Order of santiago
The Order of Santiago is a religious and military order that emerged in the twelfth century in the kingdom of León. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, Santiago el Mayor. Its initial objective was to protect pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago and expel Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula.
The Order had its origin in the city of Cáceres from the previous Order of the Fratres of Cáceres. The Bishop of Santiago de Compostela promoted this conversion in exchange for the said Order not demanding the return of the archbishopric to Mérida in its reconquering advance to the south, where it had been until the Muslim invasion recommended its transfer to the north. to Santiago de Compostela. After the death of the Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas in 1493, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated the Order into the Crown of Spain and Pope Adriano VI forever united the mastership of Santiago to the crown in 1523.
The first Republic abolished the Order in 1873 and, although it was reestablished during the Restoration, it was reduced to an honorary noble institute governed by a Superior Council dependent on the Ministry of War, which in turn was extinguished after the proclamation of the second Republic in 1931.
The Order of Santiago, together with those of Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa, were reactivated and knighted again in the reign of Juan Carlos I. Its historical continuity to this day and the religious purposes of praising God stand out, personal sanctification and defense of the faith. This distinction is granted by Felipe VI at the proposal of the Royal Council.
Cross of Santiago
The insignia of the Order is a cross gules simulating a sword, in the shape of a fleur de lis on the hilt and on the arms. The knights wore the cross stamped on the banner and a white cape. The cross of the banner had a scallop in the center and another at the end of each of the arms.
The two fleurs-de-lys on the lateral ends represent honor without stain, which refers to the moral traits of the apostle's character.
The sword represents the chivalrous character of the Apostle Santiago and his form of martyrdom, since he was beheaded with a sword. It can also symbolize, in a certain sense, taking up the sword in the name of Christ.
Its shape is said to have its origins in the time of the crusades, when knights carried small crosses with a sharp bottom to stick them into the ground and perform their daily devotions. In fact, history tells us that it arises in the Spain of the Reconquest, after the battle of Clavijo (May 23, 844).
History
Origin
Between 1157 and 1230, the royal dynasty split into two opposing branches, so the rivalry tends to obscure the Order's early days. Although Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, is the center of devotion to this apostle, it is neither the cradle nor the main headquarters of the Order. Two cities fought to have the honor of being the headquarters of the Order, León, in the old kingdom of that name, and Uclés in the new kingdom of Castile.
Some sources suggest that the Order of Santiago was created as a result of the victory in the battle of Clavijo, which supposedly took place in La Rioja in the year 844. Although the attribution to the creation of the Order after said battle, which today is considered a fictitious event that never took place, is due to devotion to the apostle, to whom legend attributes an intervention in said combat, for which reason the representation of this battle is constantly repeated in paintings, sculptures, miniatures and reliefs belonging to the Order.
Military Foundation
The origin of this military Order is unclear, due to the double foundation that the military orders had. The first foundation was military, when in the year 1170 King Ferdinand II of León and the Bishop of Salamanca, Pedro Suárez de Deza, commissioned a group of thirteen knights, known as the Fratres or Knights of Cáceres, the defense of the city of Cáceres —which they had to abandon when it was conquered by the Muslims.
This group of knights was headed by Pedro Fernández de Castro "Power", who was a descendant of the kings of Navarre, on his paternal line, and of the counts of Barcelona, on his maternal line. Of the rest of the knights, the following stand out: Pedro Arias, Count Rodrigo Álvarez de Sarria, Rodrigo Suárez, Pedro Muñiz, Fernando Odoarez, Lord of La Varra and Arias Fumaz, Lord of Lentazo.
According to the founding bull, these gentlemen, repentant of the licentious life they had led until then, had previously united under the same statutes and decided to form a congregation to defend the pilgrims who visited the tomb of Santiago Apóstol in Galicia and to guard the borders of Extremadura.
Leonor, queen; Alfonso, king; master P. Fernández; castle of Uclés and a friar (literally 'brother'), respectively._ ALFONSUS REX: Δ MAGISTER: P: FERRANDI[Z] Δ CASTELLUM DE: UCLES 日本語 QUIDAM FRATER.
