The castle of A Picoña (Calvos de Randín): the fortress of the Couto Mixto

The castle of A Picoña (A Piconha in Portuguese) was a fortress on the summit of the Outeiro da Almena, at 932 metres, halfway between Randín and Vilar, in what is now the municipality of Calvos de Randín. It was not Galician: it was the head of the Terras da Picoña, a Portuguese territory that included the Couto Mixto, the village of Tourém and the neutral «privileged road» that linked them ^[1][2].

History

According to Soares de Azevedo, it was ordered built by Alfonso III of León (866–910), who granted it a charter, confirmed by the Portuguese king Denis in 1287 ^[1]. More certain is that Sancho I of Portugal granted a charter to San Paio de Picoña in 1187, with the status of a town (vila), a date proposed as that of its construction or reconstruction; in the 12th century it was an important border fortification which, together with the castles of Portelo, Montalegre, Monforte de Río Frío and Chaves, defended the approaches to the Cávado and Tâmega valleys ^[1][2].

The Castilians razed it around 1388, but John I of Portugal rebuilt it and soon afterwards gave it to his natural son Afonso, the future Duke of Braganza. In 1482 the duchy’s estates were confiscated and it came to be governed by commendatory chief alcaides ^[1]. In 1650, during the Portuguese Restoration War, Castilian troops demolished this castle along with other neighbouring strongholds, and it was left completely in ruins ^[1][2]. The district magistrate (oidor) visited the place in 1788 and saw only «um poço con degraus», a well with steps ^[1].

The chief alcaidía of A Picoña continued to appear in Portuguese documents until 1796, even though the castle was by then on Galician soil; a demarcation record of 1756 says that «fica na Galiza mas é português» ^[2]. With the Treaty of Lisbon of 1864, the Couto Mixto and the territory of A Picoña passed to Spain ^[1][2].

What it looked like in 1509

We know what it was like thanks to the Livro das Fortalezas that King Manuel I of Portugal commissioned around 1509 from the squire and draughtsman Duarte de Armas: it contains drawings and plans of 56 Portuguese castles. The keep, which may have replaced an earlier one from the late 14th century, was pentagonal, stood in the centre of the fortification and had its entrance on the second floor, opening onto a wooden bridge resting on a rock of the hill ^[1].

The Proxecto Piconha

The Concello de Calvos de Randín and the Asociación Couto Mixto promoted a project to recover the medieval archaeological heritage, centred on the castle and financed with European funds through the GDR Limia-Arnoia and with the help of the Axencia de Turismo de Galicia. They surveyed the territory, cleared and cleaned the access routes and the castle, and defined the sectors of the enclosure: rooms, stairs and cistern. Engravings on several rocks, medieval pottery, a coin from the 13th–14th centuries and an iron crossbow bolt-head came to light ^[1].

Today the foundation ruins survive, with no official classification or archaeological excavation, and only the cistern cut into the rock can be seen ^[2].

Popular memory

Oral tradition has preserved the castle. In Rubiás, one of the villages of the Couto, it was said that on the hill of A Picoña «there was a castle» and that the king or the chief had been exiled there; at the top there is a basin in the rock in which, they say, the king washed ^[1].

Frequently asked questions

Where was the castle of A Picoña?

On the Outeiro da Almena, in the parish of Randín, on the path linking Randín with Vilar and Vilariño, east of present-day Tourém, already in Portugal ^[2].

Why was a castle in Galicia Portuguese?

Because it was the head of the Terras da Picoña, which depended on Portugal and included the Couto Mixto; they passed to Spain only through the Treaty of Lisbon of 1864 ^[1][2].

What can be seen today?

Foundation ruins and the cistern cut into the rock ^[2].

Links

• Patrimonio da Limia
• Couto Mixto
• Calvos de Randín
• Idade Media e torres da Limia

Sources

1. Alexander de los Ríos Conde, «A Picoña (o A Piconha): la antigua fortaleza del Couto Mixto», Vía Lethes, 11-12-2016. https://vialethes.es/picona-fortaleza-couto-mixto
2. «Castelo da Picoña», Galipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castelo_da_Picoña