Order of Calatrava

The Order of Calatrava is a military and religious order founded in the Kingdom of Castile in the 17th century, in the year 1158, by the abbot Raymond of Fitero, with the initial objective of protecting the town of Calatrava, located near the present-day Ciudad Real. It belongs to the group of Cistercian orders and, at present, it is only honorary and noble.

History

• Its origin is due to a heroic gesture. The city of Calatrava, next to the Guadiana River, had been taken from the Arabs by Alfonso VII in 1147. Given the strategic importance of the place as an advanced stronghold of Toledo before the Moors, after the short possession by certain tycoons, the king wanted to secure his defense by giving it in 1150 to the Order of the Temple, since at that time there were no regular armies, nor was it easy to populate the border areas.
• A few years later, in the face of the Islamic push, the Temple gave the company for loss, and returned the fortress to the successor of Alfonso, King Sancho III. Faced with the situation created and the imminent danger, he gathered his notables and offered Calatrava to whoever took charge of his defense. Between the surprise and the jokes of the nobles, Raymond, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Fitero, encouraged by the monk of his monastery Diego Velázquez, who had previously been a warrior, accepted the challenge.
• Having no alternative, the king kept his word, giving Calatrava to the monks of Fitero by donation made on 1 January 1158 in Almazán. They, for their part, in a short time formed an army of more than 20,000 monks and soldiers, joining, whom he had managed to organize Friar Diego Velázquez in the vicinity of Calatrava, which had been recruited by Don Raimundo in the Kingdom of Aragon.

Before such a crowd, the Arabs refused to enter into battle, retreating south. As the commitment to defend Calatrava remained and resisted over time the knights to have a Cistercian Abbot superior and to live among the monks, they decided to choose a Master of the Order. The monks retreated to Plums and the knights to Ocaña, where they became a military Order, the first Hispanic, which adopted the proper name of the place.

The first Master of the Order was Don García, who obtained the first rule from the Cistercian and the Pontificate. This rule, modeled on the Cistercian customs for lay brothers, imposed on the knights, in addition to the obligations of the three religious vows (obedience, chastity and poverty), those of keeping silent in the bedroom, refectory (canteenning) and oratory; fasting four days a week, sleeping with their armor, and wearing, as the only garment, the cistercian white habit with a simple black cross (then

Definitions of the Order and Cavalry of Calatrava according to the General Chapter held in Madrid, year of MDCLII, cover print signed by the engraver of King Pedro de Villafranca: Petrus Villafranca Malagón sculptor Regius Alcobrice in Calatravensi Province natus sculpsit, Madrid, 1660. (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid).

The fortress of Zorita de los Canes and all her alfoz were granted to the Calatravos by Alfonso VIII in 1174, to protect, after two years of incursions of the Almohads, the entire eastern border of the Tagus. In April 1180 the same king granted jurisdiction to Zorita.

In 1179 Alfonso II of Aragon ceded the castle of Alcañiz to the Order of Calatrava in prize for his services in the Reconquista, with such success, that he ended up becoming the Greatest Entrustment of the Order for the Crown of Aragon.1​

• The Dehesa of Abenójar and its term were granted in 1183 by Alfonso VIII to this order and until 1814 – that the term was recovered by the Infante Don Carlos – the town was renamed Abenojar de Calatrava. As a record of this fact, you can see the Cross of Calatrava made in forge on one of the roofs of the church of the town.
• From its foundation to the early 11st century the Order experienced a series of ups and downs. After the Christian defeat suffered by Alfonso VIII at the Battle of Alarcos (1195), he even had to evacuate his possessions and retreat to Ciruelos (Toledo).

After a blow, several knights of the Order, with Martín Pérez de Ziones at the head, took the castle of Salvatierra by surprise, transferring there its convent and headquarters, which they kept in their power totally isolated from relief, until 1211. Therefore, during those years, the Order adopted the name of Order of Salvatierra.