Preromanesque period According to legend,
Peter of Rates came to the future Portuguese territory in the year 44 AD invited by
Saint James the Great, one of
Jesus's
apostles. Peter is the legendary first Bishop of
Braga and suffered
martyrdom while trying to convert pagans to Christianity. Also according to legend, Peter's tomb was rediscovered in the 9th century, and a church was built to keep his remains. The relics were subject to
pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. The foundation of the Monastery of Rates is still rather mysterious. The building is of Asturian tradition and was totally rebuilt in the following centuries. But several material artifacts identify the origin of the temple to the Roman period. The archeological data retrieved in 1997 and 1998 in the surrounding area allowed the documentation of the several construction phases of the monastery and in particular from the 6th century to the present day. In the excavations, the knowledge about the
Preromanesque period widened, namely with the probable narthex of the Preromanesque temple, where a Roman stele was found, this artifact was Christianized in the 6th and 7th centuries and, was after that, reused in the Preromanesque period. Archaeological surveys have revealed vestiges of a Preromanesque church built between the 9th and the 10th centuries under the current building, and it is known that a monastic community existed in Rates at least since the 11th century.
Romanesque period However, the history of the current church begins around 1096, when
Henry,
Count of Portugal, sponsored the rebuilding of the monastery that was in ruins. It is known that, in 1100, Count Henry invited monks from
La Charité-sur-Loire to come to Rates, in order to establish a
Benedictine monastery of the
Cluniac branch. Cluny was the most powerful religious community of the time and was headed by
Abbot Hugh, a close relative of Count Henry. Work on the construction of the church proceeded slowly and its stages are not known with certainty. The project of Count Henry's time was never finished, but the current configuration of the church - with a three-
aisled
nave,
transept and three East
chapels - corresponds to this initial project. However, the structure of some of the
pillars of the
nave indicate that the primitive plan predicted the building of a stone
vault over the whole building. Many of the column
capitals of the
apse and transept have a very primitive design and probably date from this early project. The sculpture of other 12th century monastic foundations show great influence of the Rates worship, and attest to its importance in the early history of
Romanesque architecture in Portugal. It seems that the initial, ambitious building plan had to be modified around the mid-12th century, perhaps following the collapse of the roof of the apse and/or financial constraints. The stone vault project was abandoned and the nave and transept were now to be covered by a wooden roof. The current building is the result of the Cluny rebuilding of the 13th century, because of the donation of
Henry, Count of Portugal and
Teresa of León to the monastery of Rates, that was ruined, to the Priorate, linked to the
Order of Cluny, of La Charité sur Loire,
Auxerre in
France, so that Benedictine Rule was implanted there.
16th to the 19th century In the next centuries, the history of the Monastery of Rates was relatively unremarkable. In the early 16th century the monastery was granted to the knights of the
Order of Christ. In the 18th century the main chapel of the apse was greatly expanded in size and was given a rectangular shape. In the 19th century, with the dissolution of the religious orders in Portugal, the monastic church became a simple
parish church of Rates.
20th century to present day After a period of decay, the church was recognised as one of the oldest and most influential of the Portuguese Romanesque churches. It was declared a national monument as soon as 1910, when Portugal started listing and protecting monuments. In the 1930s and 1940s, it underwent a restoration by the Directory of National Buildings and Monuments (DGEMN) aimed at returning the building to its 12th-century look. The foundations and the stones and capitals of the original apse were still available, allowing for a relatively faithful restoration of the Romanesque main chapel. The rose window of the facade was also rebuilt. A
Gothic bell tower over a transept arm was removed, as well as the
sacristy on the Northern side of the apse. ==References ==