THE INTERIOR LIFE OF THE

MILITARY RELIGIOUS ORDERS OF

MEDIEVAL SPAIN

Joseph F. O'Callaghan

Fordham University

Malta Study Center Lecture Series

Presented at St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, October 2001

Introduction

The Military Religious Orders came into existence in the twelfth century during the

age of the Crusades. The earliest Orders were those of the Temple and the Hospital of Saint

John of Jerusalem (later known as the Knights of Rhodes, and still later as the Knights of

Malta). Both were established in the Holy Land in the years immediately following the

conquest of the Holy City by the crusaders in 1099. Soon, knowledge of those Orders

penetrated the Iberian peninsula and prompted King Alfonso I of Aragón (1100-1134), known

as the Battler, to will his kingdoms to the Orders of the Temple and the Hospital and to the

Holy Sepulcher. Although his will was not implemented it did result in the establishment of

the Templars and the Hospitallers in Spain around the years 1130-1140.

After the middle of the twelfth century the first indigenous Military Religious Orders

made their appearance in the peninsula, a critical time in the history of the struggle between

Christianity and Islam. Ever since their invasion in 711 the Muslims had enjoyed an

ascendancy in Spain under the rule of the emirs and caliphs of Córdoba. Most of the Christian

population, known as the Mozarabs, was reduced to a protected, tributary status. Although

some Christians maintained their independence in the mountainous regions of the north, they

were unable to challenge Islamic domination. Nevertheless, after the disintegration of the

Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031 a congeries of tiny statelets known as taifas emerged, enabling

the Christian rulers of León, Castile, Portugal, Aragón, Navarre, and Catalonia to demand

tribute from them. Then in 1085 Alfonso VI, king of León-Castile (1065-1109) seized the city

of Toledo, the ancient seat of the Visigoths, and advanced his frontiers to the Tagus river, in

the very center of the peninsula.

That served as a wakeup call to the reyes de taifas or petty Muslim of Granada,

Seville, and Zaragoza, who realized that they were all likely to be swallowed soon if they did

not receive external assistance. Consequently, they appealed to the Almoravids, a Muslim sect

from Morocco, who halted the Christian advance and, by absorbing the taifas, reestablished

the unity of Islamic Spain. Nevertheless, by the early years of the twelfth century Almoravid

rule also began to crumble, making it possible once again for the Christians to achieve

significant territorial gains, for example, the capture of Zaragoza on the Ebro river in 1118,

and the fall of Lisbon at the mouth of the Tagus, Almería on the southeast coast, and Tortosa

at the mouth of the Ebro, the only military successes of the Second Crusade. Soon afterward,

however, still another Moroccan Muslim sect, the Almohads, invaded the peninsula and again

established a united front against the Christians. As warfare intensified in the second half of

the twelfth century the Christian rulers recognized that the Military Religious Orders could

help to contain the Almohads.

Recognizing the value of these communities, pledged to the permanent defense of the

Christian frontiers, the Christian kings gave them custody of castles and fortresses, possession

of villages and other properties, and a share in royal booty. At the same time that the Orders

were struggling against the Moors (a word derived from the Latin Mauri, meaning the

inhabitants of ancient Mauretania, modern Morocco) they were trying to develop a new way

of life, a combination of the very different lives of knights and monks. This would be an

arduous and formidable task in ordinary times, but in the midst of the violent circumstances of

the frontier it was especially difficult. Today I want to examine the intentions of the Orders

and the essential aspects of their life as revealed in their primitive statutes, that is, the earliest

texts of the twelfth century and the first years of the thirteenth.

Foundation of the Military Orders

At the outset, let me say something about the foundation of the Spanish Military

Orders. While the peninsular rulers were happy to utilize the eastern Orders of the Temple

and the Hospital, they were concerned that the primary service of the knights established in

Spain should be rendered there, rather than in the Holy Land. The sense that they would not

be able to rely fully upon the Templars and the Hospitallers to defend the frontiers against the

Almohad threat, encouraged the Christian rulers to call upon the newly established Military

Orders of Calatrava, Alcántara, Avis, all linked to the French Order of Cîteaux, and the

Military Order of Santiago.

In January 1147 Alfonso VII of León-Castile (1126-1157) seized the fortress of

Calatrava situated on the Guadiana river guarding the approaches to Toledo, and granted it to

the Templars, but their inability or unwillingness to defend it created a crisis. When Abbot

Raimundo of the Cistercian monastery of Fitero and his monks responded to King Sancho

III’s (1157-1158) appeal for help, a grateful king in 1158 entrusted them with the defense of

Calatrava. Archbishop Juan of Toledo "on hearing this holy intention, gave thanks to God and

immediately provided help from his goods and caused it to be preached publicly that all those

who went to the aid of Calatrava would merit remission of all their sins." In doing so he

conferred on them the same indulgence as the popes had given to crusaders to the Holy

Land. From then on the Order of Calatrava acquired extensive holdings in the kingdoms of

Castile, León, and Aragón.

Calatrava also seems to have set down roots in both León and Portugal, where the

Orders of San Julián del Pereiro and Évora, appear to have been affiliated branches of

Calatrava. The Order of San Julián del Pereiro, founded in the kingdom of León, received

papal protection from Alexander III in December 1176. A few years later, in 1183, Lucius III

confirmed the rule and customs of Master Gómez and his friars Given the fact that San Julián

and all its properties were included among the possessions of the Order of Calatrava in a

papal confirmation of 1187, an affiliation of the two Orders before that date seems

certain. Once its headquarters was transferred in 1218 to the fortress of Alcántara on the

Tagus river, not far from the Portuguese frontier, the community came to be known as the

Order of Alcántara.

The first notice that we have of the Order of Évora in Portugal is also dated 1176,

when King Afonso I (1128-1185) granted property to Gonzalo Viegas, the Master of Évora,

and his friars, "following the Order of St. Benedict." Like San Julián, Évora also seems to

have been affiliated to the Order of Calatrava by 1187. In 1202 Innocent III described the

friars of Évora as "professed to the Order of Calatrava." Although they were given the castle

of Avis about seventy miles east of Lisbon, in 1211, only after they transferred their

headquarters there about 1223-1224 did they become known as the Order of Avis.

In the long run, the most powerful and the most widely diffused of all the Spanish

Military Orders was the Order of Santiago. The foundations of the Order were laid at Cáceres

in the kingdom of León in 1170 by a group of friars, under their Master Pedro Fernández,

with the collaboration of King Fernando II of León (1157-1188), who gave them lordship of

the town, with the expectation that they would defend Extremadura and the road leading to

Seville. In the following year the friars of Cáceres concluded a pact of friendship and

brotherhood with Archbishop Pedro of Santiago de Compostela, who placed them under the

protection of the Apostle St. James. The Order was further augmented in 1172 when the friars

of Ávila, a municipal military order, were incorporated into the community. The agreement

stipulated that once the Saracens were driven from Spain, the friars of both Santiago and

Ávila would cross over into Morocco and ultimately would advance on Jerusalem. The

recurrence of the idea that after Spanish Islam was eradicated, Morocco could be conquered

and Christian forces could march across North Africa to Jerusalem, is especially noteworthy.

In 1175 Pope Alexander III gave his approbation to the Order of Santiago, noting that

its sole purpose was the defense of the Christian name, and praised the friars who protected

the frontier against the incursions of the pagans, “the enemies of the cross of Christ.” From its

inception the Order was conceived as an international organization on the model of the

Temple and the Hospital. Although Leonese in origin, the new Order quickly expanded into

the neighboring kingdoms of Portugal and Castile, where its principal seat was Uclés in the

Tagus valley, east of Toledo. Before the decade was over the Order had property in France,

England, and as far away as Carinthia.

There were also some ephemeral Orders, such as Trujillo, a Castilian branch of San

Julián, and the Order of Mountjoy or Monte Gaudio, whose existence was also of short

duration. The Order of San Jorge de Alfama was also established near the frontier of the

kingdom of Valencia about the end of the twelfth century, but little is known of its

activities. Still later in the second half of the thirteenth century Alfonso X founded the Order

of Santa María de España but it was soon incorporated into the Order of Santiago. Following

the dissolution of the Order of the Temple at the beginning of the fourteenth century the Order

of Montesa and the Order of Christ were established in Aragón and Portugal respectively.

If one looks at the map it is apparent that the twelfth-century Christian rulers were

attempting to establish a first line of defense along the frontier from southern Aragón and

following the Tagus river to Lisbon, by entrusting important castles to the military orders. In

Portugal the Order of Avis was dominant, though Santiago was close behind; in the kingdom

of León defense of the frontier was shared principally by Santiago and Alcántara. The Order

of Calatrava controlled the direct route northward from Córdoba to Toledo, while Santiago

(and to some extent the Hospital) defended the approaches to the east. In Aragón and

Catalonia the Temple and the Hospital were paramount, but south of the Ebro Calatrava,

through its commandery at Alcañiz, had the chief role, until the end of the twelfth century. In

sum, the Military Orders maintained permanent garrisons along the frontier and were the first

to respond to the call to war.

Sources for the Study of the Life of the Orders

In order to study the life of the Military Orders during the first years of their existence,

that is, in the second half of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, we have at

hand a variety of sources. They include texts given to Calatrava by the General Chapter of the

Order of Citeaux, papal bulls confirming all the Orders mentioned, and the Rule of the Order

of Santiago. These texts reveal for the first time the reason for the existence of the Military

Orders and the type of life that they followed. Let me make a short commentary on these

documents.

The primitive statutes of the Order of Calatrava consist of a Forma vivendi, or Way of

Life, dictated by the Cistercian General Chapter in September 1164; another charter of the

General Chapter of 1187, repeating the previous Forma vivendi with some modifications, and

affiliating Calatrava to the French monastery of Morimond, whose abbot received the right to

conduct an annual visitation of Calatrava; and a third letter of the General Chapter dated

1199, again confirming the Forma vivendi of 1164. We can identify these texts as the first,

second, and third Forma vivendi. None of them occupies more than two printed pages. Popes

Alexander III, Gregory VIII, and Innocent III confirmed each one of these documents in

1164, 1187, 1199, and 1214, respectively. In addition, in January 1195, Guy I, abbot of

Morimond, visited Calatrava and published a short text establishing important relations

between the Order of Calatrava and the Cistercian monastery of San Pedro de Gumiel. Finally

we have some statutes in thirty-nine chapters given to the Order when it was located at

Salvatierra and known as the Order of Salvatierra, during the years between the battles of

Alarcos in 1195 and Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, or more precisely between 1198 and 1213.

Derek Lomax, the great historian of the Order of Santiago, thought that these statutes were

promulgated by the abbot of San Pedro de Gumiel as the delegate of the abbot of Morimond.

There are no independent statutes for the Orders of San Julián del Pereiro (Alcántara)

or that of Évora (Avis) from this early period. Nevertheless, if both Orders were branches of

Calatrava in León and Portugal, at least from 1187, as I believe they were, then we can say

that they followed Calatrava’s Forma vivendi. Alexander III's bull of 1176 and another of

Lucius III dated 1183 shed some additional light on the life of the friars of San

Julián. Moreover, during his visit to the Order of Avis in 1238 the Master of Calatrava

promulgated several short statutes. Finally, Alexander III’s bull given to Santiago in 1175 and

the so-called Rule of the Order of Santiago, written probably around the same year, tell us

much about the primitive life of the friars of Santiago and their relations with the other

Military Orders.

Fratres, Militia, and Ordo

In order to understand the nature of these communities as their members and their

contemporaries perceived them, we ought to begin by noting the words used in the earliest

texts to refer to them. In the first place the documents speak simply of fratres or brothers, or

friars. This word suggests a small community or association, one not well defined, still

without a complex organization and without any great properties. It is a word that one might

use to speak of any monastic community and does not offer any suggestion of a military

function.