Prior to 1170, the first ones who had the idea of coming to the aid of the numerous pilgrims who were heading to Compostela were the canons regular of San Agustín. They lived under the obedience of a prior chosen and confirmed by them in the convent called San Loyo or San Eloy de Loyo, near Compostela, founded on the example of the Knights of the Order of Calatrava, which was also intended to protect the safety of the ways.
Over the years, many hospitals were built to house pilgrims, from the Pyrenees to the aforementioned city of Compostela. For an effective defense, the Freires —or Caballeros— of Cáceres determined to associate themselves with those religious and bound themselves by solemn vow to guard and defend those roads. The canons, accepting the offer of the knights, agreed to receive them in their Order, live with them in community and be their chaplains to direct them spiritually and administer the sacraments. It was then that the Freires de Cáceres changed their name to Freires de Santiago, thus organizing the Order.
Cerebruno and Pedro Gundesteiz, archbishops of Toledo and Santiago de Compostela, participated in the founding of the Order; Juan, Fernando and Esteban, bishops of León, Astorga and Zamora, respectively, as well as the papal delegate, Cardinal Jacinto.
On July 29, 1170, the Order of Santiago was founded, organized and established, and in 1172 it had spread to Castile. Although the Order of Santiago was born in the kingdom of León, it also spread through the kingdoms of Portugal, Aragon, France, England, Lombardy and Antioch, but its fundamental expansion would be limited to the kingdoms of León and Castilla. The Knights of Ávila were added to his rule.
Religious Foundation
The religious foundation must be attributed to King Alfonso VIII of Castile, with the approval of Pope Alexander III through a bull issued on July 5, 1175 in Ferentino, near Rome, so that they were raised in fear of God:
...and for the remedy of human weakness, marriage is allowed to those who could not be continents; keeping the woman unfilled faith and the wife to the husband, because the continence of the marital thalamus is not broken, according to the institution of God and the permission of the Apostle Paul.
In said bull, it approved its constitutions and made it exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or common friars, whose grace was later ratified by Popes Lucio III, Urbano III and Innocent III by different bulls that also fixed the status of the knights and that of the religious. From this moment they were known by the name of Knights of Santiago, since the name of Knights or Freires of Uclés, which appears in some old documents, did not prevail.
As a result of this double founding act —royal institution and pontifical approval— the Order was constituted, as a Militia Christi, with both a religious and a military vocation, whose mission was the “service of God, the exaltation and defense of the Christiana religion, and Fee catholica and the defense of the Christian Republic”.
Name
The definitive name of the Order is based on the devotion that during the medieval centuries was held in Spain to the Apostle Santiago. All of Spain considers Santiago the Greater as the first to preach the gospel to the inhabitants of Hispania. Later, he returned to Jerusalem, where he was the first of the apostles to shed his blood by order of Herod Agrippa I and, according to tradition, his disciples transferred his body to Spain and deposited it in Iria Flavia (Galicia) at the beginning of the century. ix. His relics were discovered during the reign of Alfonso II the Chaste, thus initiating the flow of pilgrims to his tomb, while Teodomiro was Bishop of Iria Flavia and in the xii when the episcopal seat is moved to Compostela.
It is natural that the knights entrusted themselves in a special way to the patronage of Santiago when they entered battle, and it is logical that they believed they felt heavenly protection on many occasions thanks to the favorable intervention of the apostle. For this reason, in agreement with the second Archbishop of Compostela, Pedro Godoy, on February 12, 1171, Pedro Fernández and all his militia consecrated themselves vassals and knights of the Apostle Santiago, naming the master and his successors canons of the Compostela church and the archbishop and his friars of the new Order of chivalry. That is how they would all be named Knights of Santiago in the future and that is how the pope would name them in his bull.
There is still a large painting that represents the moment when Pedro Fernández, accompanied by the first knights wearing their white capes with the red cross of Santiago as the emblem of the Order, presented the rule to Pope Alejandro for his confirmation. This painting was hung for many years on the left side of the nave of the church of the Uclés monastery. Today it is kept in the sacristy of the monastery until it is restored.
