CALATRAVA
150
CALATRAVA
A Knight ov Calatrava
Calatrava is the Arabic name of a eastle recovered
from the Moslems, in 1147, by the King of Castile,
Alfonso VII, called el Emperador. Situated on the
extreme southern borders of Castile, this conquest
was more difficult to keep than to make, at a time
when neither standing armies nor garrisons were
known. It was this deficiency that the military
orders, and first of all the Knights Templars, intended
to supply by fulfilling their vow of perpetual war
against the Moslem. To the Templars the king had
recourse, but after
a vain attempt to
defend Calatrava
they abandoned
it, and the king
was looking in
vain for another
defender when
Raymond, Abbot
of the Cistercian
monastery of
F i t e r o , offered
mself. This step
is said to have
been suggested to
the abbot by
Diego Velasquez,
a simple monk,
but one who had
been a knight,
was well ac-
quainted
with military
matters, and
was inspired
with the idea of
employing the lay
brothers of the abbey to defend Calatrava. These
Cistercian lay brothers — at that time a recent in-
novation in religious life — not being in Holy orders,
were variously employed as herdsmen, as labourers,
as husbandmen, and so on; Diego employed them
as soldiers of the Cross. They laid down the hammer
and the shepherd's crook, and took up the sword.
Thus a new order was created, which received the
name of Calatrava from the castle given up bv the
king (1157).
Once provided with arms, these brethren, filled with warlike enthusiasm, were eager to take the offen- sive against the .Moors. With this end in view, they chose, when the Abbot Raymond died (1163), a cer- tain Don Garcia to lead them in battle as their first grand master. At the same time, the choir monks, not without protest, left Calatrava to live under an abbot whom they had chosen, in the monastery of Cirvelos. Only Velasquez and a few other clerics, to act as chaplains, remained in Calatrava with the knights, Velasquez becoming prior of the whole com- munity. This somewhat revolutionary arrangement was approved by the general chapter at Citeaux, and by Pope Alexander III (1164). A general chapter held :ii Citeaux in 1187 gave to the Knights of Cala- trava their definitive rule, which was approved in the same year by Pope Gregory VIII. This rule, modelled upon the ( listercian customs for lay brothers, imposed upon the knights, besides the obligations of the three religious vows, the rules of silence in the refectory, dormitory, and oratory: of abstinence on [our days a week, besides several fast -days during the year; tiny were also obliged to recite a fixed number of paternosters for each day Hour of the ( Mlice: to sleep hi their armour; to wear, as their full dress, the Cistercian white mantle with the scarlet
cross fleurdeh & Calatrava was subject not to Citeaux, but to Morimond in Burgundy, the mother- house of Fitero, from which Calatrava had sprung. C,.ii equently, the Abbot of Morimond possessed the
right of visiting the houses and of reforming the
statutes of Calatrava, while the highest ecclesiastical
dignity of the order, that of grand prior, could be held
only by a monk of Morimond.
The first military services of the Knights of Cala- trava had been brilliant, and in return for the great services they had rendered they received from the King of Castile new grants of land, which formed their first commanderies. They had already been called into the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon, and been rewarded by a new encomienda (landed estate), that of Alcaniz (1179). But these successes were fol- lowed by a series of misfortunes, due in the first in- stance to the unfortunate partition which Alfonso had made of his possessions, and the consequent rivalry which ensued between the Castilian and Leonese branches of his dynasty. On the other hand, the Moors of Spain, wishing to recover their lost dominions, called to their aid the Moors of Africa, thus bringing on the new and formidable invasion of the Almohades. The first encounter re- sulted in a defeat for Spain. In the disastrous battle of Alarcos, the knights were overpowered and, in spite of splendid heroism, were obliged to leave their bulwark of Calatrava in the power of the Moslem (1195). Velasquez lived just long enough to be the sorrowful witness of the failure of his daring scheme. He died next year in the monastery of Gumiel (1196). It seemed as if the order was ruined in Castile, and this opinion so far prevailed that the branch of Aragon regarded itself as having succeeded the other. The Knights of Alcaniz actually proceeded to elect a new grand master, but the grand master still living in Castile claimed his right. Finally, by a compromise, the master of Alcaniz was recognized as second in dignity, with the title of Grand Commander for Aragon.
The scattered remains of Calatrava had meanwhile found a common shelter in the Cistercian monastery of Cirvelos, and there they began to repair their losses by a large accession of new knights. They soon felt themselves strong enough to erect a new bulwark against the Moslems at Salvatierra, where they took the name, which they kept for fourteen years, of Knights of Salvatierra (1198). But in the course of a fresh invasion of the Almohades, Sal- vatierra, in spite of a desperate defence, shared the fate of Calatrava (1209). Upon the fall of this Castilian stronghold dismay spread from Spain throughout Western Europe. Summoned by the voice of the great Pope Innocent III, foreign cru- saders hastened from all sides to help the Spanish Christians. The first event in this holy war, now a European one, was the reconquest of Calatrava (1212), which was given back to its former masters. In the same year the famous victory of Las Navas de Tolosa marked the incipient decline of Moslem domination in Western Europe. Having thus re- covered possession of the stronghold, and resumed the title of Calatrava (1216). the order nevertheless removed to more secure quarters at Calatrava la Nueva, eight miles from old Calatrava (1218). From this centre their influence spread to the remotest parts of the Peninsula; new orders sprang up-y- Alcantara (q. v.) in the Kingdom of Leon, Aviz (q. v.) in Portugal, both begun under Calatrava's protection and the visitation of its grand master. This spirit of generous emulation, spreading among all classes of society, marks the climax of Spanish chivalry: it was then that Kins; Ferdinand the Saint, after the definitive coalition of Castile and Leon (1229) dealt a mortal blow to the Moslem power in the con- quest ( I'.':;.'" of their capital city. Cordova, soon fol- lowed by the surrender of Murcia. .Taen. and Seville. The 1 ■'uropean crusade seemed at an end. En- couraged by these victories. Ferdinand's successor, Alfonso X, the Wise, planned a crusade in the East