In the 1170s, however, our documents often refer to militia. Alexander III, for

example, in 1174 addressed himself to the magister militie of Calatrava and spoke of the

milites or knights of Calatrava. Other papal bulls mention the magister militie of

Santiago. The word militia gives an indication of a military purpose and tells us that the

fratres or brothers were joined together as a military force. The title of magister or master

used to designate the leader of the community did not have any academic or monastic

connotation but recalled the ancient magister militum or commander of troops of the Roman

empire.

Nevertheless, the word militia had been used for many centuries in monastic literature,

for example, in the Rule of St. Benedict, to describe the life of the monks engaged in a

spiritual combat against the devil. In his Liber de laude nove militie, dedicated to the newly-

established Order of the Temple, St. Bernard of Clairvaux used the word militia in a double

sense, referring both to the daily struggle of the monastic life, but also to the military

activities of the Templars. St. Bernard argued that the Order was a new form of militia,

different not only from the brutal militia secularis, but also from traditional monasticism.

Wielding the two swords, the spiritual and the temporal, the Templars were engaged in a

double struggle against both flesh and blood and also against the spirit of evil. St. Bernard's

justification of the Order of the Temple as a new way of life, combining the ideals of

monasticism and of knighthood, gave the word militia a double meaning, reflected in the

Spanish texts of this period.

From the last quarter of the twelfth century the word ordo or ordo militie, that is, order

or order of knighthood, entered into common usage to refer to these military religious

societies. Ordo signifies a state of life in the society of that epoch and also has a monastic

connotation. It suggests certain characteristic observances that distinguish the monastic life of

the monks of the Order of Cluny, for example, from that of the monks of the Order of

Cîteaux. Thus ordo militie refers to a troop of knights under the command of a master, joined

in a monastic association or order. The Rule of Santiago, for example, speaks of the "fratres

ordinis militie beati Iacobis Apostoli."

The Purpose of the Orders

We must now ask ourselves what were the intentions of those who founded the

Military Orders? What did they want to do? What were they thinking about? We cannot ask

them directly after so many centuries have passed, but the extant documents throw some light

on these questions.

I think we can see in these texts the influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and of his

Liber de laude nove militie, and also of his letters exhorting the faithful to take part in the

Second Crusade. Sancho III, king of Castile, for example, in his charter giving Calatrava to

Abbot Raimundo of Fitero, ordained that the abbot and his brethren should defend the fortress

"against the pagans, the enemies of the cross of Christ . . . so that the Christian religion may

be propagated and our kingdom increased and protected.” In phrases reminiscent of St.

Bernard, the Cistercian General Chapter in 1164 praised the intention of Master García and

the brethren of Calatrava to convert from the militia mundi to the militia Dei, - that is, from

the knighthood of this world to the knighthood of God - in order to fight against “the enemies

of the faith.” Similarly Pope Alexander III on 25 September in the same year approved the

friars’ desire to fight against the Saracens in defense of Calatrava. The General Chapter again

in 1187 praised their intention to turn from the militia mundi to the militia Christi and to

combat the enemies of the faith. King Alfonso VIII (1158-1214) of Castile also praised those

who dedicated their lives and shed their blood in combat "against the adversaries of the cross

of Christ." He also spoke of the knights as a shield and a wall in defense of the faith against

the pagan multitude.

The first documents of the Order of San Julián del Pereiro, dated in 1176, give no

explicit idea of that community’s purpose. Nevertheless, Pope Lucius III, on 4 April 1183,

noting that San Julián "was situated in the mouth of the Saracens," expressed the hope that

Master Gómez and his friars "would struggle more effectively in defense of Christendom." It

is very likely that the community of San Julián, if it had not been established for military

purposes, was transformed into a Military Order in the seven years between 1176 and 1183.

As for the friars of Santiago, Alexander III received Master Pedro Fernández and his

brethren as "special sons," whose only intention was the defense of the Christian name.

Rejoicing at their conversion, the pope confirmed their possessions and their way of life. He

praised the friars as "men of the Lord, fearing and desiring the law of the Lord" who exposed

themselves to extreme danger in defense of the faith and protected the Christian frontiers

against the incursions of the pagans, the enemies of the cross of Christ. He added that their

religious life was pleasing to God and acceptable and necessary to Christendom. The prologue

of the Rule of the Order of Santiago also employed words evocative of St. Bernard’s Liber de

Laude Nove Militie. The Rule stated that some “knights of the devil" - "equites diaboli” -

abandoned the malitia, that is the evil and perverse life of wars against their Christian

neighbors. Accepting the militia, they turned to a life that was truly Christian, exposing their

very bodies to the yoke of Christ and to the yoke of martyrdom. Dedicated to combat against

the enemies of Christ and the defense of the Church of God, under the invocation of Santiago,

they placed on their breasts the sign of the cross in the form of a sword. The archbishops and

bishops of Castile and León approved their new way of life, their new viuendi forma. Here

again we encounter the same words, Forma vivendi, previously used of Calatrava in 1164.

The preceding texts are full of significant ideas reflecting the language of the

crusades. In the manner of St. Bernard they speak in the first place of the conversion of the

knights from a wicked life of brigandage, or in Latin, of their conversion from malitia to

militia, a word meaning the proper and good life of true knights. They were now changed

from knights of the devil - equites diaboli - to knights of Christ - milites Christi. In the second

place the Rule of Santiago speaks of the possibility of martyrdom, again touching on an idea

that arose during the preaching of the Second Crusade. Those who gave their lives in defense

of the faith, like the ancient Christians massacred by the lions in the Roman coliseum, would

be martyrs of the faith and would gain eternal life. In the third place, the texts exalt these

defenders of the faith and the Church of God, assuring them that what they were doing was a

meritorious work pleasing to God. Thus the texts speak to us of a religious war undertaken to

exalt the Christian faith against those variously described as infidels, pagans, or enemies of

the cross of Christ.

In spite of St. Bernard’s prestige, a fellow Cistercian, Isaac, abbot of the monastery of

l'Étoile in France (d. c. 1169), expressed some doubts in a sermon about the life of the

Military Orders. He spoke of a nova militia, a new knighthood, without naming it, that used

lances and staves against the infidels to force them to convert to Christianity. Those who did

not convert were killed. Isaac said that this was not a nova militia but rather a new monster -

monstrum novum - which was called the Order of the Fifth Gospel because its members did

not follow the four gospels. Although Raciti suggested that Isaac was speaking of the Order of

Calatrava, Leclercq thought that he referred to the Templars. I think that is more probable. We

will never know for sure what Order Isaac was speaking about, but we can say that in none of

the documents of the Spanish Military Orders do we find anything concerning the forced

conversion of the infidels. It is true that Alexander III warned the friars of Santiago to fight in

defense of the Christians and to try to attract the Saracens to the Christian faith, but they

ought also to avoid vainglory and the effusion of blood and rapine. In any case the pope's

words cannot be understood as approving forced conversion. Nor is their any indication that

the friars of Santiago or of any of the other Military Orders tried to convert the Moors in this

way. In point of fact the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Spain generally do not reveal any

serious attempt by anyone to convert the Muslims, but rather to expel them.

The Life of the Orders

Now I want to look closely at the daily life of the Orders, which was an adaptation to

military necessity of the traditional monastic life. In the principal convent or monastery of

each Order, the friars, under the command of the Master or his lieutenant tried to follow the

rule and customs of their Order. The dispersal of the friars in encomiendas under the

administration of commanders, but especially their participation in military campaigns,

necessitated some modification of the ordinary life of the convent. Nevertheless, the friars had

to observe the rule as best possible in the circumstances.

The friars of Calatrava, San Julián or Alcántara, and Évora or Avis followed the Rule

of St. Benedict and the customs of Cîteaux, while the friars of Santiago had their own

Rule. Despite that we can note certain similarities among them. In each Order there was a

group of knights, perhaps the most numerous, and another group of clerics, chaplains, or

conventual brothers, who spent their lives within the convent.

Given the necessities of recruitment, it is very probable that the first members of the

Military Orders came from every state in life, without special consideration of their social

rank. They had to be men of adult age, whether knights or footsoldiers, capable of carrying

out the religious and military labors of the Order. Alexander III in 1177 allowed San Julián

del Pereiro to receive clerics and laymen, with the sole condition that they be freemen. He

also referred to the first friars of Santiago as "certain noble men"- "nobiles quidam

viri." Although there is no statute from the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the

thirteenth limiting entrance solely to those of noble birth, knights with their horses and arms

emerged as the dominant element in each Order. Some like Pedro Fernández, the first Master

of Santiago, and Count Rodrigo de Sarria, were magnates, while others were likely members

of the lower nobility. For that reason the Rule of Santiago (cap. 72-73) condemned those who

showed any sign of vainglory concerning their family or their riches or looked down on

another family. Santiago apparently was the only Order to receive married men as full

members (cap. 1).

According to the Rule of St. Benedict (cap. 58) anyone seeking admission into a

monastery had first to spend a novitiate year following the daily routine of the community. At

the end of the year he could make his profession or leave. The first Forma vivendi of

Calatrava of 1164 commanded everyone to make profession to the Master as if to an

abbot. The friar, like a Benedictine monk, had to follow the life of a novice during the year

prior to profession. Canon law prohibited the transfer of a monk from one monastery to a less

rigorous one. Count Rodrigo de Sarria obtained ecclesiastical authorization to leave the Order

of Santiago to establish the Order of Monte Gaudio or Mountjoy according to the Cistercian

observance, because the Order of Cîteaux was stricter than that of Santiago. However, in

order to preserve the integrity of Santiago, he was forbidden to admit into his community

members of that Order.

A very important group in each Order were the conventual brothers who lived in the

principal convent following the traditional monastic life. The first Forma vivendi of Calatrava

declared that the friars could choose priests as they wished to be their chaplains, hearing their

confessions and celebrating mass for them. After the affiliation of Calatrava with Morimond

in 1187, the General Chapter ordered that "two monks from that same monastery [of

Morimond] after its construction, should live, for as long as may be necessary, with the friars"

of Calatrava, doubtless to instruct them in the Cistercian observance. Guy I of Morimond in

1195 ordered the Master to choose the monks who would live at Calatrava. The Order of

Santiago also recruited clerics to serve the spiritual necessities of the friars. They lived in a

convent under a prior and received the tithes of the friars for their maintenance; they also had

the duty to teach the children of the knights their letters.

As noted, the head of each Order had the title of Master. The Master was the general

administrator of his Order with a position comparable to that of an abbot. In the most

important affairs the Master had to act with the consent of his convent or chapter. According

to the statutes of Salvatierra (art. 20) the Master had to render accounts in the presence of the

visitor and of the elders (seniores) of the community. The Master of Calatrava received from

the abbot of Morimond the right to assist at the visitation of San Pedro de Gumiel, and to offer

his counsel in the affairs of that monastery. The Master of Calatrava also claimed the right to

visit the Order of Alcántara "according to the Order of Citeaux" (1218). However, he could

not alienate or transfer any of Alcántara’s property without the consent of the Master and

convent of that Order. The Master of Calatrava also exercised the right to visit the Order de

Avis - a "filia de Calatraua" - in 1238.

The Master of Santiago was assisted by a council of thirteen persons, the trece. When

he died, the thirteen, summoned by the prior, had the right to elect the new Master within fifty

days. If the Master was pernicious or ineffective, the thirteen could admonish him and even

depose him with the counsel of the prior and of the sanior pars, the wiser part, of the General

Chapter.

