ordenes militares españa siglo xvii

7/28/2019 ordenes militares españa siglo XVII

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ordenes-militares-espana-siglo-xvii 1/38

The Past and Present Society

The Military Orders in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Spanish Society. The InstitutionalEmbodiment of a Historical TraditionAuthor(s): L. P. WrightSource: Past & Present, No. 43 (May, 1969), pp. 34-70

Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/650110

Accessed: 18/03/2010 14:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=oup.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Oxford University Press and The Past and Present Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve

and extend access to Past & Present.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/stable/650110?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=oup

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=oup

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/stable/650110?origin=JSTOR-pdf



THE MILITARYORDERS N SIXTEENTHANDSEVENTEENTHCENTURYSPANISHSOCIETY.

THE INSTITUTIONALEMBODIMENTOF AHISTORICALTRADITION*

THE SPANISH MILITARY ORDERS OF CALATRAVA, SANTIAGO, AND

Alcantarawere founded in the courseof the twelfth century, after the

example of the Knights Templar, with the task of supporting theChristian kings of the north of Spain in their struggle to wrest thePeninsula from the grasp of the infidel Arab population of the south.They soon acquired a considerable renown, and to their militaryactivities was added an importantsubsidiary role as colonizers of thenew lands they opened up, for as reward for their military successesthey were generally granted estates with jurisdictional rights in theconquered territories. At the sametime the Orders made a strongappeal to popular piety, and theirfusion of the twin ideals of monasti-

cism and chivalry offered a powerfulinducement to private alms anddonations as well. By the end of the middle ages, therefore, they hadcome to enjoy vast estates and revenues, and to exercise jurisdictionover large parts of Andalucia and Extremadura. By then, however,they had lost their major reason for existence. The Moors had,since the fall of Seville in I248, been confined to the kingdom ofGranada, and by I492 this too was at last in Christian hands. TheReyesCatolicos,erdinand and Isabella,were quick to appreciatethedangers implicit in such a concentrationof wealth in private hands,and the Orders were one by one brought within royal control as

* The following abbreviationshave been adopted in the footnotes:(i) Archives and Libraries:

AGI. Archivo Generalde las Indias, Seville.AGS. Archivo Generalde Simancas,Valladolid.AHN. Archivo HistoricoNacional, Madrid.BM. British Museum, London, Deparunent of Manuscripts.BN. Biblioteca Nacional,Madrid, Secci6n de Manuscritos.RAH. Real Academiade la Historia, Madrid.

(ii) Other abbreviations:Est. Secci6n de Estado.

leg. legajo.OM. Seccion de OrdenesMilitares.sig. signatura.

I would like to thank ProfessorJ. H. Elliott for the help and advice that he hasgiven me in the preparation f this article.



MILITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY 35

Ferdinand himself assumed their Masterships. Finally a Bull ofAdrian VI in I523 ratified in perpetuity the incorporation of the

Ordersinto the Crown.lSome writerspointed out that the Crowncould not be Masterof an

Order2 much less of three at one time and it was a condition of

the Bull of Incorporation that knights and religious persons be

appointed to attend to the Orders' spiritual affairs. This diEcultywas resolvedbythe foundationof the Councilof the Orders,which was

responsible for the day-to-day administration.3 The Council func-

tioned at first in two chambers,one concerningitself with the Order

of Santiago, the other with those of Calatravaand Alcantara,each

with its own President. Philip II, in I566, caused the two sectionsto be joined together as a single Council, with a President, eight

Councillors, all of them knights of one or other Order, a Fiscal, aSecretary,and a ContadorMayor, ogether with a number of subord-inate officers.4 Some idea of the extent of the Council's responsi-bilities, and of the amount of property which it controlled, may be

gauged from the fact that of the twenty-eight corregimientosnto

1 There is no satisfactoryhistory of the Ordersas a whole either before or

after the incorporation nto the Crown. A good bibliographicalguide to thesixteenth-and seventeenth-centuryiteratureon the Orders s providedby JuanPio Garcia y Perez, "Indicador de varias cronicas religiosasy xnilitaresenEspana",Revistade Archivos,Bibliotecas, Museos, ii, iv, and v (I899-I9OI).

The nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuryworks I have consulted appeargenerally o be derivative,repetitiveof each other,and often inaccurate, houghthere is some material of interest in Jose Fernandez Llamazares,HistoriaCompendidae las Cuatro()rdenesMilitaresde Santiago,Calatrava,Alcantaray Montesa (Madrid, I862), Angel Alvarez de Araujo y Cuellar, RecopilacionHistoricade las Cuatro (5rdenesMilitares(Madrid, I866), and a lecture readbefore the Real Academiade la Historiaby FranciscoR. de lthagon, (5rdenesMilitares Madrid, 898). As for modernworks,there areone or two devotedto

individual Orders, such as D. W. Lomax, La Ordende Santiago: II70-I275(Madrid, 965), and F. Gutton,L'Ordrede Calatrava Paris,I955). The role ofthe Orders as colonizersin the Reconquistas apparentfrom La ReconquistaEspanolayla RepoblacionelPais (Zaragoza, gSI). The Bull of Incorporationitself may be found in Joseph Lopez Agurleta,BullariumEquestrisOrdinisS.Iacobzde Spatha(Madrid,I7I9), pp. 475-8.

2 FranciscoRades y Andrada, Cronicade las tres Ordenes CaballeriasdeCalatrava,Santiago,y Alcantara(Toledo, I572), Cronicade Calatrava,f. 83.

s The best account I have come acrossof the origins of the Council of theOrdersis contained in a Consultaof the Council to the king, dated 29 Aug.I7I3: RAH., Coleccionde Mateos Murillo, MiscelaneaHistorica, , ff. 3I4-58.

See alsoJ. Lopez Agurleta,OrigendelConsejo e las ()rdenesMilitares. AHN.OM., Libros Manuscritos,sig. I286 C.

4 Aurea JavierreMur and Consuelo G. del Arroyo, Guia de la Seccion deOrdenesMilitares(Madrid,n.d.), pp. II3-4. A list, unfortunately ncompleteof the Presidentsand Councillorsof the Orderswho held officebetweenI523 andI67I, iS to be foundin RAH., Coleccionde Salazary Castro,D 49, ff. I-8. Thesubordinateofficersof the Council are detailedin ibid., I 35, ff. 2g8-8v.



-

3t PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 43

which Castillewas dividedfor administrative urposes, wenty-twowere withdrawnromthe jurisdiction f the ConsgoReal and placedwhollyunder ts jurisdiction.5 It is an interesting ommenton theattitude of the Crown towardsthe Orders,that while they wereindependentheir secularaffairswere ordered o be heardbefore heroyal judicialtribunals;whereasafter the Incorporation) Il suitsarisingon the landsof the Ordershadto go before he Councilof theOrders lone,and t wasspecificallyorbidden or the royalaudienciasto hear them. The repetitionof this prohibition hroughout hesixteenth nd seventeenth enturies uggests hat t was ittleheeded.sOne reason for this may well have been the delays to which the

Councilof the Orderswas subject, or in addition o these responsi-bilities, he Councilhad also to adjudicate nd advise he king on theproofssubmitted n connectionwith the grantof militaryhabitos, opunish knightsand comendadoresho failed to obey the Statutesofthe Orders, nd o make ecommendationsor all the minor cclesiasti-cal appointments n the Orders,and the offices dependentuponthem.7 It was, in fact, a vast responsibility, nd as AndresMendo,a seventeenth-century pologist of the Orders, remarked,quitecomparablen scopeto that of the Councilof the Indies.8

A study of the MilitaryOrdersafter their incorporationnto theCrown s one of the most glaringomissions romthe bibliography fsixteenth- and seventeenth-century panish social and economichistory. A prominent panish istorian as ndeedrecently emarkedthat t is incredible ndalmost candaloushat a phenomenon f suchenormoussocial dimensionsshould not ever seriouslyhave beenlooked at.9 Most of the early historiesof the Orders, ike that ofRades y Andrada,l? re no more than chroniclesof the deeds ofsuccessive Masters which end with the royal assumptionof the

administration f the Masterships,while those who attempted ocarry the story beyond the middle ages provide at best a merecatalogue f the militarycampaignsn which knightsof the Orders

5 BM.) MS. Cotton, Vesp. C VI, f. 7v.6Vicente de la Fuente, Historia Eclesiasticade Espana, v (Madrid, I874),

pp. 352-4*7 BN. MS. 5972, f. IOOV: Gabriel Lobo Lasso de la Vega, Relacionmuy

puntualde todos os Consejos uperiores . . en la Cortede Espana.8 Andres Mendo, De las (5rdenesMilitares Madrid, I68I), pp. I98-9.9 Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, La SociedadEspanola n el sigloXV1I i (Madrid

I963), p. I98. Dominguez Ortiz is the only modern writer to have attempted

to discuss the position occupied in Spanish society by the Orders after theincorporation, and this paper draws heavily on his work.

