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PORTUGAL - União de Freguesias de Melres e Medas

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Our history    

There are various theses to explain the etymological origin of the word Melres. However, the one that has gained the most consensus and consistency is that initially the Latin term, which appears in medieval documents, is Mellares, which evolved into Melres. The term Mellares means land of honey and, for this reason, we can deduce that this territory would have been a great centre for beekeeping - gourd or thirst - not least because Melres has an extensive forest, with many cork oaks that provided the cork for its culture and particularly a large slope facing south. Nowadays, this activity seems more decentralised, perhaps due to the more industrialised production process and its trade.

It is known that this region was inhabited before the Celts, by people attracted by the richness, beauty and fertility of the land. As proof, we have the neighbouring Mamoa de Brandião, as well as other megalithic elements and later Castro fortifications.

In peninsular terms, the Galicians occupied the territory from the River Douro to the Cantabrian Sea, a region they called Galécia, and which, despite the transformations it underwent, gave rise to Galicia. It is also known that Galicia was eventually invaded by Roman generals, which naturally led to Melres coming under the rule of these people. The elements that prove this are a Roman ara in the churchyard of the Mother Church, some capitals, pieces of columns and the Roman pavement that existed from Ribeiro de Mirões, northwards to the current Rua da Ribeira (next to the headquarters of the Banda Musical de Melres).

It was during this Roman period that a large farm or agrarian villa was founded here, stretching from Cabroelo (parish of Capela) to Lavercos (present-day parish of Lomba); it passes through Rio Mau and Pedorido, goes to Monte Meda and descends to the River Inha; from the mouth of this river it crosses the River Douro, follows the middle of the slope on the right bank to near Sobrido, bends to the west and climbs to the top of the Serra dos Açores, to Brandião (parish of Aguiar de Sousa), from where it crosses the Serra do Padrão and returns to the starting point. It was also this agrarian villa that was used to define the territorial limits of the legacy that Countess Mumadona Dias received from King Ramiro II of León (951).

In the enquiries of King Afonso III, in 1258, reference is also made again to the boundaries of Melres, which more or less correspond to the terms already described, with the variation of some new reference points. Later, in 1369, these boundaries were used to establish the term of Porto that King Fernando I ordered and for which milestones were set up that still exist today.

These boundaries, drawn up in the medieval period, have survived the ages and, with slight nuances at some points, correspond today to the parish of Lomba and the parish of Melres, albeit with gross inconsistencies due to a lack of fieldwork, with regard to the boundaries to the east of this town.

As you can see, the lands of Melres had several grantees with different privileges. It was elevated to a town and formed the Melres Council, which was granted a charter on 15 September 1514. The municipality of Melres, as we can see from the charter, continued to cover territory on both banks of the River Douro, which today corresponds to the parishes of Melres and Lomba, which also explains why Lomba belongs to the municipality of Gondomar, despite being on the other bank of the river. It is precisely because Lomba is south of the River Douro, despite representing almost half of the territory of Melres (at that time), that the grantees of Melres were also lords of Cantanhede and that the charter of Melres is recorded in the Book of new charters of Beira.

The parish of Lomba itself was always attached to Melres (it was a curato, where the patron saint was the abbot of Melres), so it was always linked to the town of Melres, and it became its own (autonomous) parish from 1807 onwards.

Until 1834, municipal power in Melres was exercised by an ordinary judge who wore the red stick as his insignia because he was elected by qualified men from the local community and confirmed by the ombudsman. This judge judged civil, criminal and orphan matters. However, the outside judges wore white robes, a sign of royal distinction. At town hall level, the judge was assisted by councillors (probably two), a procurator and a treasurer. The Marquis of Marialva, as grantee of the town, had the right to administer the land, present the notaries and appoint the ombudsman. The Marquis of Marialva's ombudsman analysed requests and appeals and, in this particular case, used a white stick. Another of the king's figures or magistrates was the steward, whose job it was to receive and safeguard the royal taxes, such as the reguengos' foros, the sisas and redízimas, the tolls, etc. The king's steward was the lord of the Melres manors because, since King João I, royal rights had been granted or donated to him.

Municipal autonomy was represented by the town hall (Paços do Concelho), the treasury and the pillory, which lasted until at least the liberal wars. During the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834), the local nobility of Melres sided with King Miguel I and supported Absolutism. With Miguel's defeat, the nobles abandoned Melres. An ombudsman was appointed for the Melres council to administer local finances, but with the reform of Mouzinho da Silveira in 1834, a decree was published extinguishing the Melres council. In 1868, Melres was incorporated as one of the parishes that made up the municipality of Gondomar. Despite its more modest status, it still played an important and prominent role at municipal level during the transition from the Monarchy to the Republic; in the First World War, as well as in the Colonial War, with a significant presence of local personnel.