The other Orders followed the Rule of St. Benedict concerning the election of the

Master, who held office for life, like a Benedictine abbot. Pope Lucius III declared that the

friars of San Julián "with common counsel or with the pars sanior could elect [the Master] in

the fear of God and according to the Rule of St. Benedict." The Masters of Alcántara and of

Avis had the right to attend the election of the Master of Calatrava. The Master could resign

freely, but if his government proved intolerable, he could be deposed. It seems that Nuño,

Master of Calatrava (1183-1197), renounced his office two years after the disaster of Alarcos,

and that the former Master Martín Pérez de Siones replaced him, but he resigned within a

year. In 1199 Pope Innocent III ordered two Masters who had resigned to restore to the Order

whatever property they held, and the General Chapter of Cîteaux in the same year ordained

that if the Master was deposed or resigned, he could not retain any of the Order's property for

his personal use. According to the statutes of Salvatierra (art. 1), no one other than the abbot

of Morimond or his delegate, could depose the Master and install another in his

place. Whether it was the result of infirmity, wounds, old age, or internal opposition, it would

seem that few of the Masters in the first century of the existence of the Military Orders

governed until death. Most appear to have resigned or to have been deposed.

We have a short description of the ceremonies celebrated during the installation of

Martín Fernández, the new Master of Avis, in 1238 by Martín Ruiz, Master of Calatrava.

Determining that the Master of Avis was not elected "according to the form of the Order," the

Master of Calatrava, stated that he took him "by the hand and placed him in his place and we

confirmed him in the Mastership and he made a promise to us as the Masters of Avis and

Alcántara had previously made to the Master of Calatrava and we gave him his seal and we

commanded that everyone make a promise to him." Presumably that was a promise of

obedience. The friars of Avis also promised that in the future they would not elect a Master in

the absence of the Master of Calatrava.

Just as the prior in monastic communities was the abbot's lieutenant, so too the prior in

the Military Orders was the superior of the convent and of the conventual brothers. The

statutes of Salvatierra state that there was a prior from the beginning of the Order (art.

3). According to the second Forma vivendi of Calatrava in 1187 the prior ought to receive the

profession of the clerics of the community. From that year onward the prior of Calatrava, the

subprior, and the cellarer were a delegate of the abbot of Morimond or of the abbot of San

Pedro de Gumiel. The prior, with the counsel of the Master or Commander, had to correct all

grave faults, but ought not to involve himself in the temporal affairs of the Order unless asked

by the Master. When the Master of Calatrava ceded the fortress of Alcántara to the friars of

San Julián in 1218, he commanded that they should never receive any monk as their prior

without his consent; they could choose one from Calatrava itself or fro m its affiliates. The

prior of Santiago was also the superior of the Order's clerics, with responsibility for the

spiritual life of the brothers; he also summoned the thirteen to elect the new Master.

Besides the Master and the Prior, knights with the title of Commander had the

responsibility to guard and administer the houses or properties of the Order outside the

principal convent. The Rule of Santiago (cap. 26) stipulated that in every house where there

were two brothers, the Master should name one of them as Commander.

All the brothers of the Order assembled together in chapter to treat matters of common

interest and especially to correct faults and offenses. The first Forma vivendi of Calatrava

required the Master to hold a daily chapter. Pope Gregory VIII in 1187 prohibited any change

in the "regular and ancient customs of the Order" or any alienation of the Order's property

without the consent of the Master and of the "greater and wiser part of the

chapter." According to the Rule of Santiago (cap. 7) the chapter was supposed to be held after

daily mass and another longer chapter was held every Sunday to discuss the affairs of the

house. The Rule was to be read every month. Alexander III ordered the celebration of a

General Chapter by the Thirteen and the Commanders on All Saints' Day, to deal with matters

of greater importance, as for example, war against the Moors. During the Chapter visitors

would be elected to visit the houses of the Order and to admonish those who had failed in the

observance of the Rule.

As in the traditional monastic communities the life of the Military Orders was founded

on the practice of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In the Order of Calatrava and its affiliates

the new friar had to give up all his personal possessions on entering the Order and to live

thereafter on what the Master gave him for his basic necessities. According to Alexander III,

the friars of Santiago ought to live without having anything of their own - "sine proprio" -

selling their goods and giving the money to the Order and being content with whatever the

Order gave them for their sustenance.

All the friars of Calatrava and its affiliates had to live a life of celibacy and would

incur severe penalties if they violated the statutes concerning chastity. The first Forma vivendi

of Calatrava ordered that anyone who committed public fornication would have to eat on the

ground for a year, three days a week on bread and water, and receive the discipline every

Friday. To these penalties the statutes of Salvatierra (art. 30) added that a friar guilty of

fornication should lose his horse and arms for a year. Grounding of that sort was a severe

penalty in that it deprived the knight of his military capability and, in some measure, of his

dignity as well.

There was a fundamental difference between Calatrava and its affiliates, on the one

hand, and the Order of Santiago on the other, in that the friars of Santiago could marry if they

wished. Married knights had to live in conjugal chastity and single friars were bound by the

vow of celibacy. Repeating the words of St. Paul "it is better to marry than to burn," the Rule

of Santiago required that the friars live without sin in conjugal chastity and not approach their

wives during fast days (Proemium, cap. 12).

A fundamental principle of the monastic life was the obligation to obey the abbot.

Praising the intention of the friars of Santiago to live in common in obedience to the Master,

Pope Alexander III affirmed that the first thing to observe was obedience. The Rule of

Santiago (cap. 28) demanded that the friars "obey the Master in everything and through

everything." Saying the same thing, the first Forma vivendi of Calatrava required that anyone

who was disobedient should eat on the ground for three days. If anyone struck another, he

would lose his horse and arms for six months.

The spiritual life of the Military Orders was organized around the celebration of mass

and the canonical hours. According to the first Forma vivendi of Calatrava the chaplains were

to hear confessions and to sing the mass. It is also very likely that the knights joined the

chaplains at the canonical hours in the convent of Calatrava. Obviously they could not do so

when they were on campaign, but then they probably recited a certain number of Our Fathers

and Hail Marys. Although Alexander III did not prescribe anything on this theme, the Rule of

Santiago (cap. 1, 7) required attendance at daily mass and the reception of the Eucharist on

the three feasts of Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, but also, if it were possible, every Sunday

after confession (cap. 32). The friars should participate in the canonical hours, reciting a

prescribed number of Our Fathers for each hour, and for the Pope, the Church, and the

members of the Order (cap. 4-6).

In all the Orders the friars ate in common, in silence, listening to the reading of certain

spiritual books. The first Forma vivendi of Calatrava allowed the use of meat (only one dish)

three days a week, that is, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and on the principal feasts of

the year. This was a concession made in view of their strenuous activities, because Cistercian

custom permitted the use of meat only to the weak and infirm. The friars who were in the

house had to fast two Lents, that is, three days each week from the feast of the Exaltation of

the Holy Cross (14 September) until Easter. Those who were inter saracenos, that is,

campaigning against the Saracens, would fast according to the Master’s judgment.

The friars of Santiago could also eat meat three days a week (Sundays, Tuesdays, and

Thursdays, cap. 27) and had to observe the two Lents (Rule, cap. 8), but, inasmuch as they

were bound to defend the faith of Christ and his faithful people, they could not abandon that

responsibility on account of the fast (cap. 9).

The principle of poverty was underscored in the regulations concerning the physical

life of the friars. The first Forma vivendi of Calatrava prescribed that the friars should wear

clothing similar in color and coarseness to that of the Cistercians. Avoiding everything that

was superfluous or vain, they had to sleep dressed in their clothing in the traditional manner

of the Benedictines and Cistercians. Their clothing consisted of a short tunic, convenient for

riding, a scapular, a mantle, and a cape, all of wool. The cape was worn within the convent.

They were allowed to wear undershorts of linen. None of these documents refers to the cross

as a symbol worn on their clothing, but it is likely that the custom of wearing the cross was

adopted at an early date. The friars of Santiago also wore garments of white, black, or brown,

all of wool or other cheap materials, as the Master provided. They wore a red cross in the

form of a sword on their clothing (Regla, cap. 29).

The texts studied thus far tell us much about other aspects of the daily life of the

Spanish Military Orders. Among them we can note the observance of the rule of silence in the

oratory, the refectory, the dormitory and the kitchen; the punishment of those who fought or

struck one another; the care of the sick, the wounded, and the aged; the burial of deceased

brothers, and the commemoration of the anniversary of their death. Calatrava and Santiago

maintained hospitals for the care of those who were wounded in battle. The constraints of

time, however, do not permit me to discuss all of these topics.

Conclusion

Drawing their inspiration both from the monastic tradition and from the ideals of

chivalry, the members of the Spanish Military Orders followed for many centuries the form of

life established in their primitive statutes. The vicissitudes of the reconquest and societal

changes in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries resulted in some modifications of the strict

rule. The texts on which I have commented make clear to us that the friars of the Military

Orders during the first century of their existence had the virtues and the weaknesses of every

human being. Undoubtedly they failed at times to live up to their ideal. But for the most part

they tried to remain faithful to the principles of their founders. Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada,

Archbishop of Toledo, speaking of the friars of Calatrava, recalls for us the ideal of the life of

the Military Orders before the middle of the thirteenth century. He said:

Their increase is the Prince's crown. Those who give praise in psalms are

girded with the sword and cry out in prayer for the defense of the fatherland.

Scarce is their nourishment; rigorous discipline tests them; frequent

genuflection humbles them; nocturnal vigils weaken them; devout prayer

instructs them; continuous labor exercises them. Each brother learns by

following in the footsteps of another.

We can apply these words of the archbishop-historian to all the friars of the Military Orders of

that distant epoch.

ABBREVIATIONS

AEM: Anuario de estudios medievales

AHN: Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid

BA: Bullarium Ordinis Militiae de Alcántara. Ed. Ignacio José Ortega y Cotes.

Madrid: Antonio Marín, 1759.

BC: Bullarium Ordinis Militiae de Calatrava. Ed. Ignacio José Ortega y Cotes, J.F.

Alvarez de Baquedano, and P. de Ortega Zúñiga y Aranda. Madrid: Antonio Marín,

1761.

BRAH : Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia

BS: Bullarium Equestris Ordinis Sancti Iacobi de Spatha. Ed. José López Agurleta.

Madrid: Juan de Ariztia, 1719.

RABM: Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos

RE: Madrid, AHN, Registro de escrituras de la Orden de Calatrava,

Alan Forey, The Military Orders from the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries

(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), and The Templars in the Corona de Aragón

(Oxford: Oxford University Press 1973); Santos García Larragueta, "La Orden de San Juan en

la crísis del imperio hispánico en el siglo XII," Hispania 12 (1952): 483-524, and El Gran

Priorado de Navarra de la Orden de San Juan de Jerusalén (Pamplona: CSIC, 1957); María

Bonet Donato, La Orden del Hospital en la Corona de Aragón. Poder y Gobierno en la

Castellanía de Amposta (Madrid: CSIC, 1994).

The principal works on the Military Orders include: Joseph F. O'Callaghan, The

Spanish Military Order of Calatrava and its Affiliates (London: Variorum 1975); Derek W.

Lomax, La Orden de Santiago (1170-1275) (Madrid: CSIC 1965); José Luis Martín, Los

origenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago (1170-1195) (Barcelona: CSIC 1974); Bernd

Schwenk, "Aus der Frühzeit der geistlichen Ritterorden Spaniens," en Die geistlichen

Ritterorden Europas, ed. Josef Fleckenstein and Manfred Hoffmann (Sigmaringen:

Thorbecke, 1980), 109-140.

Eloy Benito Ruano, "Las Ordenes Militares españolas y la idea de Cruzada,"

Hispania 16 (1956):3-15; Maur Cocheril, "Essai sur l'origine des Ordres militaires dans la

peninsule ibérique," Collectanea Ordinis Cisterciensis Reformati 20 (1958):346-361; 21

(1959):228-250, 302-329.

