the other from the wars in Africa, two soldiers stand guard here night and day.

For me the most fascinating part of the Abbey were the unfinished chapels on the eastern side. They were commissioned by Dom Duarte the eldest son of João and Philipa in 1437 as a royal mausoleum the original design was much altered by Dom Manuel’s architects (1495 – 1521). This chapel is octagonal and has seven hexagonal chapels. There is no roof just enormous unfinished stone buttresses all of which a decorated with intricate manueline carvings inspired by Portuguese discoveries in Africa, India and Brazil.

Batalha is 150 kilometers north of Lisbon just a few hundred meters to the east of the IC2. It is 20 kilometers north east of Alcobaça and 18 kilometers west of Fatima.