Order of Calatrava

The Order of Calatrava was founded as the first major Spanish orders in 1158 by Abbot Raimundo Serrat, originally with the task to protect the castle from the Moors Calatrava. He originally belonged to the family of the Cistercian Order.

Seat

The castle of Calatrava la Vieja in the province of Ciudad Real on the Rio Guadiana in Castilla La Mancha was conquered by the Moors in 1147 by King Alfonso VII and protect subordinate to the Knights Templar, as it was the strategic access to the Moors to the then central Toledo.

History

Not least because a new Arab initiative and the withdrawal of the Templar Calatrava was given already lost, when King Sancho III. the town and fortress transferred to the Cistercian Order, which was represented by Raimundo, abbot of the monastery Fitero and his monks.

Divided by Abbot Don Raimundo and his captain Diego Velázquez and supported by a variety of people, clergy and laity, who vowed loyalty to the Cistercian order, the abbot organized an army of more than twenty thousand men of different ages and origins. When the Moors saw the great number, they took distance and Calatrava was saved.

The actual promoter of the Order of Calatrava was the brother of Diego Velázquez. After his death there was a division of labor: the knights refused to accept an abbot as authority and to live a contemplative life among the monks, and chose a Grand Master. The monks withdrew then and the Knights of the Order walked in to a militia whose members still took off the three vows of the Order.

The first Grand Master of the Order, which was followed by the Cistercians, Don García de Redon was, who wrote the first Rule and shaped the life of the Order. He settled the Order and its rules by Pope Alexander III. confirm. His successors, including such illustrious names like Luís Pedro Núñez de Guzmán and de Guzmán, turned it into a real army. Nevertheless, the order was attributed to the clergy and had privileges and rich income from livestock, Lehnsrechten, from whom the king entrusted to them Alcabalas, a kind of tax, rents and tax exemption. In his heyday he reigned over 50 commanderies, which earned 23 million maravedis a year. The jurisdiction of the Order were subject to more than 350 villages. The Order felt like all Spanish orders more committed to the Castilian king as the Pope. From 1188 5 Knight of Calatrava were stationed at court.

The Moorish army commander Yaqub al - Mansur united a powerful army, the troops of the kingdoms of Leon and Navarre included not only the Almohads, who had joined forces against Alfonso VIII. He won in 1195 at the Battle of Alarcos and took Calatrava again in 1196, where he put to death the surviving defenders. Thus, the line between the Christian and Muslim Spain pushed back to the old Guadiana line. Master Ruy Díaz attacked with the rest of the Order, which the flight was on time succeeded in the fortress of Salvatierra, which he converted into a house of the Order. Therefore, the Order was temporarily known as the Order of Salvatierra. During this important phase of religious struggle near the castle of Salvatierra built its new headquarters, which was laid in 1218 finally here. Consequently, the old Calatrava has now been called Calatrava la Vieja.

In subsequent years, the Order of countless battles took part, including in particular the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa 1212. After this decisive battle, he conquered Calatrava back. From here went as the golden years of the Order, in which he took part in the Reconquista, the initiative for the construction of numerous castles and villages.

When the Templars were disbanded, almost all of their possessions went to Spain over to the Order of Calatrava, as far as they could not take their flight to Tomar in Portugal, the movable property. Some of the Templars found in the Order of Calatrava recording. End of the 14th century, the Portuguese branch of the order of Calatrava broke up and formed henceforth the Knight Order of Avis.

The Catholic Monarchs secured by a Papal Bull of Pope Innocent VIII of the crown the Administration to leave the order of knighthood, and thus the high nobility no longer has significant military and financial power as a state within a state next to the crown. With the transfer of Grandmaster dignity by Pope Adrian VI. on the crown of the political independence of the Order has been completed.

Instead of the initial Cistercian Habits wore a white knight tunic, a white scapular, a black hood and a pilgrim collar. Their order dress consisted of a white coat with red lily cross on the left side.

Under the rule of monarchs and with the end of the Reconquista on the peninsula gradually disappeared the military and the religious spirit. With time, the only existence of the Order were the reasons of revenue from its large estates and the preservation of his relics. 1808 the assets of the Order of Joseph Bonaparte was confiscated and later returned in 1814 under King Ferdinand VII to be definitely secularized by 1838 Mendizábal.

The lily cross of Calatrava is now used by the Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe as a logo. In addition the manufacturer has a watch collection called Calatrava launched. The architect Santiago Calatrava bears the arms on the private letter.

Grandmaster

  • García de Redon (1164-1169)
  • Fernando Escaza (1169-1170)
  • Martín Pérez de Siones (1170-1182)
  • Nuño Pérez de Quiñones (1182-1199)
  • Martín Martínez (1199-1207)
  • Ruy Díaz de Yanguas (1207-1212)
  • Rodrigo Garcés, (1212-1216)
  • Martín Fernández de Quintana (1216-1218)
  • Gonzalo Yáñez de Novoa (1218-1238)
  • Martín Ruiz (1238-1240)
  • Gómez Manrique (1240-1243)
  • Fernando Ordóñez (1243-1254)
  • Pedro Yáñez (1254-1267)
  • Juan González (1267-1284)
  • Ruy Pérez Ponce (1284-1295)
  • Diego López de Santsoles (1295-1296)
  • Garci Lopez de Padilla (1296-1322)
  • Juan Núñez de Prado (1322-1355)
  • Diego García de Padilla (1355-1365)
  • Martín López de Córdoba (1365-1371)
  • Pedro Muñiz de Godoy (1371-1384)
  • Pedro Álvarez de Pereira (1384-1385)
  • Gonzalo Núñez de Guzmán (1385-1404)
  • Enrique de Villena (1404-1407)
  • Luis González de Guzmán (1407-1443)
  • Fernando de Padilla (1443-1443)
  • Alonso de Aragón (1443-1445)
  • Pedro Girón (1445-1466)
  • Rodrigo Téllez Girón (1466-1482)
  • García López de Padilla (1482-1487)
Toledo, Spain Sancho III of Castile Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur Almohad Caliphate Patek Philippe & Co. Maximilian Gritzner
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