AHN Documentos reales de Calatrava, no. 19; BC, 2, no. 1; Julio González, El reino

de Castilla en la época de Alfonso VIII, 3 vols. (Madrid: CSIC, 1960), 2:64-66, no. 35: "et

defendatis eam a paganis inimicis crucis Christi . . . ut Deus per vos honoretur, christiana

religio dilatetur et ut regnum nostrum augmentum fuerit et protectionem, vestro omnipotenti

Deo gratissimo famulatu recipiat." The expression "inimici crucis Christi" comes from St.

Paul's Letter to the Philippians, 3:18.

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, De rebus Hispaniae, 235, Bk. 7, ch. 14: "Qui audiens

sanctum propositum, gratias egit Deo, et statim rerum suarum dedit auxilium et fecit publice

predicari ut omnes euntes in auxilium Calatravae omnium peccatorum veniam mererentur."

The text that begins "Haec est institutio militiae Pereri," a forgery of Fray Bernardo

de Brito; was published by Angel Manrique, Annales Cistercienses, 4 vols. (Lyon: Boissat et

Anisson, 1642-1649), 2:280. The donation of Raigada by Fernando II of León to Gómez

"praedictae domus fundatori primo" in January 1176 is the first authentic evidence of the

existence of the Order of San Julián del Pereiro. BA, 6-7 (January 1176); See additional royal

charters, ibid., 2 (December 1179); Julio González, Regesta de Fernando II (Madrid: CASIC,

1943), 444, 464.

BA, 3 (29 December 1176); Alexander III Epistolae, PL, 200:1086, no. 1257.

BA, 7-9 (4 April 1183): "Cum locus vester in Saracenorum faucibus constitutus . . . ut

eo liberius et libentius defensioni christianitatis pro viribus et aliis divinis obsequiis

insudetis."

Gregory VIII included Pereiro and all its appurtenances among the possessions of

Calatrava in a bull of confirmation, 4 November 1187; BC, 22-25.

Alfonso IX of León granted the fortress of Alcántara to the Order of Calatrava on 28

May 1217; in turn Calatrava ceded it to the friars of San Julián on 16 July 1218; BA, 3, 6-7,

20-21; Julio González, Regesta de Fernando II (Madrid: CSIC, 1943), 444, and Alfonso IX, 2

vol. (Madrid: CSIC, 1945), 2:453-455, 478-479, nos. 346, 365; Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "The

Foundation of the Order of Alcántara, 1176-1218," in The Spanish Military Order of

Calatrava and its Affiliates, no. IV, pp. 471-486; Rui de Azevedo, "A Ordem militar de S.

Julião do Pereiro, depois chamada de Alcântara," AEM 11 (1981):713-729.

Afonso I granted the friars of Évora the castle of Coruche, about forty miles west of

Lisbon, and houses in Santarém DMP DR, 1:427-428, 460-461, nos. 327 (April 1176), 345

(April 1181); Abiah Elisabeth Reuter, Chancelarias Medievais Portugueses (Coimbra:

Universidad de Coimbra, 1938), 356, no. 237.

See Gregory VIII's bull of 4 November 1187; BC, 22-25.

BC, 36-37.

Afonso II, on 30 June 1211, gave Avis to the friars of Évora; BC, 450-451. Rui de

Azevedo, "As Origens da Ordem de Evora ou de Avis," Revista de Historia 1 (1932): 233-

241; Carlos da Silva Tarouca, "As origens da Ordem dos cavaleiros de Évora e Avis, segundo

as cartas do Arquivo do Cabildo da Se de Évora," Boletin da Cidade de Évora 5 (1947):25-

39; Miguel de Oliveira, "A Milicia de Évora e a Ordem de Calatrava," Lusitania Sacra 1

(1956):51-67; Maur Cocheril, "Origine cistercienne des Ordres militaires portugais d'Avis et

du Christ," in his Études sur le monachisme en Espagne et au Portugal (Lisboa: Bertrand,

1966), 423-432; Aurea Javierre Mur, "La Orden de Calatrava en Portugal," BRAH 130

(1952):.

BS, 3-4, 5-6; Derek W. Lomax, La Orden de Santiago (1170-1275) (Madrid: CSIC,

1965), 5-8, and "The Order of Santiago and the Kings of León," Hispania 18 (1958):3-37;

José Luis Martín, Los origenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago (1170-1195) (Barcelona:

CSIC, 1974), 11-19, 212-216, 240-241, nos. 42-43, 65, and "Orígenes de las Ordenes

Militares Hispánicas: La Orden de Santiago," in Izquierdo Benito and Ruiz Gómez, Alarcos

1195, 31-46; Enrique Gallego Blanco, The Rule of the Spanish Military Order of St. James

1170-1493. Latin and Spanish Texts (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971), 73-169.

BS, 5-6; Martín, Orden de Santiago, 212-215, no. 42. Although the Almohads soon

recovered Cáceres, the knights of Santiago were richly endowed elsewhere in the kingdom of

León.Besides giving them several castles (Almofrag, Alconcher, Montemayor, Luchena, and

Cantiñana), in the kingdom of Badajoz, Fernando II also granted them whatever they could

conquer to the south. Martín, Los origenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago, 2:223-225, nos.

50-51 (1171); González, Fernando II, 96, 423-424 (1171).

Martín, Los origenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago, 2:226-227, no, 53 (12 May

1172): "si quod accidit, sarracenis ab Yspanie partibus citra mare propulsis in terra de

Marrocos, magister et capitum ire proposuit illic et eos adiuuare non desistant. Similiter et si

necesse fuerit a Iherusalem."

BS, 13-17; Martín, Orden militar de Santiago, 255-256, no. 75 (3 August 1175):

"Versus Hyspaniam contra gentem nefariam paganorum surrexerunt de novo viri Domini

timentes et zelantes legem Domini, videlicet fratres Sancti Iacobi qui pro defensione fidei

christiane se ipsos extremis periculis exponunt et fines christianitatis ab incursibus paganorum

induti lorica fidei et multiplici succincta virtute tuentur . . . Religio qui Deo grata est . . . et

accepta et christianitati necessaria plurimum, cum hii qui religionem ipsum assumunt ad hoc

specialiter et precipue studio tocius sollicitudinis elaborent ut inimicos crucis Christi, Eo

adiuvante, confundunt et fines Christianitatis versus Hyspaniam ab eorum incursibus

protegant et defendant." .

On 4 May 1184 Fernando II commented: "quia cognoscimus quod Ordo Militie Beati

Iacobi qui specialiter ad contenendam inimicorum crucis Christi superbiam et dilatandam

christiani nominis gloriam in Hyspanis inventus est a regno nostro sumpsit inicium." Martin,

Orden Militar de Santiago, 308-309, no. 124.

Afonso I of Portugal gave the knights the castles of Monsanto and Abrantes in 1172,

and added in later years Palmela, Alcácer, and Almada south of Lisbon. DMP DR, 1:417, no.

317 (September 1173); see ibid., 1:409-410, 415, 421, nos. 311, 315, 321, for the donations of

Monsanto and Arruda. Abrantes, on the Tagus, is about thirty miles northeast of Santarém.

Alfonso VIII followed by granting several castles in the Tagus valley (Mora, Oreja,

Alarilla) and, most importantly, in 1174, Uclés. The king had initially granted it to the

Hospitallers in 1163, but it is likely that they were not prepared to act aggressively against the

Muslims and so he transferred it to Santiago Uclés became the Order's principal seat in

Castile, and thereafter was often referred to as the Order of Uclés. Uclés is about sixty miles

east of Toledo, Mora, about seventeen miles southeast, and Oreja, about forty miles northeast.

González, Alfonso VIII, 2:268-269, 275-277, 284-286, 323-324, nos. 157 (Mora, 23 March

1171), 162 (Oreja, 11 September 1171), 168 (Alarilla, 7 February 1172), 195 (Uclés, 9

January 1174); Martín, Los origenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago, 2:217-218, 220-221,

nos. 45, 47; Milagros Rivera Garretas "La Orden de Santiago en Castilla la Nueva en los

sighlos XII y XIII," Las Ordenes Militares en el Mediterráneo occidental. Siglos XIII-XVIII

(Madrid: Casa de Velázquez/Instituto de Estudios Manchegos, 1989), 23-40.

Alfonso VIII granted Trujillo, about twenty-five miles east of Cáceres, to Master

Gómez on 15 April 1188, but its loss in 1195 terminated this early effort at expansion. BA,

11-14; González, Alfonso VIII, 2:855-856, no. 497, and 3:112-113, 139-140, nos. 625 (11

June 1194), 641 (6 March 1195); O'Callaghan, "The Foundation of the Order of Alcántara,

1176-1218," 481-484.

Count Rodrigo de Sarria, who had gone on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was one

of the first members of the Order of Santiago, founded the Order of Mountjoy. Perhaps with

the hope that the new Order could be used to further his own plans of conquest Alfonso II of

Aragón ceded Alfambra, Villel, and Castellote to it. From the outset, however, the Order

seems to have been beset with difficulties. The possibility of incorporation into the Temple

was discussed in 1186, but Alfonso II probably was unhappy with that idea. Instead, in 1188

Mountjoy was united to the Hospital of the Holy Redeemer which the king had established at

Teruel for the ransoming of captives. Controversy continued, however, and finally in 1196,

Mountjoy was absorbed by the Order of the Temple. As a consequence the Temple obtained

significant holdings in southern Aragón for the first time. Alfambra is about fifteen miles

north of Teruel; Villel, about miles south, and Castellote about fifty miles to the northeast.

The knights of the Order of Mountjoy in the kingdom of Castile loudly protested the union

with the Temple and attempted to maintain an independent existence at the castle of Monfrag

(Monfragüe) on the Tagus near Plasencia. At no time did the Order of Monfrag, as it was

called, prosper, and so it was eventually united with Calatrava in 1221. Fernando III ceded the

castle of Monfragüe and all its rights to the Order of Calatrava, on 23 May 1221; BC, 56;

Alan J. Forey, "The Order of Mountjoy" Speculum 46 (1971):250-266, and Military Orders,

27-28; Ángel Blázquez y Jiménez, "Bosquejo histórico de la Orden de Monte Gaudio," BRAH

71 (1917):138-172; Laurent Dailliez, Les chevaliers de Montjoie (Nice: Impresses Sud 1978);

Jean Delaville Le Roulx, "L'Ordre de Montjoye,"Revue de l'Orient latin, 1 (1893):42-57;

Faustino Gazulla, "La Orden del Santo Redentor," Boletín de la Sociedad castellonense de

Cultura, 9 (1928):90-107, 157-160, 204, 212, 370-375; 10 (1929): 38-412, 98-101, 124-126;

G. Velo y Nieto, La Orden de caballeros de Monfrag (Madrid: Otice, 1950); Miguel Muñoz

de San Pedro, "La desaparecida Orden de caballeros de Monfragüe," Hidalguía, 1 (1953): 68-

76.

Regina Sáinz de la Maza Lasoli, La Orden de San Jorge de Alfama. Aproximación a

su historia (Barcelona: CSIC, 1990). Alfama lies north of Tortosa.

José Luis de Pando Villarroya, Ordis:Milicie:Sce:Marie:de Hispania (Cartagena:

Pando Ediciones, 1984); Juan Torres Fontes, "La Orden de Santa María de España,"

Miscelánea medieval murciana 3 (1977): 75-118; Juan Pérez Villamil, "Origen e instituto de

la Orden militar de Santa María de España," BRAH 74 (1919): 243-271; Juan Menéndez

Pidal, "Noticias acerca de la Orden militar de Santa María de España," RABM 17 (1907): 161-

180.

Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "Las definiciones medievales de la Orden de Montesa, 1326-

1468," in The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava, no. 10.

BC, 3-4, no. 4; RE, 1:6.