Uclés, headquarters of the Order
The Knights of Santiago had possessions in the following kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula: León, Castilla, Aragón and Portugal; but Fernando II of León and Alfonso VIII of Castile set the condition that the headquarters of the Order should be in their respective states: in San Marcos de León and Uclés. From there arose a long conflict that only ended when, in 1230, Fernando III the Saint, united both crowns. Since then, Uclés, in the province of Cuenca, has been considered the headquarters of the Order, Caput ordinis.
After the departure of the Frates de Cáceres from the kingdom of León, forced by the loss of Cáceres, their original headquarters, and the places they had acquired in the territory of Badajoz, before the push of the Almohads went to Castile, where they were well received by their king Alfonso VIII. He handed over the castle of Uclés to the Knights of Santiago to defend that region and that of Huete from Muslim attacks. The castle had belonged to the Knights of San Juan since 1163, but the king was dissatisfied with their performance —since during the period in which they occupied it they did nothing notorious— and withdrew their possession of said border castle in favor of the santiaguistas
On January 9, 1174, the solemn act took place in Arévalo by which Alfonso VIII handed over the castle and town of Uclés, with all its lands, vineyards, meadows, pastures, streams, mills, fisheries, portazgos, entrances and departures, to the Master of the Order, Pedro Fernández de Fuentencalada. The act was attended by the prelates and nobles of the kingdom and Alfonso VIII together with his wife Eleanor of England.
At the end of that same month, the Knights of the Order of Santiago took possession of the town and fortress donated by Alfonso VIII, an act attended by the Archbishop of Santiago. The flag of Santiago, which the archbishop had given them in Compostela, flew for the first time in the keep. The church of Santa María del Castillo changed its name to Santiago until the convent was built with a new church suited to the needs of the Order.
In Uclés was the monastery where the Grand Master of the Order habitually resided, this monastery was demolished in the 16th century to build the current monastery that began to be built in 1529 and was finished in 1735. The applicants spent a year and a test day in the monastery. The archives of the Order that were in Uclés passed in 1869 to the National Historical Archive in Madrid.
The Order received its first article in 1171 from Cardinal Hyacinthus —later Pope Celestine III— and in 1175 the papal bull from Alexander III.
Main events
The Santiago knights were present in all the war actions of the Reconquista and their territories extended mainly through La Mancha. Towns from the current provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara, Jaén and Murcia belonged to this Order.
The first notorious military action in which they intervened was to help the army of their protector Alfonso VIII in the capture of the city of Cuenca, in 1177. Their contribution in this conquest was so important that the king added, on the ground recently conquered, new donations to the Order, among them:
Two houses near Aben-Mazloca, in the same alcazar of Cuenca, two plots, a mill in the river Moscas and an orchard next to this river.
With the donations made to Tello Pérez and Pedro Gutiérrez, which they in turn donated to Pedro Fernández, the founder of the Order, the Santiago Apóstol Hospital was created shortly after in Cuenca. One of the thirteen collations into which the city was divided was also called Santiago, its church remaining within the enclosure of the same cathedral.
Alfonso VIII also ceded Uclés to Pedro Fernández so that he could settle there and defend the border, according to a Royal Deed issued in Arévalo on January 3, 1174, since then it has been the main house of the Order. He also ceded to the Moya Order in 1211, which would later be joined by Ossa de Montiel, Campo de Criptana, Pedro Muñoz, Montiel and Alhambra. The congregation prospered, acquiring goods and territories and came to form a kind of diocese with its capital in Uclés, whose prior had almost episcopal authority.
The rapid spread of the Order was due to the fact that its rule was less rigid than those of the other orders —it is the only military Order whose knights could marry—, eclipsing the oldest of Calatrava and Alcántara and whose power was reputed abroad even before 1200. The first bull of confirmation, that of Alexander III, already listed a large number of endowments. The Order of Santiago alone had more possessions than the orders of Calatrava and Alcántara combined. In Spain, these assets included 83 parcels, of which three were reserved for grand commanders, two cities, 178 counties and villages, 200 parishes, five hospitals, five convents, and the University of Salamanca. The knights were then 400 and more than 1000 lances could be mustered. They had possessions in Portugal, France, Italy, Hungary, and even Palestine. Abrantes, his first command in Portugal, dates from the reign of Alfonso I, in 1172, and soon became a different Order, since Pope Nicholas IV, in 1290, released it from the jurisdiction of Uclés.