10 See note 2 above. Rades wrote what was the first and in many ways themost satisfactory history of the Orders, and all later writers owe a great deal tohim, since he had access to many documents which have now disappeared.




tookpart.ll Sincemenas diverseas GonzaloFernandez e Cordoba,the Gran Capitan, he conquistadoresernanCortes and Francisco

Pizarro,Don Juan de Austria, he victor of Lepanto,the admiralAlvarode Bazan, Marques de Santa Cruz, and CharlesV's greatgeneral,Antoniode Leyvawere all investedwith militaryhabitos,l2historiesof this sort tend to be indistinguishablerom historiesofSpain tself. Modernwriters, or their part, have ignored he laterhistoryof the MilitaryOrders ltogether.

In a way this neglectof the Orders s not reallysurprising. Withthe fall of Granada nd the completion f the Reconquista,hey hadfulfilled the primarypurpose of their foundation,while the royal

annexationeffectively curbed their independent existence. The"history" f the Orders, n the traditional arrativeense,was clearlyat an end. In another ense, however, he Incorporationmarkedabeginning. The Crownmight now no longerbe in need of privateorganizationsor the raisingof armies o fight the Infidel, but theOrderswere able to survive nto a new era as somethingmuch moreimportant: primesourceof income,patronage, nd prestige.

Certainly their financial significance was clear enough tocontemporaries.Martinde Azpilcueta, he distinguished conomic

writerand professor t Salamanca, rgued hat through he Master-shipsof the three Orders he king of Spainwas the greatest relate nthe world, after the Pope, so far as ecclesiastical ncome wasconcerned.l3 King Ferdinandhimselfpointedout that the yield ofthe Masterships xceeded he revenuesof the kingdomof Naples.l4Some dea of what hese ncomes n factamountedo at the beginningof the sixteenth entury s givenby the Venetian mbassador, icenzoQuirini. He estimated he valueto the Crownof the Mastership fSantiago t 40,000ducats, hat of Calatravat 3s,ooo ducats,andthat

of Alcantara t 36Zooo ducats.l5 These Eguresundoubtedly oserapidlyas the centuryadvanced. A generation ater, in Is33) theItalian humanistwriter, Marineo Siculo, put them respectivelyat

llA good example of this is Francisco Caro de Torres, Historia de las()rdenesMilitaresde Santiago, Calatrava,y Alcantara Madrid, I629), Book iii,ff. 84-I9I.

l2Vicente Vignau and Francisco R. de Uhagon, Indice de Pruebas de losCaballeros ue han vestidoel habitode Santiago desdeel ano I50I hasta la fecha(Madrid, I9OI).

13 Martin de Azpilcueta Navarro, Tractado de las Rentas de los Beneficios

EclesiasticosValladolid, I566), f. 28v.l4Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, ii (London, I866), pp. II8-9: king

Ferdinand tO Pedro de Quintana, 2 r May I 5 I3.

15 E. Alberi, RelazionidegliAmbasciatoriVenetial Senato, St ser., i (Florence,I859), pp. 25-6*



38 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 43

60,000, 40,000,and 4s,ooo ducats.l6 A thirdrelation, f I577, givesthe annualyields as I20,000, 90,000, and 60,ooo ducats,l7a clear

indication f the pace of inflation t this time.The landsof the Orders n themselves id muchto compensateor

the loss of Crown ands alienated n the later middle ages. Theyrepresented he most valuableconcentration f landed property nSpain, ituated, s for the mostpart heywere,at the southernimitofthe sheep-migrating reas,some of the best pasturing ands in thecountry,and the very varietyof their sourcesof incomewas a strongattraction. They thereforeconsiituteda perfect security for theloans contracted y the Habsburgmonarchswith Germanbanking

firms. As earlyas I525 the MesasMaestrales,hose andswhichhadonce been the personaldomainsof the GrandMasters,were leasedout to the Fuggers, n whosehands hey remained, xcept or a briefperiod romI533 to I537, whenthe contractwent temporarilyo theWelser amily.l8 As RamonCarande, he historianof CharlesV'sfinances,has remarked,t wouldbe impossible o exaggeratehe far-reaching mplications or the Spanisheconomy of the papal Bullsanctioninghe royalassumption f the Maestrazgos.l9