BC, 20-21, no. 22; AHN, Tumbo de Calatrava 1308, fol. aII-aIII; Tumbo 807, fol.

aIIIv-aVIv.

BC, 30-31, no. 1; AHN, Tumbo de Calatrava 1308, fol. IIIr-IIIv; Tumbo 807, fol.

aVIv-aVIIv; RE, 1:156r-156v.

AHN, Documentos eclesiásticos de Calatrava, no. 1; BC, 5-6, no. 1.

AHN, Documentos eclesiásticos de Calatrava, no. 6; BC, 22-25, no. 1.

AHN, Documentos eclesiásticos de Calatrava, no. 8, 11; BC, 31-35, 42-46, nos. 2, 11.

RE, 1:133; Derek W. Lomax, "Algunos estatutos primitivos de la Orden de

Calatrava," Hispania 21 (1961): 11-12, no. 1. Alfonso VIII gave the monastery of San Pedro

to the abbot of Morimond on 24 November 1194. González, Alfonso VIII, 3:117-118, no. 628.

San Pedro de Gumiel, a Benedictine monastery, accepted the Cistercian observance. See the

conflict between San Pedro and the monastery of La Vid; González, Alfonso VIII, 2: 476-478,

no. 290.

Lisboa, Arquivo da Torre do Tombo, Colecção Especial, Documentos de Aviz, no.

94, Perg. 0.473; Lomax "Algunos estatutos," 12-14, no. 2. The fact that chapter 35 mentions

the absence of the king from the realm suggests the possibility that the statutes can be dated

after his campaign in Gascony in the summer of 1205 or during a possible campaign in the

summer of 1206.

BA, 3-4 (29 December 1176), 7-9 (4 April 1183). The statutes of Évora attributed to

João Zirita, abbot of São João de Tarouca, and published by the Cistercian Fray Bernardo de

Brito, Chrónica de Cister (Lisboa: Pascual da Sylva, 1720), 601-604, are a falsificiation.

Reuter, Chancelarias Medievais Portugueses, 287, no. 197; Maur Cocheril, "Calatrava y las

Ordenes Militares portuguesas," Cistercium 10 (1959): 331-339, and "Bernardo de Brito et le

'Cycle de Tarouca,'" in his Études sur le monachisme en Espagne et au Portugal, 200-216.

RE, 2:198; Aurea Javierre Mur, "La Orden de Calatrava en Portugal," BRAH 130

(1952): 45-46, no. 1.

AHN, Uclés, cajón 1, no. 4; BS, 13-17; Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 248-254,

no. 75. The pope received the friars as "peculiares filios" or "speciales ac proprios

Sacrosancte Romane Ecclesie filios" and confirmed their Order. He also accepted the seat of

the Order "in ius et proprietatem Sacrosancte Romane Ecclesie."

AHN, Códice 1307 (Latin text of the 13

th

century) edited en 79 chapters by Enrique

Gallego Blanco, The Rule of the Spanish Military Order of St. James 1170-1493. Latin and

Spanish Texts (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971), 73-169; AHN, Códice 1281 (Castilian translation of

the mid-13

th

century) edited in 92 chapters by Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 221-231, no. 1.

Jean Leclercq, "La vie et la prière des chevaliers de Santiago d'aprés leur Règle primitive,"

Liturgica 2 (1958): 347-357, published a primitive text (MS Vaticano Latino no. 7318) of the

Rule, written possibly around 1167-1168. See Angel Ferrari, "Alberto de Morra, postulador

de la Orden de Santiago y su primer crónista," BRAH 146 (1960): 63-139.

We can also utilize the pact of 1171 between Master Pedro Fernández and

Archbishop Pedro II of Santiago de Compostela. AHN Tumbo menor de León, lib. 4, d. 32,

pp. 254-257, 267-269; BS, 5-6; Martín, Orden de Santiago, 212-215, no. 42. Also useful are

documents establishing hermandades or brotherhoods between the Orders, e.g., those of 1182

and 1188 between Calatrava and Santiago, that of 1206-1210 between Salvatierra and

Santiago, and another around 1224 between Calatrava, the Hospital, the Temple and Santiago.

Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "Hermandades between the Military Orders of Calatrava and Santiago

during the Castilian Reconquest, 1158-1252," in The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava, no.

5.

Royal and private charters granting property to the future Order of Calatrava befoe

1164 speak simply of the fratres de Calatrava; González, Alfonso VIII, 2:70-71, 109-110,

145-146, 175-176, nos. 39 (March 1158), 62 (Octubre 1164), 85 (4 September 1166), 103 (27

March 1167); BC, 3, 6-7. The Forma vivendi of 1164 was granted to "Venerabili Fratri

Garciae, Magistro et universitati fratrum de Calatrava." The other Formae vivendi and the

papal bulls of 1164, 1187, and 1199 use similar language; BC, 3, 5, 20, 22. Compare the

citation of the "fratres de Sancti Iacobi" in the years from 1170 to 1174 in Martín, Orden

Militar de Santiago, 212, 245, nos. 41, 70.

See the following examples: "Petro Ferrandi Iacobitane milicie magistro et fratribus"

and "Martín Pérez de Siones milicie Calatrave magistro et fratribus ibi degentibus," in

González, Alfonso VIII, 2:403-405, nos. 243 (31 January 1176), 244 (February 1176). AHN

Documentos particulares de la Orden de Calatrava, no. 9; RE, 9:49.

Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "The Order of Calatrava and the Archbishops of Toledo,

1147-1245," in The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava, No. VI:83, app. 1. Innocent III

wrote on 17 May 1201 to "magistro et fratribus Elborensis militiae . . . professis ordinis de

Calatrava;" BC, 36.

Alexander III to "Petro Fernandi, magistro militie Sancti Iacobi eiusque fratribus

clericis et laicis;" BS, 13-17; Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 249, no. 73.

Carl Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of the Crusade (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1977), 201-229, speaks of the militia Sancti Petri, knights dedicated to the service of

the papacy under Gregorio VII (1073-1085). In the fourth century Flavius Vegetius Renatus

spoke of militia, milites, and magister militum in his Epitoma rei militaris, ed. Carolus Lang

(Leipzig: Georg Teubner, 1885), lib. 2, cap. 9, p. 43.

See the following examples: Alfonso VIII to "Calatrave magistro et universis eiusdem

loci fratribus" and to "Calatrave milicie magistro" in González, Alfonso VIII, 2:201-202, 376-

378, nos. 118 (14 May 1169), 225 (18 May 1175); Alexander III (29 January 1174) to the

"magister militie de Calatrava," Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Sign. 13042-Dd-61, fol. 88r-

88v.

Antonio Linage Conde, "La tipificación militar de las Ordenes," Santa Escolástica

(Sepúlveda: Santa Escolástica, 1988), 99, and "Las Ordenes militares y la tradición

benedictina," Hidalguía 21 (1983): 225-248, esp. 228-236; Josef Fleckenstein, "Die

Rechtfertigung der geistlichen Ritterorden nach der Schrift, 'De laude novae militiae'

Bernhards von Clairvaux," in Die geistlichen Ritterorden Europas, ed. Fleckenstein y

Hellmann, 9-22.

Liber ad milites Templi de laude novae militiae, ed. Jean Leclercq and H.M. Rochais,

in Sancti Bernardi Opera, 8 vols. (Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957-1965), 3:214; See

Milagros Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación en la Orden Militar de Santiago," AEM 12

(1982): 281-282.

See the following examples: "fratribus ordinis de Calatrava," RE, 1:29 (1172);

"Calatravensi ordini et militie et vobis domno Nunio eiusdem ordinis magistro." González,

Alfonso VIII, 2:755-756, no. 439 (1185), 3:232-234, no. 696 (1201). "Magistro vestro dompno

P. Fernandi et Ordini vestro," y "Ordini militum Beati Iacobi et vobis domno Petro Fernandi

eiusdem Ordinis venerabili magistro;" Martin, Orden Militar de Santiago, 238, 261, nos. 63

(September 1173), 81 (May 1176).

See Lucius III’s bull to San Julián del Pereiro (4 April 1183): "Ordo monasticus qui

secundum Deum et Beati Benedicti regulam in eo loco institutus esse dignoscitur;" BA, 7.

Marc Bloch, La Société féodale. Les Classes et le Gouvernement des Hommes (Paris:

Albin Michel, 1940), 49: "Dans le vocabulaire que les écrivains chrétiens avaient emprunté à

l'Antiquité romaine, un ordo était une division de la société, temporelle aussi bien

qu'ecclésiastique. Mais une division régulière, nettement délimitée, conforme au plan divin.

Une institution, en vérité. Non plus seulement une réalité toute nue." See the English

translation Feudal Society (London: Routledge, Kegan, Paul, 1961), 314. The Cambridge

History of Medieval Political Thought, c. 350-c. 1450, ed. J.H. Burns (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1988), 262-263, says that "An ordo therefore is a social group with a special

function (officium or ministerium)." In the Carolingian age society was divided into the ordo

clericalis and la ordo laicalis. Guibert de Nogent, Gesta Dei per francos, cap. 1, said that

God instituted holy war so the ordo equestris might find a new way to salvation.

Gallego Blanco, Rule, 82. A text of December 1170 refers to "eo anno quando cepit

esse illum suum ordinem de Caceres." González, Fernando II, 92.

Etienne Delaruelle, "L'idée de croisade chez Saint Bernard," in Mélanges Saint

Bernard. XXIVe Congrès de l'Association Bourguignonne des Sociétés Savantes (Dijon:

Marilier, 1954), 53-67; Forey, The Military Orders, 143.

BC, 2: "et defendatis eam a paganis inimicis crucis Christi . . . ut Deus per vos

honoretur, christiana religio dilatetur et ut regnum nostrum augmentum fuit et protectionem,

vestro omnipotenti Deo gratissimo famulatu recipiat." The expression "inimici crucis Christi"

comes from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, 3:18.

BC, 3; RE, 1:6: "Laudabile propositum vestrum quo a militia mundi ad Dei militiam

conversi, inimicos fidei expugnare statuistis, plurimum approbamus. Omnipotenti Deo, qui

quos vult, quomodo vult, per se trahit, et alium sic, alium quidem sic, ad suum obsequium

convertit, gratias agentes pro profectu vestro et augmento merito et numero apud eum

humiliter supplicamus."

AHN Documentos eclesiásticos de la Orden de Calatrava, no. 1; BC, 5-6:

"Institutionem vero quam dilecti filii nostri, abbas et fratres Cistercienses in eodem loco

fecisse noscuntur, videlicet contra Saracenos ad ipsius loci defensionem viriliter pugnaretis,

nos ratam habentes, devotioni vestre, auctoritate apostolica confirmamus."

BC, 20-21.

González, Alfonso VIII, 2:329-330, no. 199: "Decet inter ceteros precipue regiam

maiestatem honestos et religiosos quosque diligere viros et illos maxime que relictis

secularibus voverunt sponte contra crucis christi adversarios et proprium sanguinem fundere

et vitam temporalem finire;" ibid., 2:336-337, no. 204: "Regiae convenit dignitati milites

devote Deo servientes et precipue contra multitudinem paganorum quotidie certantes propiriis

remunerare donis;" ibid., 2:364-365, no. 220: "Regali nempe convenit maiestati quosque

honestos et religiosos viros diligere et eos maxime que relictis secularibus voverunt sponte

contra crucis christi adversarios et proprium sanguinem fundere seseque pro christiae fidei

defensione murum et clypeum constanter opponere."

BA, 7-9: "Cum locus vester in Saracenorum faucibus constitutus . . . ut eo liberius et

libentius defensioni christianitatis pro viribus et aliis divinis obsequiis insudetis." Fernando

II’s charter and Alexander III’s bull, both of 1176, speak simply of fratres serving God at San

Julián, without describing the type of their service. BA, 3. 6-7.

