THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. 89 They had large estates at Castrotnarin, Al mural, and Tavira in Algarve, and houses, rents, revenues, and possessions, in all parts of the country. The Grand Prior or Preceptor of Portugal resided at the castle of Tornar. It is seated on the river Narboan in Estremadura, and is still to be seen towering in gloomy magnificence on the hill above the town. The castle at present belongs to the order of Christ, and was lately one of the grandest and richest establishments in Portugal. It possessed a splendid library, and a handsome cloister, the architecture of which was much admired.* CASTILE AND LEON.—The bouses or preceptories of the Temple most known in this province or nation of the order were those of Cueuca and Guadalfagiara, Tine and Aviles in the diocese of Oviedo, and Pontevreda in Galicia. In Castile alone the order is said to have possessed twenty-four bailiwicks.f AEAGON.—The sovereigns of Aragon, who had suffered grievously from the incursions of the Moors, were the first of the European princes to recognize the utility of the order of the Temple. They endowed the fraternity with vast revenues, and ceded to them some of the strongest fortresses in the kingdom. The Knights Templars possessed in Aragon the castles of Dumbel, Cabanos, Azuda, Granena, Chalonere, Remolins, Corbins, Lo Mas de Barbaran, Moncon, and Montgausi, with their territories and dependencies. They were lords of the cities of Borgia and Tor tosa ; they had a tenth part of the revenues of the kingdom, the taxes of the towns of Huesca and Saragossa, and houses, possessions, privileges, and immunities in all parts."! * Description et delicei d'Espagne, torn. iii. p. 249 ; ilist Portugal, La Chde, tom.i. p. 200,202, &c. ; Hispanio illustrata, torn. iii. p. 49. T Annales Miaorum, torn. v. p. 247; torn. vi. p. 211,218; torn. riii. p. 26, 27 ; torn, is. p. 1 SO, 141.—Oampomanei. t Marat H ispanica!, col. 1291, 1292, 1304. Gall, christ, nov, toro. i. col. 193. il/ariano, de. reb. Hïsp. lib. ii. cap. 23,