But the lands of the Orderswere not the only sourceof profit or

their new administrators.If the Crownhad to negotiate oans toenable t to pursue ts imperial olicies, t was n no position o rewardits servantswith direct inancial ifts. Titles of honour,however, rean obvious eatureof any societydependentupon monarchy, nd asa resultof the Incorporationhe disposition f the Orders' ncomiendasand habitos ell into royalhands. This new mine of patronagewasquickly exploited. It is easy to understandthe demand forencomiendas:hey were territorial ordships,the jurisdictionandincomesof which accrued o each comendadornnd while their value

was diminished y certaindues-notably subsidio,xcusado,anzas,and oftenthe maintenance f a localpriest20 theirobligationswerein the mainslight. Even he annualperiodof residence emanded-

16Lucio Marineo Siculo, Obrade las CosasMemorabiles e Espana(AlcaladeHenares, I533), ff. 23v-4.

7 BM., MS. Cotton, Vesp. C VI, ff. 385-9.18 Details of the variouscontracts or the leasing of the propertyof the Orders

may be found in Ranlon Carande, Carlos Vy sus Banqueros,i, La HaciendaReal de Castilla (Madrid, I949), chap. 9; Modesto Ulloa, La HaciendaReal deCastilla en el Reinado de Felipe II (Rome, I963), chap. I8; and HermannKellenbenz, Die FuggerscheMaestrazgopachtI525-42) (Tubingen, I967).

9 Carande,op. cit., p. 603.20 A list of the encomiendasf the Orderof Santiagowith the dues incumbent

upon them in I652 iS to be found in AHN., OM., Libros Manuscritos, sig.I340 C, f5. 346-84. Dues appear to have weighed much less heavily on thelarge encomiendahan on the slnall one.




four months n the case of Santiago,hree in thatof Alcantara, ndonly two in thatof Calatrava2l might withoutgreat difficultybe

avoided, or thoseCrown ervantswho couldclaim hattheirpresenceat Courtwasalwaysrequiredwerefrequently bsolvedof even thisduty. 2

As against he I80 odd comendadoresf the threeOrders, herewerewell over a thousandcaballerose habito,knightswith no land orincome apartfrom a derisoryreal a day for their upkeep. Whatinducedmen to go to the troubleand expenseof procuring n habitowas clearlynot hope of financial ain, but somethingmore basic othe sixteenth- ndseventeenth-centurypanishmentality. Hidalgufa

was that firstessentialqualitywhichformed he basisof all nobility;entry nto the Orderswas, n theoryat least, mpossiblewithout t, forpersonalmeritwas still widelyconsidered he exclusivepreserveofthe blood aristocracy.23 sSidalguiaould be elevatedand refined,however,by the grantof knighthood, likethe enamelwork n goldjewellery,whichdoes not enhancehe valueof thegold, but adorns tand gives it greaterbeauty".24The value of knighthooday in itshistorical radition. From one point of view9as we have seen,MilitaryOrderswerean anachronismnce Spainhadbeen won back

from the Moors. But from another, they were anything butanachronistic,or they had come,as earlyas the thirteenth entury, oenshrineall thosequalitieswhichone regardsas so characteristicfSpanish ociety n its expansionistGoldenAge: religiouservour, hepursuitof honour, eats of arms n war, support or the ideal of thenationstate, the twin cults of hidalguia nd purityof blood, and soforth.25

It is frequently ointedout thatall these conceptsmay be derivedfrom the crusadingraditionof the Reconquista,hich generateda

society predominantly ristocratic, nd militantly eligious, in its21 Andres Mendo, Op. Cit., p. 24I.22 Non-residence was frowned upon, however, by successive General

Chaptersof the Orders, and penaltiesmight be imposed even upon those whowere absent upon royal service. Cf. Pero Perez, "La Encomienda deCalatrava",Revistadel Centrode EstudiosExtremenos,v (I930), pp. 233-4I

23For such views, see Diego de SaavedraFajardo, dea deun PrsncipePoliticoChristiano Antwerp, I677), Empresaxvii. The insistenceof the Ordersuponnobility of blood is to be found in FranciscoRuiz de VergaraAlava, Regla yEstablecimientosuevosde la Orden Cavalleriade el GloriosoApostol Santiago(Madrid,I653), tit. i, cap. i, and similarly n the volumes of statutesof the otherOrders.