Martin, Orden Militar de Santiago, 250, no. 73: "in speciales ac proprios Sacrosancte

Romane Ecclesie filios vos recipimus . . . Cum enim unica sit vobis intentio et singularis cura

semper inmineat pro deffensione christiani nominis decertare . . ." Gallego Blanco, Rule, cap.

30, p. 110, repeats: "specialis unica intentio sit, ecclesiam Dei por viribus defendere, pro

exaltatione nominis Christi animas ponere, sarracenorum crudelitati iugiter obviare, ita tamen

quod causa rapinae uel crudelitatis eorum terram non predentur, vel quicquid contra eos

fecerint pro exaltatione nominis Christi faciatur, vel ut christianos ab eorum impugnatione

defendant, vel ad culturam christiane fideiu ualeant prouocare." In a charter of 4 May 1184

Fernando II said: "quia cognoscimus quod Ordo Militie Beati Iacobi qui specialiter ad

contenendam inimicorum crucis Christi superbiam et dilatandam christiani nominis gloriam in

Hyspanis inventus est a regno nostro sumpsit inicium." Martin, Orden Militar de Santiago,

308-309, no. 124.

Alexander III’s bull of 3 August 1175 to all the faithful: "Versus Hyspaniam contra

gentem nefariam paganorum surrexerunt de novo viri Domini timentes et zelantes legem

Domini, videlicet fratres Sancti Iacobi qui pro defensione fidei christiane se ipsos extremis

periculis exponunt et fines christianitatis ab incursibus paganorum induti lorica fidei et

multiplici succincta virtute tuentur. . . . Religio qui Deo grata est . . . et accepta et christianitati

necessaria plurimum, cum hii qui religionem ipsum assumunt ad hoc specialiter et precipue

studio tocius sollicitudinis elaborent ut inimicos crucis Christi, Eo adiuvante, confundunt et

fines Christianitatis versus Hyspaniam ab eorum incursibus protegant et defendant." Martín,

Orden militar de Santiago, 255-256, no. 75.

Gallego Blanco, Rule, prologue, p. 80, says that the Spanish prelates (Archbishop

Cerebruno of Toledo, Archbishop Pedro of Santiago de Compostela, and Bishops Juan of

León, Fernando of Astorga, Esteban of Zamora and others) "huius militie primordium

conuersionis et propositum sanctae conuersationis totamque viuendi formam unanimi

beniuolentia pari consensu et auctoritate firmissima loco et tempore suo communire gauisi

sunt." Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación," 283.

Eloy Benito Ruano, "Las Ordenes Militares españolas y la idea de Cruzada,"

Hispania 16 (1956): 3-15.

Carl Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of the Crusade (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1977); Frederick Russell, The Just War in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1975); James A. Brundage, Medieval Canon Law and the Crusader

(Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969).

"VIII. Huius simile et eadem ferme tempestate, cuiusdam noue militie obortum est

monstrum nouum. Cuius - ut lepide ait quidam: 'ordo de quinto euangelio' - est ut lanceis et

fustibus incredulos cogat ad fidem, ut eos qui christi nomen non habent, licenter expoliet et

religiose trucidet. Si quis autem de eo in depopulatione talium ceciderint, christi martires

nunccupent. Nonne et isti, futuro illi perditionis filio, contra christianos, crudelitatis sue

auctoritatem nutriunt? Quomodo ei obicietur christi mansuetudo et patientia et forma

predicandi? Quare non faciet libenter, quod factum reperiet licenter? Quomodo non dicet:

'Qualia fecit ecclesia, talia facite illi.'" Sermo 48 (Patrologia Latina 194:1853-1854) edited by

Gaetano Raciti, "Isaac de l'Etoile et son siècle. Texte et Commentaire historique du sermon

XLVIII," Cîteaux: Commentarii Cistercienses 12 (1961): 281-306 (the text is on 288-292),

and 13 (1962): 18-34 (esp. 20-21). Isaac became abbot of l'Étoile near Poitiers around 1147

and died around 1169. Gaetano Raciti, "Isaac de l'Etoile," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 7.2

(1971): 2011-2038. His sermón is undated, but Raciti thinks it should be dated after 1164

because the Order of Calatrava was confirmed in that year. Raciti rejects the identification

with the Order of the Temple because Isaac speaks of a "noua militia" and so was likely

speaking of an Order founded more recently than the Temple. Nevertheless the phrase "noua

militia" recalls St. Bernard’s De laude novae militiae dedicated to the Templars.

Speaking of the General Chapter of the Order, the pope declared: "ubi precipue ad

defensionem christianorum intendere moneantur et destricte precipiatur ut in sarracenos non

mundana laudis amore, non desiderio sanguinis effundendi, non terrenarum rerum cupiditate,

crassentur, sed id tantum in pugna sua intendant ut vel christianos ab eorum tueantur vel ipsos

ad culturam possint christiane fidei provocare." Martín, Orden militar de Santiago, 251, no.

73. Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación," 281 commented: "El papado entendió la

vocación religioso-militar como un medio de expansión de la cultura europea: 'ipsos ad

culturam possint christiane fidei provocare.'"

Jean Leclercq, "Saint Bernard's Attitude toward War," Studies in Medieval Cistercian

History 2 (1976): 27-29. Benjamin Kedar, Crusade and Mission. European Approaches

toward the Muslims (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 104-106, thinks Raciti’s

arguments converning Calatrava are not convincing.

Alexander III in a bull issued around 1179-1181 declared "quod fratres de Calatrava

sint ordine Cisterciensium professi." Carl Erdmann, Papsturkunden in Portugal (Berlin, 1927;

reprint, Göttingen: Vandenhoek y Ruprecht, 1970), 254, no. 81.

Lucius III (4 April 1183) said: "Ab haec auctoritate apostolica constituimus ut Ordo

monasticus qui secundum Deum et Beati Benedicti regulam in eo loco institutus esse

dignoscitur perpetuis ibidem temporibus inviolabiliter observetur." BA, 7.

Afonso I gave a charter in April 1176 to Gonçalo Viegas "magistro Elborensi et

fratribus vestris tam presentibus quam futuris in perpetua promovendis Ordinis Sancti

Benedicti in Elborensi." Reuter, Chancelerais medievais portuguesas, 256, no. 237. Innocent

III addressed a bull on 17 May 1201 to "dilectis filiis magistro et fratribus Elborensis militiae

professis ordinem de Calatrava." BC, 36.

The Rule of Santiago is said to be based on the rule of the Augustinian canons.

Ferrari, "Alberto de Morra," 101, argued that "malquistos con la Santa Sede los cluniacenses y

los cistercienses de muchas provincias eclesiásticas a causa de sus proclividades con Federico

Barbarroja y el antipapa Victor IV, la Orden de Santiago . . . se adscribió a los agustinos,

religión que mayor número de representantes contaba entre los jerarcas de la sede apostólica."

Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 18-19, and Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciacion," 289-

290, and Gallego Blanco, Rule, 58, follow this opinion. Also see José Antonio Linage Conde,

"Las Ordenes Militares y la tradición benedictina," Hidalguía 21 (1983): 246-248: "En contra

de lo que se ha venido repitiendo, irresponsablemente, la Regla de San Agustín está ausente

de la norma jacobea, mientras que sí se han detectado en ella influencias de la benedictina,

aunque no avasalladoras."

Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 85-90; Forey, The Military Orders, 132-147.

BA, 3: "Liceat vobis clericos seu laicos absolutos ex hoc saeculo fugientes ad

conversionem recipere et eos sine contradictine aliqua retinere." Lucius III repeated this on 4

abril 1183; BA, 7-8. Ten years later Gregory VII applied the same rule to the Order of

Calatrava, permitting the reception of clerics and freemen fleeing from the world - "liberos et

absolutos ad conversionem recipere." When Alexander III approved the Order of Monte

Gaudio in 1180, he stipulated that they could receive Brabanzons, Aragonese, and Basques,

whom the faithful avoided on account of their wickedness ("qui pro iniquis operibus eius a

fidelium consortio haberi debeant alieni"), provided that they were single, free, absolved of

their sins and not professed to another Order. The Third Lateran Council in 1179 had

condemned such persons. Forey, The Military Orders, 145.

The bull of 1175 is addressed to Master Pedro Fernández and his brethren, "clericis et

laicis tam presentibus quam futuris, communem vitam professis." Martín, Orden Militar de

Santiago, 249, no. 73.

Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación," 290-292, concludes that although the

founders were nobles, non-nobles were received until the General Chapter of Mérida in 1249

ordered that only noble knights should be admitted.

Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 88: "Es claro que antes de 1259 se habían aceptado

muchos novicios de nacimiento plebeyo y se les habían encargado encomiendas y aun

castillos; pero después de aquella fecha creció el movimiento para excluirlos de oficio y de la

Orden misma."

Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 22-23.

The bulls of Alexander III (29 December 1176) and Lucius III (4 April 1183) speak

of the friars of San Julián del Pereiro "regularem vitam professis, and say: "Praetera

inhibemus ne alicui post emissam in eo loco professionem sine licentia prioris discedere

liceat, nullusque ad se venientem sine communi litterarum testimonio nisi ad strictiorem vitam

transire voluerit penes se retinere audeat." BA, 3, 7-8; Forey, The Military Orders, 148-174.

BC, 4: "De his omnibus precipimus ut obediatis magistro vestro et ei professionem

faciatis sicut abbati." The General Chapter of 1187 said (BC, 21): "et professionem vestram

magister vester recipiat."

According to the first Forma vivendi of 1164 the Cistercians could not receive any

friar of Calatrava without his Master’s permssion; nor could any Cistercian enter Calatrava

with his abbot’s consent. The second Forma vivendi of 1187 says the same; BC, 3-4, 20-21:

"Praeterea petitioni vestrae condescendimus ut videlicet nulli Ordinis nostri liceat quemquam

fratrum vestrorum recipere absque assensu vestro, sed vos erga nostros eadem lege

tenebimini." If any friar of Calatrava asked to be admitted to a Cistercian monastery with the

permission of the Master, he could be received immediately as a monk if he had lived for one

year at Calatrava. The third Forma vivendi de 1199 stated: "Si quis vestrum in alique domo

nostri Ordinis se suscipi rogaverit in monachum cum litteris vel licentia Magistri et Conventus

sui receptus statim cuculla induetur sine probatione facienda si tamen integrum in Ordine

vestro fecerit annum, et in potestate Abbatis erit eum in majori quam ingreditur loco statuere;"

BC, 31.

See Alexander III’s bull to Calatrava (25 September 1164): "Prohibemus autem ut

nulli fratrum vestrorum post factam in eodem loco professionem absque totius congregationis

assensu liceat de loco illo discedere; discedentem vero absque communi litterarum cautione

nullus audeat retinere." BC, 5-6.

See Alexander III’s bull (28 December 1173): "Postmodum volens te arctius divinis

obsequiis mancipare, a praedicto cardinali [Iacinto] acceptata licentia ad arctiorem religionem

transeundi te ad locum alium transtulisti, ubi tu et his qui in eodem locum tecum sunt ad Dei

servitium deputati, instituta Cisterciensis ordinis observastis . . . Ita tamen quoddammodo

nullum de militia beati Jacobi in fratrem vestrum post factam professionem recipere debeatis."

BC, 497-498. On 20 July 1179 Alexander III ordered the Spanish bishops to compel friars

who had abandoned the Order of Santiago to return. No one could enter a stricter Order

without the permission of Master. Martín, Orden militar de Santiago, 281-282, no. 99, and

251, no. 73.

Both the professed chaplains as well as other friars of Calatrava should be received in

Cistercian monasteries. "Capellanus confessiones audiens, missas vobis cantabit et istos vos

eligetis." The General Chapter of 1187 stated: "Capellanos in domo vestra profesos sicut vos

in bono ordinis recipimus." BC, 4, 21.

