Order of Mountjoy

The Order of Montjoie (also: Order of Monte Gaudio ) was a Spanish order of knighthood, which was created during the Crusades. The Order was founded in 1172 to protect pilgrims christlichern in Spain. The history of the order was short, he was already in 1221 united with the Order of Calatrava.

The Order of Montjoie was founded as a garrison of the fortress of Ascalon in 1172 by Count Rodrigo Álvarez de Sarria, a Knight of the Order of Santiago first in Castile and Aragon, and later in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The headquarters of the Order was the mountain fortress of Montjoie, which was located on the hill where did the first Crusader Jerusalem for the first time; and then the name Montjoie (, Mountain of Joy ', mons Gaudii in Latin ) received. 1180 saw Pope Alexander III. the Order with a Papal Bull. The medal was the rule of the Cistercian order, but it was an exclusively Spanish Order. A red and white cross was the emblem of the Knights of Montjoie.

Some of the knights fought in 1187 in the Battle of Hattin, but none of them survived. The rest of the Order fled to Aragon, and where he took the name of Order of Trufac. King Alfonso II commissioned the Order to the defense of the south of Aragon. Since the Order but failed to attract new Teutonic Knights, in 1196 he went on, for the most part in the Knights Templar, the remnants of the Order of Montjoie were united in 1221 with the Order of Calatrava.