Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/211

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SPAIN


181


SPAIN


abolition of the anciont rito, although, according to the chronicle, appeal was niadi- to the trial by com- bat, and Don .Juan R\iiz, the champion of the Moza- rabic Rite, was victorious. It was, nevertheless, per- mitted in certain churches, and i.s even yet preserved at Toledo as an historical monument of the ancient Spanish Church.

The Cistercian Reform, too, was introduced into Spain, during the lifetime of St. Bernard, and the cathedral chapters lived by the Rule of St. Augustine. The most cliaracteristic development of this period, however, was that of the military orders. The old- est of them seems to have been that of the Knights of La Terraza, founded by Don Garcia de Najera, in the


Navarre brought about repeated partitions of Btates. Ferdinand I divided his kingdom into five parts, Castile, Leon, Galicia, Zamora, and Toro, though, in the event, his son Sancho the Strong despoiled his brothers and restored the kingdom to unity. Bu6 Alfonso \'ll, the Emperor, again separated Castile and Leon, leaving the former to his son Sancho, and the latter to Ferdinand.

Another result of feudal customs introduced by the Burgundian princes was the separation of Portugal. For .\lfonso \T gave his daughters L'rraca and 'I'eresa in marriage to Raymond and Henrj' of Burgundy, who founded two dynasties: that of Portugal, and that of Castile and Leon, which began with Alfonso VIL


eleventh centurv; but this order, as well ;is those of The Kingdoms of Asturias, GaUcia, Leon, and Castile

the Palms, of tlie Redeemer, and of the Crusaders, es- were definitively imited under St. Ferdinand, heir of

tablished by Alfonso I of Aragon in the twelfth cen- Leon through his father Alfonso IX, and of Castile

tury, disappeared, becoming merged with the orders through his mother Berengucla. In the same way

which came from Palestine. The Order of Calatrava Catalonia and Aragon were definitively united by the


was founded by St. Raymond, Abbot of Fitero, in La Rioja, who, in"ll58, undertook to defend the strong- hold of Calatrava, abandoned by the Templars. Its habit is white with a red cro.'^s. The Order of Alcdn-


marriage of Ram6n Berenguer, the Saint, with Dofia Petronila, daughter of Ramiro, the Monk, of .\ragon, of whom legend says that he made the famous "Bell of Huesca" out of the heads of rebellious nobles.


tara was at first known as that of St. Julian of the These three principal states, to which the divisions of

the Peninsula had been reduced, com- pleted the Recon- quest ; they were not united, to form Ibe- rian national unity, until three centuries later.

The kingdom formed by the union of Aragon and Cata- lonia was the first to complete that por- tion of the Recon- quest which the geo- graphical conditions assigned to it; then it directed its strength eastward. Pedro II, •he Cathohc, sover- L'li of Aragon and I italonia, went to Uonie to seek the anmdment of his marriage with Marie


Peartree (del Pere- iro), but it soon took thename of thetown of Alcdntara, which was ceded to it by the Knights of Cala- trava. Its habit is white with a green cross. The order of Santiago was found- ed to protect pil- grims to Compostela, to which service thir- teen knights vowed themselves. With these knights the Augustinian Canons of S. Eloy of Leon joined to form the famous order whose badge is an elongat- ed red cross (1170). These three orders were all approved by Alexander III


The importance to which the Spanish military orders of Montpelier, and to have himself crowned by the


attained may be gathered from the fact that King Alfonso the Fighter (El HnUilhtilor) wished to hand over the Kingdom of .Vragon to them, believing that there was no better way of securing the speedy com- pletion of the Rcconquest. The Aragone.se, however, would not consent to their king's testamentary dispo-


pope. The former purpose he failed to accom- plish; the latter occasioned him a great deal of trouble, as the Aragonese nobles refused to recog- nize the position of vassalage to the Holy See in which Pedro had placed his kingdom. These nobles then formed for the first time that union, or confedera-


sition of them, and had recourse to Ramiro, a monk tion, which was the cause of such serious disturbances of S. Ponce de Tomeras, who wore the Crown until a until Pedro IV with his dagger cut in pieces the docu- successor wa-s forthcoming. ment which recorded it. Pedro II, the Catholic, fell F. The Unification of Spain. — Several difficulties in the battle of Muret (1213), defending his .\lbigen- stood in the way of the union of the various states sian kinsmen against Simon de Montfort, whom In- formed in Spain by the Reconquest: the diversity of nocent III had sent against them. His son, Jaime I,


its points of departure was the principal. Navarre and Catalonia were in particularly close contact with France, and the marriage of Ram6n Berengtier the Great with Dulcia, heiress of Provence, made the


the Conqueror, completed the Catalan-Aragonese Reconquest, winning Majorca (122S) and Valencia (123S) besides helping his son-in-law, .Alfonso X, the Wise, to complete the conquest of Murcia. His son


relations between the iieoples of the langne d'oc so andsuccessor gave a new direct ion to Cat alan-.\r.agon-

close that the subsequent development of Catalonia ese policy by enforcing the rights of his wife, Dona

wasconnectedrather with that of theSouthof France. Costanza of .Suabia, to the kingd<mis of .'Sicily and

In Navarre, again, when the dynasty of .Sancho the Naples. Profiting by the rising of the Sicilian Vespers

Elder became extinct, the Crown passed in succession against the Angevins (1282), he possessed himself of

to the houses of Chami)agne (12.34), of France, and of Sicily and attacked Naples.

Evreux (i:}49-1441), with the result that Navarre, This conquest, however, placed the kings of Aragon

until the fifteenth centiirj', lived in much closer re- in a position of antagonism with the popes, who de-

latior.s with the French monarchy than with the fended the rights of the House of .\njou. Martin IV

Spanish states. On the other hand, the feudal us:iges having excommunicated Pedro III, the Aragonese

introduced in the Western Kingdoms by the House of nobles took advantage of the fact to f.\tenrl their