BC, 21: "Duo monachi de eodem monasterio postquam constructum fuerit, quoties

necesse fuerit, cum ipsis fratribus morabuntur."

Guido I, 1195, RE, 1:133: "De monachis qui debent morari in Calatrava magister

eligat excepto priore et subpriore et cellerario ad voluntatem abbatis." Lomax, "Algunos

estatutos," 11-12. The Cistercian General Chapters of 1221 and 1222 permitted the reception

of clerical friars of Calatrava visiting monasteries of the Order of Cîteaux among the monks

according to the year of their profession. O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of

Calatrava with the Order of Cîteaux," cap. 3, pp. 15-19.

See Alexander III’s bull of 1175; Martin, Orden Militar de Santiago, 23, 251, no. 73;

Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 89. Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciacion," 289-290, said that

the knights obeyed the Master, but not the prior, and the clerics obeyed the prior, but not the

Master, and that this was the cause of a great deal of conflict in the Order.

O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Cîteaux,"

cap. 3, pp. 3-7. Note that the bull of Alexander III was addressed to Prior Gómez and his

friars of San Julián del Pereiro (29 December 1176), but in Lucius III’s bull (4 April 1183)

Gómez appeared with the title of Master; BA, 3, 7. The reason for this change is not clear.

Prior was a title used by the Hospitallers, but in monastic communities the prior was the

abbot’s lieutenant. Perhaps San Julián had the character of a hospital in 1176 or was a

dependency of Calatrava and for that reason Gómez was called prior. Martín, Orden Militar

de Santiago, 39-42.

For example, in 1210 Rodrigo Díaz, Master of Calatrava, "cum consensu totius

capituli de Salvatierra," gave Miguel Baldovin the estate of Burguillo in Navarra; José López

Agurleta, Vida del venerable fundador de la Orden de Santiago (Madrid: B. Peralta, 1731),

92, no. 184. Martín Fernández, Master of Calatrava, "cum consensu totius conventus" ceded

Alcántara to the friars of San Julián del Pereiro in 1218, and Munio, "magister de Pirario cum

toto conventu ejusdem," confirmed the donation. BA, 21; BC, 46-47.

Guido I, 1195, RE, 1:133: "Magister quoque ad visitationem eiusdem loci vocetur si

adesse voluerit et potuerit et de negotiis domus consilio ipsius agatur." Lomax, "Algunos

estatutos," 11-12.

Pact of 1218 between Calatrava and San Julián: "Recipiant visitationem et

obedientiam magistri de Calatrava secundum Ordinem Cisterciensium. . . . Magister vero de

Calatrava nunquam habeat potestatem alienandi vel transferendi aliqua de rebus de Pirario

sine consensu Magistri et Conventus de Pirario, ac si facere attentaverit rex Legionis habeat

potestatem meliorandi illud." González, Alfonso IX, 2:478, no. 365; BC, 46-47; BA, 21.

"E el Maestre de Calatrava que visite cada año la casa de Avis por si o por so

mandado segun la forma de la Orden." Javierre Mur, "La Orden de Calatrava en Portugal,"

45-46, no. 1 (22 August 1238); BC, 69.

See the bull of Alexander III, 5 July 1175, Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 42-43,

251, no. 73. Speaking of Pedro Fernández, the pope said: "per voluntatem Dei magisterium

super alios et providentiam suscepisti." Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 54-56, suggested that the

trece were chosen by the Master, as was the practice among the Gilbertines and the Templars.

He rejected the opinion of Rades, Crónica de Santiago, 1-27, that there were schismatic

elections in 1184, 1195, and 1217.

Pope Alexander IV (3 January 1256) approved the petition of the Order of Calatrava

and of the abbot of Morimond that the same forms used in the election, deposition, or

renunciation of a Cistercian abbot should also be used in the case of the Master. Charles

Bourel de la Ronciére, J. de Loye, y A. Coulin, Les Registres d'Alexandre IV, 2 vol. (Paris: A.

Fontemoing, 1902-1917), 2:313, no.1038; BC, 109.

BA, 7-9 (4 April 1183): "Obeunte vero te nunc ejusdem loci magistri vel tuorum

quolibet successorum nullus ibi qulibet subreptionis astutia seu violentia praeponatur nisi

quem fratres communi consilio vel fratrum pars consilii sanioris secundum Dei timorem et B.

Benedicti regulam providerint eligendum." Speaking of the prior, Alexander III said the same:

"Et quanto te vel aliquem ex successoribus tuis mori contigerit, nullus per subreptionem,

astutiam vel violentiam substituatur, sed ille quem fratres communi consensu vel major et

sanior pars secundum Dei timorem elegerint;" BA, 3 (20 December 1176).

See the pact of 1218 between Calatrava and Alcántara: "Cum autem magistrum de

Calatrava mori aut removeri contigerit ad substitutionem alterius uocetur magister de Pirario."

BA, 21; BC, 46-47; González, Alfonso IX, 2:478, no. 365.

"E que el Maestre de Avis sea clamado a la eleccion del Maestre de Calatrava segun

la forma de la Orden." Javierre Mur, "La Orden de Calatrava en Portugal," 45-46, no. 1 (22

August 1238); BC, 69.

AHN Documentos particulares de Calatrava, no. 37; RE, 1:145v (17 May 1208);

Joseph F. O’Callaghan, "Martín Pérez de Siones," in The Spanish Military Order of

Calatrava, no. II, and "The Order of Calatrava; Years of Crisis and Survival, 1158-1212," in

The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange between East and West during the Period of

the Crusades, ed. Vladimir P. Goss (Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University Press,

1986), 422-424.

Innocent III (21 May 1199) to "dilectis filiis magistro et fratribus de Salvaterra":

"Quod autem a duobus quos sponte accepimus resignasse de bonis ecclesie retinetur unde

posset, sicut dicitur decem fratribus provideri sine qualibet contradictione, ab eis dimitti

volumus et mandamus quobus provisionem secundum statum temporis et honestatem ordinis

vestri assignati a vobis praecipimus congruentem." BC, 35.

The third Forma vivendi of 1199 stated: "Magister vester quando deponetur vel

dimittit magistratum ita sine retentione proprietatis de communi vivat sicut abbas Ordinis

nostri quando dimittit abbatiam suam;" BC, 31. Lomax, Orden de Santiago, 55, said that there

is no indication of the deposition of a Master during this early period.

"In primis sciendum est quod nullus potestatem habet magistrum predictorum fratrum

deponendi seu alium instituendi sicut in priuilegio eorum continetur nisi solus abbas

Morimundi uel ille cui hoc loco sui iniunxerit faciendum." It was said "sicut in priuilegio

eorum continetur" but no privilege or document is known that gives the right to the friars to

depose the Master. Lomax, "Algunos estatutos," 8.

They also promised that during the interregnum between Masters, they would obey

the Master of Calatrava as their superior; Javierre Mur, La Orden de Calatrava en Portugal,

45-46, no. 1.

O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Citeaux,

cap. 3, pp. 16-17, 50-55.

"Prior officium abbatis sicut ab initio ordinis constitutum est per omnia compleat . . ."

Lomax, "Algunos estatutos," p. 492. The Cistercian General Chapter of 1224 permitted the

prior to take his place immediately after the prior of any Cistercian monastery where he was

visiting. Joseph Canivez, Statuta capitulorum generalium Ordinis cisterciensis, 8 vol.

(Louvain: Revue d'histoire écclésiastique, 1933-1941), 2:32-33, no. 16.

BC, 24: "Clerici quoque Ordinis vestri priorem habeant cui professionem faciant et

reverentiam ac subjectionem impendant." Gaufredo de Alarcos figures as Prior of Calatrava,

on 8 April 1180, elected probably by the chaplains. Didacus Blascus Hispaniculus, without

doubt Diego Velásquez, appears as Prior in 1189, probably appointed by the abbot of

Morimond. RE, 1:111, and 2:73v.

Guido I, 1195, RE, 1:133: "De monachis qui debent morari in Calatrava magister

eligat excepto priore et subpriore et cellerario ad voluntatem abbatis. Prior qui morabitur in

Calatrava manifestas et graves exordinationes ad consilium magistri vel comendatoris

emendet. Qui prior non se intromitat de temporalibus nisi requissitus.; Salvatierra." The

Statutes of Salvatierra, art. 6, state: "Qui prior manifestos et graves excessus per consilium

magistri corrigere satagat, et de rebus temporabilibus non se intromitat nisi magister ei

precipiat." Around 1234 the friars of Calatrava complained that the prior named by the abbot

of Morimond was a foreigner who did not know the customs of the country. See Gregory IX’s

letter to Abbot Guido II of Morimond, 14 December 1235; Lucien Auvray, ed., Les Registres

de Grégoire IX, 4 vols. (Paris: A. Fontemoing, 1896-1955), 2:212-213, no. 2861.

O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Cîteaux," cap. 4, pp.

52-53, and "Don Fernán Pérez, Un Maestre desconocido de la Orden de Calatrava, 1234-

1235," Hispania 43 (1983): 433-439.

"Quod nunquam recipiant monachum pro priore nisi voluerint, sed cum priorem

facere debuerint, recipiant illum de domo sua vel de Calatrava aut de filiabus suis, dummodo

monachus non sit." González, Alfonso IX, 2:478, no. 365; BC, 46-47; BA, 21. Among the

witnesses to this pact were Munio, Master of Pereiro, and Paulus, prior of Pereiro. The Prior

Paulus appears in a bull of Honorius III (15 October 1224) concerning a dispute between the

friars of Pereiro and the Master of Calatrava. Derek W. Lomax, "Las milicias cistercienses en

el reino de Leon," Hispania 23 (1963): 14, no. 2.

See Alexander III’s bull of 5 July 1175, Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 251, nom.

73; Martín, 34-37, thinks that in the period 1170-1195 the prior of Uclés had the primary rank

among the priors of the Order.

Guido I, 1195, RE, 1:133, speaks of the commander of Calatrava: "Prior qui

morabitur in Calatrava manifestas et graves exordinationes ad consilium magistri vel

comendatoris emendet." The commanders of Caracuel and Benavente received the letter of

the General Chapter of 1199.

Alexander III (5 July 1175) spoke of the commander and said that the commanders

ought to participate in the General Chapter. Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 251-252, no.

73; Martin, 37-39, gives the names of the commanders in Castile, León, and Portugal.

BC, 4, 21: "Magister etiam capitulum quotidie teneat vobis." The Statutes of

Salvatierra (art. 7, p. 492) mention a chapter held by the prior or by a monk in his absence:

"Monacus qui cum eodem est quando prior presens non fuerit loco ipsius capitulum fratribus

teneat." See Gregory VIII’s bull of 1187, BC, 24. According to Guido I in 1195, the abbot of

San Pedro de Gumiel ought to attend the annual chapter of Calatrava (RE, 1:133): "Abbas de

Sancto Petro singulis annis intersit capitulo Calatravensium." Lomax, "Algunos estatutos

primitivos de la Orden de Calatrava," 11-12.

See also Gallego Blanco, Rule, caps. 42, 45, pp.61, 66.

Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 43, 251-252, no. 73.

Forey, The Military Orders, 188-198.

O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Cîteaux,"

cap. 3, pp. 22-23.

Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 250, no. 73; Gallego Blanco, Rule, cap. 26, pág.

60. Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación," 290, remarked that "hacia finales del siglo XIII

los freiles tendieron a considerar como propiedad privada los beneficios que disfrutaban en

nombre de la Orden: trataron de hacerlos hereditarios."

BC, 4, 21 (1164 and 1187): "Qui in fornicatione publice deprehnsus fuerit anno uno in

terra comedat, tribus diebus in septimana in pane et aqua, sexta feria disciplina accipiat."

