The Battle of Aljubarrota was fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the army of King John I of Castile with its Aragonese and French allies, as well as Genoese mercenaries at São Jorge, in central Portugal. The result was a decisive victory for the Portuguese, ruling out Castilian ambitions to the Portuguese throne, ending the 1383–85 Crisis and assuring John's position as King of Portugal.
Portuguese independence was safeguarded and a new dynasty, the House of Aviz, was established. Scattered border confrontations with Castilian troops would persist until the death of John I of Castile in 1390, but these posed no real threat to the new dynasty.
In 1958, archaeologist Afonso do Paço organized the first campaign of excavations, revealing the complex defensive system consisting of about 800 pits and dozens of defensive ditches and revealing one of the best-preserved battlefields of the period of the Hundred Years' War.
In March 2002, under the initiative of António Champalimaud, the Battle of Aljubarrota Foundation was created. The first of its activities was to recover the battlefield. Through a protocol established by the Ministry of Defense in August 2003, the Foundation received authorization to transform the Military Museum into a modern Interpretation Center of the Battle of Aljubarrota.
As a prime example of an authorised narrative of national identity supported by different and subsequent political Portuguese regimes, from Constitutional Monarchy till Democracy, with a special focus during the totalitarian ‘New State’ (1927-1974), we will analyse how this “National Monument” is being presented and used from the 19th century onwards, and evaluating its scientific, political, educational, touristic, literary, and artistic impacts.

First Author: Ana Cristina Martins

Keywords:
Battle of Aljubarrota
Medieval times
Portugal
National identity
Official narratives