[brah-guh] 
| a city in N Portugal: an ecclesiastical center. 48,735. |
Braga
city, northern Portugal. It lies at the head of the railway from Porto. Probably founded in 296 BC by Carthaginians, Braga was called Bracara Augusta by the Romans. It served as capital of the Callaici Bracarii, a Celtic tribe, and was a meeting place for five strategic military roads. The city was taken successively by the Suebi (5th century) and the Visigoths (585). Braga is known as the place where the Visigoths renounced the Arian and Priscillianist heresies against Christ's divinity and against sensual pleasures. Taken by the Moors (716), it was recaptured in 1040 by Ferdinand I, king of Castile and Leon, and from 1093 to 1147 it was the seat of the Portuguese court. Braga is an archiepiscopal see, and its archbishop is the primate of Portugal.
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