The Spanish Order of Calatrava is a military Catholic order that existed in the 12-19 centuries. It was founded by the Cistercians who branched off in the 11th century. from the Benedictines and in 1157 in Castile was the first Catholic on Spanish soil. In 1164, it was approved by Pope Alexander III. In 1838, the order ceased to exist, being nationalized by the Spanish crown. The history of the Order of Calatrava will be described in an article.
Education
Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo, who spoke with his living creators, wrote about the appearance of the order. Calatrava is a Moorish castle located in the southern outskirts of Castile. He was conquered in 1147 by King Alfonso VII of Castile.
However, retaining the newly acquired land was quite problematic. Even kings could not contain permanent garrisons. This contributed to the rise of militant orders. At first, the Templars took up the defense of Calatrava, but were forced to retreat, handing over the castle to the enemy.
After that, the king was assisted by the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Fitero, Raymond. He relied on led by Diego Velazquez, who had military capabilities, knight monks and the recent formation - “lay brothers”.
The latter in fact were monastery peasants capable of carrying weapons. These groups were the basis for the establishment of a new order in 1157 under the auspices of King Alfonso.
Cross of calatrava
Having settled in the fortress, the knights sought to expand the order of possessions at the expense of the Moors. In 1163, after the death of Raymond, the knight Don Garcia became the organizer of the first offensive sorties. After that, part of the monks, dissatisfied with militarization, left the fortress. Diego Velazquez and a few of the clergy remained with the knights. According to the papal letter of 1164, Velazquez took the title of Prior. In 1187, a special charter of Pope Gregory VIII was issued, additionally approving the rights of the order.
In it, various restrictions and vows were imposed on the knights of the Order of Calatrava. Among others, there were demands that you need to sleep in battle armor, walk in white Cistercian robes. They had a red cross made up of lily flowers - the cross of Calatrava. Organizationally, the order was not subordinate to the capitul, not to the Spanish bishops, but like the Fitero Monastery, the Morimon Abbey in Burgundy.
New Calatrava
The first orderly campaigns were victorious, and the king of Castile generously rewarded the knights. Later, in 1179, they served the king of Aragon. Then a series of defeats passed. In 1195, at the battle of Alarcos, the knights had to lay down their arms and hand them over to the Moors Calatrava. The following year, Prior Velazquez died.
After attracting new fighters, the Order of Calatrava managed to regain strength. A new castle was built in Salvierrara, after which, for 14 years, the order was called the Knights of Salvierrara. This fortress fell before the Moors in 1211. After a crusade in 1212, the knights returned Calatrava. In 1218, the order was moved to a new center. They became New Calatrava, which was built eight miles from the old, in a place that was safer.
Internal strife
In the 13th century, the Order of Calatrava became the largest military force in Spain. He is able to put 1,200 to 2,000 knight warriors on the battlefield. His wealth and prosperity in the early 14th century. leads to skirmishes of a political nature, to diarchy, to a frequent change of priorities. For example, Garcia Lopez was elevated to the rank of Prior three times and deposed twice.
As a result, he transferred power to another candidate and passed away naturally in 1336. There was an open conflict between King Pedro I and the Order. Three priors in a row had to lay their heads on the royal chopping block, they were accused of treason, and the fourth died in prison. In the same period, kings began to take an active part in the appointment of the head of the Order of Calatrava.
The greatest flowering and sunset
Under the master of the order Pedro Girona, as with his son, his greatest flowering was observed. The order controlled 56 commandos plus 16 priors, or curiae. More than two hundred thousand peasants worked for him, and his annual profit reached fifty thousand ducats. In the war that erupted between Portugal and Aragon, the knights last fought on the battlefield, taking the side of Aragon.
With the approval of the Pope in 1487, the leadership of the order was seized by King Ferdinand the Catholic. The need for a powerful military unit disappeared after the capture of Granada in 1492. It was the last Moorish fortress on the peninsula.
Pope Paul III knights were actually withdrawn from the monastic estate. For them, the vow of celibacy was replaced by an oath of marital fidelity. Pope Julius III issued a decree according to which knights were allowed to acquire real estate.
By the end of the 14th century. the Order of Calatrava actually transformed into a nominal holder of land, generating income. They were distributed by the king between trusted high-ranking officials. In 1838, after a series of confiscations carried out under the Bourbons (1775) and under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1808), the order was finally abolished.