Lomax, "Algunos estatutos," 14.

See Alexander III’s bull of 5 July 1175; Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 249, no.

73. Widows of knights who wished to remarry needed the Master’s permission.

Gallego Blanco, Rule, 59, 62-63. Married friars had to live in the convent with single

friars during two lents. Their wives would remain in monasteeries of nuns durimg the same

period and the nuns had to receive them honorably (cap. 13-14). If their spouses died the

widows could live in the convents with their children until the age of fifteen, learning how to

read. At fifteen the children had to depart with their goods or they could enter the Order (cap.

15-16). Sons of knights could remain in the houses of the Order until the age of fifteen; then

they could opt to enter the Order or not. On attaining the same age daughters of knights could

enter a convent of nuns of Santiago (art. 19-20). Unmarried friars of Santiago had to observe

the rule of chastity (cap. 25).

Martín, Orden Militar de Santiago, 249, n. 73: "in habitu et conversatione religionis

sub ipsius magistri statuerunt obedientia commorari . . . Inter ea sane que in profesionis vestre

Ordinis statutum est observari primum est ut sub unius magistri obedientia in omni humilitate

atque concordia sine proprio vivere debeatis." Gallego Blanco, Rule, 60.

BC, 4, 21 (1164 and 1187): "Qui fratrem suum percusserit sex mensibus ad arma et

equum non accedat. Tribus diebus in terra comedat. Qui magistro suo inobediens fuerit

similiter patiatur. Qui in qualicumque obedientia alia positus fuerit non contradicat."

Repeating this, the Statutes de Salvatierra (art. 24) added that the penitent should suffer the

same punishment, eating bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays, and receiving the

discipline until the next visitation (art. 25).

The Statutes of Salvatierra insisted that the prior offer the sacrifice of the mass (art.

3). Only the prior could hear confessions of criminal matters (art. 4). Priests delegated by the

prior of Salvatierra could give absolution of venial sins but absolution of mortal sins was

reserved to the prior or to the abbot of Morimond, or to the abbot of San Pedro de Gumiel (art.

5). As an exception, a priest, "bone conuersationis et opinionis," with the consent of the

Master, could hear confessions of mortal sins (art. 8). Friars in granges or castles could not

confess to anyone not a member of the Order without the permission of the Master (art. 9).

Abbot Guido I de Morimond in 1195 established a spiritual brotherhood between Calatrava

and the monastery of San Pedro de Gumiel, obliging the brethren of both houses to pray for

one another and to notify one another of their deceased brotheres; RE, 1:133: "Mutua si ex

integro persolvant offitia et fratres de Sancto Petro et illi de Calatrava tam in vita quam in

morte utrorumque obitu ad invicem deuntiata." Lomax, "Algunos estatutos," 11-12. The

Cistercian General Chapter of 1249 ordered all the friars to confess only to the prior of

Calatrava or to priests named by him; Canivez, Statuta capitulum generalium Ordinis

Cisterciensis, 2:335, 1249, no. 5; O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with

the Order of Cîteaux," cap. 3, p. 27.

O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Cîteaux,"

cap. 3, pp. 28-29.

Gallego Blanco, Rule, 61-62. They were required to participate at matins, saying three

paternosters, observing silence in church. They had to say a paternoster at each of the other

canonical hours if they could assist at them (cap. 5). Chapter 6 speaks of the number of

paternosters that they could say in place of matins and the other hours. They had to pray for

deceased friars (cap. 36); thirty masses were said each year for the deceased (cap. 37). The

bed and clothing of deceased friars were given to the Order’s hospitals, some on the frontier,

others on the camino de Santiago (cap 38).

BC, 4, 21, 30-31 (1164 and 1187,1199): "Tribus vero in hebdomada diebus id est feria

tertia, quinta et dominica, cum precipuis diebus festis, carnibus vesci licebit. Uno tantum

ferculo et unius generis quantum ad carnes pertinet contenti eritis."

BC, 4, 21, 30-31 (1164, 1187, 1199): "Ab exaltatione Sanctae Crucis usque ad Pascha

tribus diebus omnes in septimana jejunabunt, qui domi sunt, qui autem inter saracenos, sicut

magister ordinaverit manducabunt et sicut solente. . . . Et duas quadragesimas jejunabitis."

Alexander III (25 September 1164): "In ieiuniis eamdem observantiam tenebitis sicut conversi

illorum." Gregory VIII (1187), BC 22: "Ab exaltatione quoque Sanctae Crucis usque ad

Pascha tribus diebus scilicet secunda feria, quarta et sexta praeter Natale Domini, Epiphania,

Hypapanti et festivitates Omnium Sanctorum et Apostolorum omnes qui praesentes domi

fuerint in septimana qualibet jejunabunt. Qui autem in castris militiae fuerit pro magistro

arbitrio jejunia observabunt."

Gallego Blanco, Rule, 62. Alexander III’s bull says nothing about meals.

St. Bernard, De Laude Novae Militiae, cap. 4: "et in victu et vestitu cavetur omne

superfluum, soli necessitati consulitur."

BC, 4 (1164 ): "Lineis itaque in femoralibus tantum vobis uti licebit. Tunicas ad

aequitandum idoneas habebitis pelliceas quoque agninas sed breves. Mantella agninis forrata

et capas et scapulare pro habitu religionis. Vestiti et cincti dormietis . . . summoque autem

curabitis ne in qualicumque veste aut superfluitatis argui, aut curiositatis possitis notari. Sint

ergo panni vestri in colore et crassitudine nostris similes." The bulls of 1164, 1187, and 1199

(BC, 5, 22, 31) stated: "Lineis itaque in femoralibus tantum uti vobis licebit, vestes moderatas,

honestas commodas ad consilium domini Morimundensis et magistri vestri habebitis et

scapulare pro habitu religionis. Vestiti et cincti dormietis . . . summoque autem cavebitis ne in

qualicumque veste aut superfluitatis argui aut curiositatis possitis notari." In 1199 the

Cistercian General Chapter declared that the friars could wear linen only on their thighs, that

their clothing should be moderate, honest, and comfortable, according to the counsel of the

abbot of Morimond and the Master, and that they should wear the scapular as their religious

habit; BC, 31.

BC, 30-31 (1199). The Cistercian General Chapter of 1209 required the friars of

Calatrava to wear a cape in all Cistercian monasteries. The cuculla was a garment worn by

Cistercian monks in the choir. The reception of the friars of Calatrava in the choir in 1221-

1224 undoubtedly explains the concession of the cuculla to them. The Cistercian General

Chapter of 1224 permited any abbot to bless the cuculla of the friars of Calatrava on their

entrance into the Order. Canivez, Statuta, 1:366, no. 47 (1209), and 2:32-33, no. 10 (1224):

"Fratribus Calatravae conceditur a capitulo generale ut in ingressu suo in Ordine cuculla ab

aliquo benedicatur abbate." O'Callaghan, "The Affiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the

Order of Citeaux, cap. 3, pp. 33-35. According to the Statutes of Salvatierra the friars ought to

maintain uniformity in dress, without any variation in their mantles and tunics (garnachia)

(art. 13). Lay brothers should wear a capucium over their tunic (art. 14). Anyone who

disobeyed in the future could not have a garnachia but only a tunic "grossa more

conuersorum nostrorum" (art. 15). No friar could wear a pellice, unless he was ill (art. 16),

nor could he wear a secular hat, pointed shoes, or a cape with long sleeves; those engaged in

the use of arms south of the Puerto de Orgaz could wear capes with short and wide sleeves

(art. 17); no friar could have a bridle or stirrups of gold, a breastplate adorned with gold or

silk, a scabbard of worked leather (black only), or a decorated mantle (art. 18). Lomax,

"Algunos estatutos," 10.

Alexander III’s bull of 5 July 1175 says nothing of clothing nor of the cross, although

his bull of 3 August 1175 refers to the "signum et quod gestant in pectore." Martín, Orden

militar de Santiago, 255, no. 75; Rivera Garretas, "Los ritos de iniciación," 284. The abbot of

Cîteaux, without the consent of the General Chapter, received Count Rodrigo de Sarria and

gave him a red and white cross as his standard. Jean Delaville Le Roulx, Cartulaire général

de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de St. Jean de Jérusalem, 4 vols. (Paris: E.L. Roulx, 1894-1906),

1:55-57, no. 4.

BC, 4, 31 (1164, 1199): "et in oratorio, refectorio, dormitorio et in coquina silentium

juge tenebitis." The Statutes of Salvatierra (art. 21) ordered that when the friars entered

Cistercian houses they should observe silence after compline. The friars of Santiago also had

to maintain silence during meals and reading at table; Gallego Blanco, Rule, cap. 28.

BC, 4 (1164): "Qui fratrem suuum percusserit sex mensibus ad arma et equum non ac

cedat. Tribus diebus in terra comedat." Gallego Blanco, Rule, caps. 50-79.

Gallego Blanco, Rule, caps. 33-35, 37. The commanders of houses designated for this

purpose had to prepare everything necessary to care for them.

Guido I in 1195 determined that if any friar of Calatrava who was incapacitated or

sick while at San Pedro de Gumiel he should be treated as a monk; RE, 1:133: "Si aliqui de

Calatreavensibus mituntur ad Sanctum Petrum de Gomiel debiles vel infirmi tanquam

monachi eis a fratribus seruiantur." Lomax, "Algunos estatutos," 11-12.

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, De Rebus Hispaniae, Lib. 7, cap. 27, in Opera, ed.

Francisco de Lorenzana (Madrid, 1793; reimpreso, Valencia: Anubar, 1968), 169:

"Multiplicatio eorum corona Principis; qui laudabunt in psalmis, accincti sunt ense, et qui

gemebant orantes ad defensionem patriae, victus tenuis pastus eorum, disciplina assidua

probat eos; frequens genuflexio humiliat eos; et nocturna vigilia macerat eos; devota oratio

erudit illos et continuuus labor exercet eos. Alter alterius observat semitas et frater fratrem ad

disciplinam." The Primera Crónica General, ed. Ramón Menéndez Pidal, 2 vols. (Madrid:

Gredos, 1955), 2:680, cap. 1000, translated the text as follows: "Ell amuchiguamiento dellos

la gloria del rey es, et ell ensennamiento de los sus frrayes, corona de princep. Los que

alabauan a Dios en salmos, cennidos son de espada, et los que [g]emien faziendo oracion,

parados son al defendimiento de la tierra, el vi[c]to dellos, delgado comer, et aspereza de lana,

ell uestido dellos. La disciplina cutiana esto es la obedencia de cada dia, los prueua et los da

por buenos, la onrra del silencio, esto es caller et non fablar synon alli do los manda su mayor,

los acompanna; esto es que tienem muy bien la regla del callar; ell fincar de los ynoios

espessamientre, los omilla; el uelar de la noche lo muestran con la magrez a que los faz uenir;

la omillosa oration los ensenna et los faze ennsennados; ell trabaio cutiano los da usados a

ello. Ell una destas guarda la carrera de la otra et el frayre al freyre a las disciplinas, esto es ell

ensennamiento de la obedencia sin la que ninguno non tiene nin guarda orden." In the same

chapter Rodrigo also spoke about the friars of Santiago: "In Uclesio statuit caput ordinis, et

opus eorum ensis defensionis; persecutor Arabum moratur ibi et incola eius defensor fidei;

vox laudantium auditur ibi et iubilus desiderii hilarescit ibi; rubet ensis sanguine arabum, et

ardet fides caritate mentium; execratio est cultori demonum et vita honoris credentium in

Deum."

Posted October 10th, 2002, by Theresa M. Vann for the Malta Study Center

Hill Museum & Manuscript Library

Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321, USA

Phone: [phone]/ Fax: [phone]/ E-mail:

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