Gonzalo Ordóñez was elected grand master of the Order in León, at the same time as Gonzalo Rodríguez (1195). He went to Castile and served Alfonso VIII. On the death of the previous master in 1203, he was elected in Uclés and only lived two more years.
In the time of the third master, Sancho Fernández de Lemus, the Almohads commanded by the Caliph Abu Yaqub Yúsuf al-Mansur (Yúsuf II), victor in the battle of Alarcos in 1195 against Alfonso VIII and where nineteen Santiago residents found their deaths, they carried out a general offensive for lands in Castilla, reaching Uclés two years later. The master, in the midst of the confusion of the Christian kingdoms, resisted in the Ucleseño castle with his people, while other fortresses, such as those of Madrid and Guadalajara, submitted to Yúsuf II.
The knights of Santiago participated in the reconquest of the regions of Teruel and Castellón and fought in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), in which the master Pedro Arias died along with a large number of knights from Santiago.
After the death of Alfonso VIII in 1214, there were riots in the Order. In 1233 his knights participated in the battle to take Jerez de la Frontera and, three years later, in the conquests of Úbeda and Córdoba. Pelayo Pérez Correa was the master who gave the Order the greatest splendor, inducing Fernando III the Saint to lay siege to Seville. During said siege, 270 knights led by their master went too far into the mountains and when night fell without having achieved the complete defeat of the enemies, the Virgin Mary appeared to them, asking her to stop the course of the sun pronouncing the deprecation: "Holy Mary, stop your day." In memory of this event, the hermitage of the Virgin of Tentudía —Detén-tu-día— was built later in that place, where they say that said master was buried in 1275. Pérez Correa was succeeded by Gonzalo Ruiz Girón, who died because of the wounds received in Alcaudete in 1280.
After the death of Vasco Rodríguez de Coronado, master of the Order between 1327 and 1338, the council of Thirteen, so called because it was made up of thirteen knights appointed from among the governors and commanders of the Order, they chose his nephew, Vasco López, as master. By personal intervention of King Alfonso XI of Castile in order to retain the position for his bastard son, the infante Fadrique Alfonso de Castilla, son of Leonor Núñez de Guzmán and nephew of Alonso Meléndez de Guzmán, the latter was appointed master in 1338 and the election of Vasco López was annulled citing defects in the election.
The interference of the king in the succession rules of the Order caused great disputes, since legally the masters were chosen among the freires with a vote of chastity, with consent and subsequent appointment by the pope. His comments about Alonso and, above all, about Leonor made him an enemy of the king.
Alonso de Guzmán fought alongside the king in the conquest of the kingdom of Algeciras, but was assassinated by him to finally appoint the 8-year-old infante Fadrique as Master of the Order in 1342.
In 1358, Fadrique was ordered assassinated in Seville by his half-brother, King Pedro I of Castile, who named in his place Juan de Padilla, brother of the king's favourite, María de Padilla. However, the Knights of the Order refused to recognize him and defeated him near Uclés, Padilla dying during the fight. Later masters, Fernando Osórez, Pedro Fernández and Pedro Muñiz, died in the war with Portugal, but the Order was restored during the long mastership of Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, who founded the convent of Santiago de Sevilla.
The Castilian-Leonese monarchs granted privileges to the Order that made it possible to repopulate extensive regions of Andalusia and Murcia. During the fifteenth century, the Order moved its radius of action to Sierra Morena and took the town of Llerena (Badajoz) as the habitual place of residence of its masters, providing a high growth both in this town and its surroundings.
In 1453, Henry IV of Castile took over the administration of the Order until Alfonso of Castile came of age. Between 1462 and 1463 he appointed Beltrán de la Cueva provisional master. In 1463, when he was of legal age, the Infante Alfonso de Castilla was appointed titular master.