24 Benito de PenalosaMondragon,Librode las CincoExcelencias el Espanol(Pamplona,I629), f. 89.

25 Such is the impression eft particularlyby Lomax,Op. Cit., pp. 88, 2I7, butit is also implicit in all the accountsof the activitiesof the Orders n the [niddleages.



4o PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 43

aspirations.26Butwhat s not emphasized nough s the fact thattheMilitaryOrders,survivingas they did right up to the nineteenth

century, ervedas an extant nstitutionalmbodiment f thathistoricaltraditionon which the sixteenthand seventeenth enturies,at least,modelled hemselves. The assumptionof an habitoof one of theOrderswas by no meansan archaic itual: t was at once a proof offamilynobleza nd limpiezade sangre,and a first majorstep up theladderof the Castiliannoble hierarchy; n identification,n fact, ofoneselfand one'sfamilywith thosearistocraticnd chivalric onceptswhich custom,rather han law, renderedobligatory or the hidalgoclass.

The role of the MilitaryOrders,quite apart rom their economicimportanceo the Crown,and to the comendadoreshomthe Crownnamed,can thus be seen as one of socialorientation nd definition.GerdnimoMascarenas,n the introductiono the I66I editionof theStatutesof the Orderof Calatrava, uts this point very clearly n hisdescription f the royal Councilof the Orders. "Its function s toconserve he Spanish ristocracy,o keepunsullied he purityof noblefamilies, o give honour o personswho merit it, to distinguish heillustrious rom the commonherd, the noble from the base".27 In

otherwords, t served n principle o definea socialhierarchy asedoncriteriaof birth rather han of wealth; o grantcertificates f nobleascendancy nd of purityof blood. This is a theme o whichwe willhave to recur later when we considerthe social standing of theknights,for it is preciselywhat made grants of habitos o eagerlysoughtafterby the middlenobility,and those who aspired o join itsranks. It is at once apparent,however,that while the MilitaryOrdershad fulfilled he immediate urpose or whichthey had beencreated, hey remained n integralpartof the new age. Thoughno

longer nvolvedcorporatelyn militaryor politicalaffairs, hey werestill a central element in a social system which they themselvesreflected, ndhad indeedhelped o forge.

The changedpositionof the Orderswas,perhapsnaturally, low tobe appreciated y contemporaries.At the GeneralChapterof theOrderof Santiago eld in Valladolidn I527, the king was presentedwitha paper"onthe littleuse of the MilitaryOrders"whichsuggestedthat Spain now had no more need of these outmodedbodies ofknights.28 The procuradoresf the Cortesheld in Madrid n ISSI

26 For example, J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain I469-I7I6 (London, I963),pp. 20-I.

27Difinicionesde la Ordeny Cavalleria de Calatrava, conformeal CapituloGeneral elebrado n Madrid ano 1652 (Madrid, I66I), p. I28.

28AGS., PatronatoReal, leg. 22, f. 33: "Parecerque se dio al E;nperadorCarIosV" (I527).



MILITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY 4I

reminded he Crown hat althoughhe Ordershadbeen foundedandrichly endowedto fight the Infidel,they were not doing so, and

suggested hat they be entrustedwith the defenceof the Mediter-raneancoastagainst he piratesof north Africa.29 The Cortes ofI576 went even further in attacking he degenerate tate of theMilitaryOrders, ndthis time recommendedhe establishmentn theAfrican oastof conventsof eachOrder, n whicheveryknightwouldbe compelledo live and serveforthe spaceof threeyearsbeforehecouldbe professed. By this meanst waspredictedhat"the SpanishNobility will occupy itself virtuously,honourably,and after aChristianmanner".30The theme was, in fact, takenup again

and madeas little mpression at the end of the following enturybyan anonymous rbitrista riter, roubledalikeby the militarydeclineof the Orders nd by Spain'svulnerabilityo a jointattackby MuleyIsmailfromMorocco, n alliancewith Louis XIV, who was himselfalready hreateningSpain from his foothold n Catalonia.3l Themilitary loryof the Orderswasof coursepast beyondrecalleven bythe time of the Incorporation, nd although he annalistGeronimoZurita ells how in the GeneralChapterof Santiagon I509, KingFerdinand pproved suggestionhat the knightsof the Orderpush

forward heReconquistanto northAfrica, t need cause ittle surprisethat the planwas neverallowed o materialize.32

