The Castle of Balsamão () is a medieval castle in the civil parish of Chacim, municipality of Macedo de Cavaleiros, in the Portuguese district of Bragança. History The first structure in this place consisted of an Iron Age fortified settlement, from which little remains. The colony was eventually occupied by the Romans. During the Middle Ages there was a small town on the site, probably preceded by the construction of a hermitage, attributed to the Order of Malta and over a mosque (or primitive chapel). Legend suggests that the mountaintop was occupied by Moors who forced on local Christians a heavy tax, including the Tributo das donzelas (Tribute of the Damsels). This tax consisted of an obligation to brides within their domains to stay in the castle with the Emir. One day, in the town of Castro, approximately from Balsamão, after her wedding ceremony, a bride was abducted and taken to the castle. Her groom, son of the chief of the Cavaleiros das Esporas Douradas (Golden Spur Cavalry) from Alfândega, the inhabitants of Castro and surrounding lands, followed them to the mountaintop to challenge the Saracens to combat to liberate the bride. The Moorish soldiers escaped and the Christians purified their mosque, transforming it into a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Bálsamo, which later evolved to Balsamão. The place where the Moors lost the battle was renamed Chacim (a plural past tense variant of slaughter), the villa of Castro became Castro Vicente, and Alfândega was changed due to the peoples act of faith () to Alfândega da Fé. In 1212, the first historic reference to Monte Carrascal, during the reign of King D. Afonso II a castle already existed on the site. But, by the 17th century, the settlement was completely abandoned. On 18 July 1731, a deed for the sale of "a piece of ground with a fig tree, located on the estate of the Olgas, in the courtyard of the town within the curtain of Placido Rodrigues, in the locality of Olmos", between António de São José (bearded hermit and "president and assistant at the chapel of Nossa Senhora de Balsamão") and Pedro de Mesquita and his wife for 14$400. On 2 March 1732, the lands of Monte do Caramouro were donated to the municipality of Chacim by the congregation of the Barbadinhos. In the donation letter they referred to Moors living on the hilltop and a