In 1474, Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, abdicated in favor of his son Diego after seven years of rule. This decision upset most of the knights and caused a schism in the Order and great fights, since, at the same time, Rodrigo Manrique and Alonso de Cárdenas sought the mastership. Rodrigo was named by Uclés and Alonso by San Marcos. On the death of Rodrigo Manrique, the Catholic Monarchs put an end to the disputes by staying with the administration for a while and naming Don Alonso master, who accompanied them in the war in Granada.
Incorporation into the Crown of Castile
With the passage of time and the completion or slowdown of the Reconquest, the Order of Santiago became involved in the internal struggles of the Crown of Castile. At the same time, the immense assets of the Order often forced it to support the conflicting claims of the Crown. The title implied great power, both territorial - you could go from Uclés to Portugal without stepping outside the Order's territories - and economic - the Master of the Order came to obtain an annual income of 64,000 gold florins.
Being the position of grand master of such influence, internal struggles and factions were also frequent to achieve such dignity. These scandals had discredited the Order to such an extent that, on the death of Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas in 1493, the Catholic Monarchs found an excuse to ask the Holy See for a providence capable of putting an end to the scandals, while stressing the great expenses that the war in Granada had entailed for the Crown. Thus, the Kings asked Alexander VI to grant them the administration of the great mastership of the Order, a measure that could be considered necessary and, at the same time, as a kind of reward for their great sacrifices for the Catholic faith. The pope agreed to the demand and with a bull of the same year granted the administration of the supreme dignity of the Order of Santiago to the Catholic Monarchs.
After the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, he was succeeded in administration by Emperor Carlos I, at which time Pope Adriano VI forever united the masterships of Santiago, Calatrava and Alcántara to the Crown of Spain in 1523. Until then, the grand master of Santiago was chosen by the Council of Thirteen.
17th century
Being a member of the Order of Santiago was one of the most coveted aspirations of men in the 17th century, so joining this Order was not an easy path.
Members of the high nobility, such as Gregorio María de Silva y Mendoza, Duke of Pastrana, or others of the royal family, had the easiest path in front of those who could not certify step by step the clean origin of old Christian of their predecessors or that their economic income did not come from the work of their hands. Very well known is the trial that Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez had to submit to, where friends of his, such as Francisco de Zurbarán, had to testify that his clean roots were true and that his art was not motivated by obtaining of economic gains manually that clouded their way of life, but rather had an intellectual character.
Francisco de Quevedo was also a member of the Order. His entry became official on December 29, 1617 and was signed by Alonso Núñez de Valdivia, King Philip III's chamber secretary, after presenting and verifying his genealogy.
José de Armendáriz y Perurena, Marquis of Castelfuerte, entered the Order of Santiago in 1699. After commanding the royal troops in the battle of Lagudina (1708) and in a decisive action in Villaviciosa (1710), he was awarded the the Order of Santiago and, by virtue of this, benefited from the commendations of Montizón and Chiclana de Segura, in addition to being granted, on June 30, 1711, the title of Marquis of Castelfuerte.
Internal organization
Requirements for entry into the Order
In its beginnings, joining the Order was not difficult, but from the mid-13th century it became more and more complicated.
Once the Reconquest was over, the claimant who wished to enter the Order of Santiago had to approve in his first four surnames that he be a hidalgo —or hiendodalgo— of blood under the jurisdiction of Spain and not a privileged hidalgo, whose proof had to also refer to his father, mother, grandfathers and grandmothers. In addition, he had to prove, in the same way, that neither he nor his parents nor his grandparents had exercised manual or industrial trades.
Neither could those people who had a race or mixture of Jewish, pagan, Muslim, heretic, convert, however remote, or who had been or descended from penitentiary for acts against the Catholic faith, be able to obtain the habit of the Order. nor whoever their parents or grandparents had been solicitors, lenders, public notaries, retail merchants, or who had trades for which they had lived or lived by their manual effort, nor whoever had been infamed, nor whoever had been absent to the laws of honor or executed any improper act of a perfect gentleman, nor the one who lacked decent means with which to attend to his subsistence. The aspirant had to go on to serve three months in the galleys and reside in the monastery for one month to learn the rule.
