The central lantern--the only romanesque example surviving except that of Lisbon Cathedral--is square, and not as there octagonal. It has two round-headed windows on each side whose sills are but little above the level of the flat roof--for, like almost all vaulted churches in Portugal, the roofs are flat and paved--and is now crowned by a picturesque dome covered with many-coloured tiles. Somewhat older than the cathedral, but not unlike it, was the church of São Christovão now destroyed, while São Thiago still has a west door whose shafts are even more elaborately carved and twisted than are those at the Sé Velha.[45] There is more than one building, such as the Templar [Illustration: FIG. 18. COIMBRA. SÉ VELHA.] [Illustration: FIG. 19. COIMBRA. WEST FRONT OF SÉ VELHA.] church at Thomar, older than the cathedral of Evora, and indeed older than the Sé Velha at Coimbra; but Evora, except that its arches are pointed instead of round, is so clearly derived directly from the Sé at Lisbon that it must be mentioned next in order. [Sidenote: Sé, Evora.] Although the great province of Alemtejo, which reaches from the south bank of the Tagus to within about twenty-five or thirty miles of the Southern Sea, had more than once been entered by the victorious Portuguese king Affonso Henriques, it was not till after his death in 1185, indeed not till the beginning of the thirteenth century, that it could be called a part of Portugal. As early as 1139 Affonso Henriques had met and defeated five kings at Ourique not far from Beja, a victory which was long supposed to have secured his country's independence, and which was therefore believed to have been much greater and more important than was really the case.[46] Evora, the Roman capital of the district, did not fall into the hands of the Christians till 1166, when it is said to have been taken by stratagem by Giraldo Sem Pavor, or 'the Fearless,' an outlaw who by this capture regained the favour of the king. But soon the Moors returned, first in 1174 when they won back the whole of the province, and again in 1184 when Dom Sancho, Affonso's son, utterly defeated and killed their leader, Yusuf. Yusuf's son, Yakub, returned to meet defeat in 1188 and 1190 when he was repulsed from Thomar, but when he led a third army across the Straits in 1192 he found that the Crusaders who had formerly helped Dom Sancho had sailed on to Palestine, and with his huge army was able to drive the Christians back beyond the Tagus and compel the king to come to terms, nor did the Christian borders advance again for several years. It is said that the cathedral begun in 1185 or 1186[47] was dedicated in 1204, so it must have been still incomplete when Yakub's successful invasion took place, and only finished after the Christians had again recovered the town, though it is difficult to see how the church can have been dedicated in that year as the town remained in Moorish power till after Dom Sancho's death in 1211.