Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/246

Rh of the powerful knights. S. Maria dos Olivaes, which was made the See of the Order, after its erection by Gualdim Pacs, became later the mother of all the churches founded by the Order of Christ throughout the world. The surrounding soil has so accumulated through the ages that a broad, deep flight of steps now descends to the church, which is in the Gothic style, and interesting, apart from its antiquity, through being the burial-place of Gualdim Paes, and other famous knights of the illustrious Templars. The tower is said to have been erected to protect the builders at work from Moorish raiders. Another legend connects it with a subterranean passage said once to have existed between the castle on the hill and the church. Following the river south a little distance on the other side a pyramidal stone is to be seen commemorating the spot where the troops of D. João I and the great Constable Pereira united for the march to Aljubarrota.

At the end of the shady road leading from S. Maria to the town a deep arch connects the ancient buildings on either side. We turn to the left into the street, which opens on the bridge, and pass a Manueline door with the date 1560, and see in a niche of the same ruined edifice, overlooking the river, the figure of a saint, and on a stone in the wall below the symbol of old Nabantia, a bull, outlined. This is the extinct Convent of St Iria or Irene, concerning whom there is a pretty though pathetic legend which has been sung by poet and pictured by painter for long generations. When the Gothic Count de Castinaldo was Governor of Nabantia, Celio, Prior of the Benedictine monastery, had a beautiful niece named Irene, daughter of a noble family residing outside the city, who confided her to the care of two aunts in the Convent of S. Clara by the river. The girl's beauty, intelligence and devotion to the Christian faith made her beloved and renowned in the 184