Subsequently, the King and the Council of Orders abolished a number of these requirements.
Monastic rule
Unlike the contemporary orders of Calatrava and Alcántara, which followed the harsh rule of the Benedictines of Cistercian Abbey, the Order of Santiago approved the softer Rule of the Augustinian canons. In fact, in León they offered their services to the regular canons of San Eloy of that city for the protection of pilgrims to Santiago and the hospices of the roads that lead to Compostela. This explains the mixed character of his Order, which is hospitable and military, like the Order of Malta.
The Knights of the Order were recognized as religious by Alexander III, whose bull of July 5, 1175 was later confirmed by more than twenty of his successors. These pontifical acts, collected in the Bullarium of the Order, guaranteed all the privileges and exemptions of other monastic orders. The Order was made up of various classes of members: canons, in charge of the administration of the sacraments; commendadoras, occupied with the service of the pilgrims; religious gentlemen, who live in community; and married gentlemen.
The Knights of the Order of Santiago accepted the vows of poverty and obedience. However, when organized by the Augustinian rule, its members were not obliged to take a vow of chastity and could get married —some of its founders were married—; They only promised total chastity before or after marriage, and conjugal chastity and fidelity while they remained married. The bull of Pope Alexander III recommended celibacy. In the Statutes of the foundation of the Order it was specified:
In conjugal chastity, living without sin, they like the first parents, because it is better to marry than burn.
The right to marry, which other military orders only obtained at the end of the Middle Ages, was granted from the beginning, with certain conditions —such as the authorization of the king—, the obligation to observe continence during Advent, Lent and on certain festivities of the year. The Santiago knights, with the permission of the master, could marry and live with their wives and children in the convents of the Order. The Order of Santiago founded female comendadoras convents, a name used to designate nuns. The female presence in the Order is greater than in other orders of the time. Here, the women assumed the function of educating the daughters of the knights, although there were some women who were in charge of a commission.
Among the obligations of its members were daily mass, praying twenty-three Our Fathers a day, taking the sacrament of the Eucharist on Sundays, and fasting for two Lents.
Convents
Another important element of the infrastructure of the Order of Santiago were the convents, both male and female.
In addition to the convents for freires of Uclés and San Marcos de León, the Order had other convents in Palas de Rei (church of Vilar de Donas, Lugo), Palmela (Portugal), Montánchez (Cáceres), Montalbán (Aragón) and Segura de la Sierra (Jaén).
In 1275 the Order also had six convents for nuns, who were called commendadoras. The wives and relatives of the freires could stay in them when they went to war or died. The freiras only professed conjugal chastity, but not perpetual, so they could leave the convent and get married. The convents mentioned are: Monastery of Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos in Olmos de Ojeda (Palencia), founded in 1186; convent of Sancti Spiritus in Salamanca, granted to the Order in 1233; San Vicente de Junqueras (Barcelona), founded in 1212; San Pedro de la Piedra (1260), in Lérida; Santos-o-Velho (1194), in Lisbon and Destriana (León). After these dates are the convents of Membrilla (Ciudad Real) and the Comendadoras de Madrid (1650).
The thirteen
The name thirteen was given to the knight appointed by the master and other knights for a general chapter. In the confirmation bull of the Order, issued by Pope Alexander III in 1175, it was established that there would be thirteen freires , in charge of choosing the master and helping him with his advice. Some historians affirm that the meaning of these thirteen corresponds to the number of the first knights who met to found the Order - others say that it represents the symbolic number of the twelve apostles plus Christ. The Thirteen are the first dignities of the Order, after the priors of Uclés and San Marcos de León. The major commanders of Castilla and León were always thirteen, although not naturally due to such charges, since it is clear that they were many times by election like all the others.
Until the year 1212, there is no documentary mention of the Thirteen. His appointment was for life, but frequent resignations are noted because the position entailed great dedication and responsibility due to the frequency with which the chapters were convened and the obligation to assist the master in his governing functions. The lack of a Thirteen, who was absent for legitimate reasons, was replaced by another gentleman chosen solely for that act and who was called amendment, although there are no references to this use prior to 1350. Commonly, those who had been amendments in the chapter were elected Thirteen in property as vacancies occurred. The body or board of the Thirteen was called Trecenazgo.