During the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies,therefore,theSpanish MilitaryOrdersat first sight amounted o no more thananachronisiic rdersof chivalry;but their apparently igid institu-tional structuresnonethelessaccorded hem a vital and developingsocial role. What the remainder f this paperattempts to do isexamine n rathermore detail he implicationsorthe Ordersof thisdichotomybetweenstructure ndfunction,and in so doing to offer

some tentative emarks n the activityof the Ordersnot only withinthe contextof the Castiliannoblehierarchy, ut in that of Spanishsociety as a whole.

It is by no means uncommon o trace in institutionsa formalstructurewhich s in no way related o their actual unction. When

29 Cortesde losantiguosReinosde Leony de Castilla,v (Madrid,I903), p. 543,peticion c.

30 Actas de las Cortesde Castilla,v (Madrid,I865), pp. 33-5, peticion xv.sl The pamphletis printed with an introductionby David Torra under the

title Las (5rdenesMilitares y Marruecos(Tetuan, I954).

32 Geronimo Zurita, Anales de la Corona d.e Aragon, vi (Zaragoza, I652),

f. 208. Suggestionsalong similar ineswere frequentlymadehoweverthrough-out the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: cf. BM., Add. MS. 28434,

ff. 2I-3; BN., MS. 94425 ff. I30-9; AHN., Est., leg. 7r6) Duque de Bejar toMarques de la Paz, 25 Aug. I732.




such a discrepancy ccurson a small scale it may be dismissedasabsurdor merelyquaint;on a largescale it may in the end only be

resolved by revolution. The Orders did in fact eventuallyfallvictim o the revolutionarypheavals f the nineteenth entury5 henthe tensions ngendered y this growingdiscrepancy ecame oo great.Throughout he period n question,however, hey could continue obe regardedndulgently s venerable rchaisms.

In principle he Ordersstill retained he characterwhich theirnamesuggests: hat of religiousorders ollowinga monastic ule anddevoted o the struggleagainst he Infidel. Theoreticallyhey neverceasedto be just this yet at the same time militaryhabitoswere

conferredupon childrenand new-bornbabies,33 s well as on oldercandidates ho petitioned or themallegingmeritsandserviceswhichhad little to do with the religiousends and natureof the Orders.34In practice he smallnucleusof friarsattached o the convents f eachOrder aIone lived under the rigour of monasticdiscipline. Thecommunal bligations f the knightscameto be of little importance,particularlyfterPaul III's Bull of I540 whichpermitted he knightsof CalatravandAlcantarao marry ndto interpret heirsolemnvowof chastity n the sense only of conjugal hastity,a state to which of

courseall Christianswere n anycasebound.35 Now also the vow ofpovertywas fulfilledby presenting ach year an inventoryof goodsand possessions, under the pretence that the knight was onlyadministeringhem, by permission f the Masterand in his name.By the latter half of the sixteenthcentury his inventory tself hadbecome a mere symbol, a generalstatementwith no detailsof theproperty o which it referred,and its presentation o more than aformality.36Daily recitation of the canonical prayers becamecommutedto a few Paternosters nd presence at Mass, which,

together with the obligation o confess and to communicate our

33 AHN., OM., Consejo de las (trdenes, Archivo Secreto, Series I, leg. 33,ff. 78, 8I, 82, 83, and others.

34 Petitions for habitosare to be found in every collection of Spanish statepapers in such numbers as to make it impossible to list them. Petitionerswould generallyput forward he servicesrendered o the Crown by themselvestheir ancestorsand their relatives,and it is rareto find particular easons or therequest for an habitorather han any other pension or title.

35 The Bull is printed in I. J. Ortega y Cotes, BullariumOrdinisMilitiae deCalatrava Madrid,I76I), pp. 5I4-7. The knights of Ssntiago needed no suchdispensation for they had always been permitted to contract marriage see

Lomax, op. cit., pp. 90-3. Before xnarrying, nights of all three Ordershad toobtain eave from the king, apparently o ensurethat the future wife was of pureancestry: BM., MS. Egerton 485, ff. II9V-20.

