- Gualdim Pais
Dom Gualdim Pais (1118 – 1195), Portuguese
crusade r, TemplarFriar andKnight ofAfonso I of Portugal, was the founder of the city ofTomar .Gualdim Pais was born in
Amares (a town in the province ofMinho , nearBraga ) in 1118, son ofPaio Ramires and Gontrode Soares. He fought alongside King Afonso I against themoors , and was ordered a Knight by him in the year of 1139, after theBattle of Ourique . He departed toPalestine shortly thereafter, and during five years fought there as a Knight Templar. He had a prominent role in the siege of the city ofGaza .He was ordained the fourth Grand Master in
Portugal of the Order ofKnights Templar in 1157, which then was ruled fromBraga . He founded theCastle of Tomar in 1160, then near the frontier with theMuslim states, and transferred the seat of the order there. The famous Round Church of the Castle of Tomar, inspired by similar structures in Jerusalem, was built under his supervision. He gaveforal , a feudal contract, to the new town ofTomar in 1162. He supervised the building or restoration of several other frontier castles for the Templars, namely theCastle of Almourol , and those ofIdanha , Ceres,Monsanto andPombal . He also founded the city ofPombal , and gave it Foral in 1174.Besieged in 1190 by vastly superior forces under the
Almoravid King ofMorocco Yusuf I, he managed to defeat them with his Knights and thus defended the north of the young Kingdom ofPortugal from invasion.He died in
Tomar in the year 1195. His grave is located in theChurch of Santa Maria do Olival in that city.
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