The thirteen attended the chapters with black capes and bonnets (like the priors), and their authority and prerogatives have been different according to the times. In 1246 they were strongly restricted by Pope Innocent IV, at the request of the master Pelayo Pérez Correa, and later reestablished by Alejandro IV. However, the power to depose the master, along with the prior, has always been in force if it is judged useless or harmful. In use of such attribution, in the Ocaña chapter of 1338 they deposed the master Vasco López, and it was practice in all the chapters held before the administration to leave the insignia to the masters, handing them over to the prior, who returned them the following day. in agreement and with the consent of the Thirteen. This act was carried out in a public ceremony, allowing the people to enter to witness the chapter, and in it the master gave thanks for the restitution of the insignia of his hierarchy.
The oath a knight took when he was elected Thirteen was as follows:
Do you... swear to God already this sign of the Cross, already these Holy Gospels, that you touch bodily with your hands, that when the Master dies, that you choose an ideal and sufficient person to be a Master, that it is to rebuild and to defend and advance the Order and to maintain the friars, according to the Rule and Establishments of our Order and that it is not a size of destruction?Response: Yes, I swear.
Is it that if you see that the Mestre is useless and pernicious and incorrigible and without profit, and that destroys the Order more than exploits it, that you will depose it of the Mestrazgo, according to the form of law?
Response: Yes, I swear.Is it that if any question arises between him and the Cabildo, that you will intervene among them?
Response: Yes, I swear.OTHER, that by this power you have, do not obey the Master, while Master, so that you do not disobey him contrary to what you have sworn?
Response: Yes, I swear.
The dignity of Thirteen fell into disuse for a long time, until it was reinstated on June 8, 1906 by a bull of Pope Pius X.
Hierarchy
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From its beginnings, the Order was made up of three classes of members: freires or marriageable knights; narrow gentlemen, of a more rigorous life, who professed celibacy and lived in community; and the religious men and women —regular canons or Santiago monks—, whose task was the celebration of worship, the spiritual assistance of the other members and running the parishes of the priory. The former had the Grand Master as their direct boss, while the others lived under the immediate direction of their ecclesiastical superiors and the priors of Uclés and San Marcos de León, and under the authority of the Grand Master of the Order.
In honor of those first thirteen brothers, the Trecenazgo of the Order would be established: thirteen elector freires who, in their heyday, and together with the prior bishops of Uclés and San Marcos de León, major commanders of Castilla, León and Montalbán (Aragon), the Prior of the monastery of Santiago de la Espada in Seville, the secretary and the treasurer, would integrate the main dignities that would participate in the election of the master.
All the members of the Order received the name freyles to distinguish them from the members of the religious orders, the frayles. The religious freyles milites made war to defend Christianity, and the clerical religious freyles dedicated themselves to divine worship to fight through prayer, fasting, abstinence and other religious works. Both the milites and the clergy were reputed to be true religious. Therefore, in addition to monastic obligations, they also enjoyed the privileges of monks: exemption from royal jurisdiction, exemption from the jurisdiction of the secular clergy, and direct submission to the Holy See.
Among the milites there were differences: the so-called comendadores, who administered an encomienda, and the caballeros, who did not. Among the clerics there were also differences: the priors, who had the "formed benefit", the priests or rectors, who had "cured benefit", and the conventuals, who had no benefit.
Within the hierarchy of the Order of Santiago, the immediate dignities of the grand master were the priors of the two convents of Santiago de Uclés and San Marcos de León. Until 1502 the duration of their mandates was perpetual, then it was triennial, being elected by the friars of the respective province alternately: that of Uclés in Castilla a three-year period for the part called La Mancha and the other three-year period for the so-called Campo de Montiel; and that of San Marcos in León alternating the province of León and that of Extremadura. Finally—from 1794 to 1844—there were perpetual priors, appointed by the Crown in the same way as the bishops.
