The most ancient of the iberic knighthood orders. The castle of Calatrava was conquered to the moorish by Alfonso VII at 1147, who gave it to Templar knights.
At 1157 the Almohads (a North-African people) invaded southern Spain, the Templars,
thinking the castle was impossible to defend, abandoned it. The king
of Castile, Sancho III, promised it to the people who could defend it.
Two Cister monks, fray Raimundo Serrat and fray Diego Velázquez (the last one an ancient soldier) took into charge the defense. The bishop of Toledo gave the absolution to everybody who joined them, so the castle was succesfully defended.
At 1163, Raimundo Serrat died; the knights of the castle didn't want to keep under the command of a monk, so they elected a Master, the last year, the Pope Alejandro III aprobed the Order.
At 1195, after the battle of Alarcos, the almohads conquered the castle of Calatrava, so the knights retreated to the neighboring castle of Salvatierra, but it has also taken by the almohads. A few years later, after the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the knights recovered the two castles.
At 1216,
the new Master, Martín Fernández de Quintana, built a new capital castle,
known as Calatrava la Nueva (New Calatrava).
The order participated at the Castilian civil wars of XIV & XV centuries, finally, after the catholic kings, the king was the master of the order. At XIX century, the state expropiate their possesions, so, nowadays, it is an honorific order.
The order of Alcántara was created at 1156, when some knights of Salamanca jured to defend the castle of San Julián del Pereiro.
At 1177, the Pope, Alejandro III aproved the order, with the name of Order of San Julián del Pereiro.
At 1213, the king of León, Alfonso IX, gave them the city of Alcántara, changing the name of the order to "Order of Alcántara".
The order participated at the Castilian civil wars of XIV & XV centuries, finally, after the reign of Catholic Kings, the king was the master of the order. At XIX century, the state expropiate their possesions, so, nowadays, it is an honorific order.
The order of Santiago was created by 12 knights: "los caballeros de Cáceres", who jured to defend the pilgrims who went to Santiago de Compostela.
At 1161, the king of León, Fernando II gave them the name of Order of Santiago.
At 1174, the king of Castile, Alfonso VIII, gave them the city of Uclés, as capital of the
order.
The order took part in the Castilian civil wars of XIV & XV centuries, finally, after the reign of Catholic Kings, the king was the master of the order.
During the "Golden Century", it was the most distinguished of the Spanish knighthood orders: authors like Francisco de Quevedo, painters like Diego Velázquez or politicians as the Count-Duke of Olivares were members of the order.
At XIX century, the state expropiate their possesions, so, nowadays, it is an honorific order.
The origin of the order of Montesa is the Templar Order. When this was disolved, the king of Aragón Jaime II, created the new order of Nuestra Señora de Montesa with the aragonese branch of templars.
At 1317, the Pope Juan XXII aproved the statutes of the order. Their mission was to defend the coast of Valencia against moorish pirates.
After the catholic kings, the king was the master of the order. At XIX century, the state expropiate their possesions, so, nowadays, it is an honorific order.
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