The priors, by virtue of papal concessions, wore a roquette, miter and other pontifical insignia. Initially, the only prior was that of San Marcos; but after the division of the kingdom of León, the knights of Santiago were welcomed in their states by Alfonso VIII of Castile, who gave them the town and castle of Uclés in 1174 —among other possessions—, and there they established the headquarters of the Order.
After serious disputes between the convent of San Marcos and that of Uclés due to issues of seniority and pre-eminence, the conflict ended when the prior of San Marcos was left in charge of the government of the convents of León, Galicia and Extremadura, while that the remaining convents were controlled by the prior of Uclés, in whose convent all the novices of the Order had to spend the probationary year and make their profession. The superiors of the other religious convents also had the title of priors, but they were under the dependence of those prelates.
The priors of Uclés and León were followed by the Thirteen, then the great crosses of Castilla, León and Montalbán, then the commanders, and finally the knights and friars, clergymen or religious.
Up to two hundred priories, parishes and simple benefices depended on the Order's commendations which, with a dispensation from the pope, could be given to non-religious persons. There were also thirteen vicariates with spiritual jurisdiction and, finally, four knights were appointed to visit the four provinces of Castilla la Nueva, León, Castilla la Vieja and Aragón, whose faculties extended not only to the other knights, but to all who had benefits. in Order territory.
Succession in mastership
After the death of the master, the prior of Uclés was in charge of the government of the Order and of summoning the Thirteen to elect a new master. Many of the powers that the Thirteen had were lost after the creation of the Council of Orders, after their incorporation into the Crown with the authorization of Adriano VI.
Since the 14th century, the choice of master fell on a character from the royal family or close to the court. From the 15th century, the election was considered a right of the Crown and throughout that century the mastership fell to nobles and worthy of the kings: Enrique de Aragón, son of the regent of Castilla Fernando de Antequera; Álvaro de Luna, private of Juan II; the infant Don Alfonso; Beltrán de la Cueva and Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, private of Enrique IV; and Diego López Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, who was not recognized as a master because he had not been named either in León or in Uclés.
Later, Carlos I and Felipe II gave the Order of Santiago the form it has today: made up of a president, eight robed ministers, a prosecutor, a secretary, a general accountant, a bailiff and a treasurer, with four attorney generals and four prosecutors, corresponding to each of the four military orders of Spain.
Territorial division
The Order was divided into several provinces, the most important being those of Castilla y León due to their number of properties and vassals. At the head of each province there was a major commander, with headquarters, respectively, in Segura de la Sierra (Castilla) and Segura de León (Badajoz). The province of Badajoz was divided into two parties, Mérida and Llerena, and in each of them there were several parcels.
The most important internal subdivision of the military orders were the so-called encomiendas, which were local units led by a commander. The encomienda could settle the headquarters or residence of the commander in a castle or fortress or in a town and was an administrative or economic center in which the rents of the properties and estates attributed to that encomienda were collected and received; it was the habitual place of residence of the commander and some other gentleman.
Each commandery had to support with their income not only the commander and the other knights residing in it, but they also had to pay and arm a certain number of lances, who had to attend the calls of their master perfectly equipped to take part in those military actions that he wanted to undertake. All of them formed the retinue or army of the Order, which responded to the orders of their master. The rents from the land, pastures, industries, towing and rights of way, together with taxes and tithes, constituted the income that served to maintain the Order. The income was divided between income from the respective commendation and income from the Master's Table that financed the Master of the Order.
Ecclesiastical Division
The Order of Santiago was directed from two priories: that of Uclés for Castilla and the Priory of San Marcos de León for León. In this last province, as the convent of San Marcos was very far from the bulk of the Santiago possessions in Extremadura, the convent moved first to Calera de León and then to Mérida. Finally it returned again to its initial location in San Marcos de León.
The priory of San Marcos de León was divided into three vicarages with headquarters in Mérida, Llerena-Tentudía and Jerez de los Caballeros. The towns and parcels of the Order were cared for by priests presented by the master and collated by the prior.
Two visitors of the Order, accompanied by a vicar, had to carry out an inspection visit every four years through all the commandments and territories to verify the state of the properties, income and government of the possessions. The minutes of these visits were drawn up in the so-called Visit Books.