36 BMUMS. Harleian3476, f. 57; Andres Mendo, op. cit., pp. ISI-2; Ruiz deVergara,op. cit., tit. v, cap. iv.



MILITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY43

timesa year,amounted o no more thanthe universalay Catholicdevotion.37In the yearof noviciate,afterassuming he habitobut

beforetakingthe vows of profession,a periodof residence n theConventwasexpectedof theknight, n order o introducehim to thereligiousife,and he was obliged oo to servea six-month pell in theroyal galleys,to give him militaryexperience.38But both theseobligations,and particularlyhe galley service,were in practicefrequentlyhe subjectof specialdispensation.39

The Statutesof the Orders, eprinted ndexpandedmany imes nthecourseof thesixteenth ndseventeenthenturies,onanued o laystress upon the obligationsincumbent upon the knights and

comendadores.Radesy Andradan factpublished eparately shortaccountof theobligationswhichboundmembers f his ownOrderofCalatrava,40nd many other writersdwelt at length upon them.Impressivehough heselistsof dutiesand responsibilitiesmayseem,one maydoubtwhether,at leastby the mid-sixteenthentury, heywereanythingbut a dead etter. It wasominoushatknightsneededto be reminded o frequentlyof the implications f theirreligiousvows,andit was in fact a frequent ubject ordiscussionwhetherhemembersof the Orderscould now in any sense be consideredas

religiousat all.The Ordersof coursehad theirdefenders. Diego de la Mota,a

canonof Ucles(thecapitalof the Orderof Santiagon theprovince fCastille) nsistedon the ecclesiasticalharacter f the ceremonyofassuming he habito. The vows were those of all other religiousorders,and individualdispensationsromthem did not affecttheiressentialnature.4lOntheotherhand,de a Motawasclearlyoncernedata numberof developments. He stressedhatmilitaryhabitoswereto be bestowedneitheras casualgifts, financialrewards,nor as

37 Ruiz de Vergara,op.cit., tit. vii, caps. andiv; Difiniciones eCalatrava, it.iv, cap. i, and pp. 54I-52; BN., MS. 879: "Kalendariode la maneradel rezarde la Ordende Cavalleriade Aleantara".

38 Ruiz de Vergara,op. cit., tit. v, cap. viii; Difiniciones e Calatrava,tit. VII,

cap. i.39 A number of exemptions of this sort are to be found in AHN., OM.

Consejode las (5rdenes, eg. I58, cajaI. Whenthe GeneralChapterof Santiagoprotestedin I652 at the excessivenumberof dispensations rom galley servicethe Couneilof the Orderspointedoutthat the moneypaid forsuchdispensationsall went for militarypurposes,and wasin factof greaterbenefitthanthe servicethatwastherebyexcused;AHN., OM., Consejode las ()rdenes,ArchivoSecretoSeries I, leg. I0, f. I2, Consultaof Councilof Orders,29 July I652.

40 FranciseoRades y Andrada,Catalogode las Obligacionesuelos Comenda-dores,cavalleros, riores,y otrosreligiosos e la Orden . . de Calatravatienenenrazondesu abitoy profesion Toledo, I57I).

41Diego de la Mota, Tratado obreunproblemanquese advierte omo eha depretenderl habitode las ()rdenesMilitares Valladolid, 603), ff. 6-7V.



44 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER3

secularhonours,but only as fittingprizesfor those whose Christianactionsrendered hem worthy of membershipn the Orders.42 A

long section of the work deals with simony. Habitosmight not begiven n return or payment,nor in settlement f servicesperformed,and de la Mota went so far as to consider n additionas simony heassumptionof an habitofor the purpose simply of receivinganencomienda.43

The spiritualnatureof militaryknighthoodswas emphasized lsoby the bishop of Guadix,Martinde Ayala, n a pamphletwrittenduring the period of his auendanceat the Council of Trent as amember of the Spanish delegation.44 To counter the prevailing

malaise n the Orders,whichhe diagnosed s a mixtureof ignoranceand negligence, Ayala offered a succinct statementof what thereligiousvows implied for the lives of the knights, n the form ofalternate ists of actions hat were obligatory nd of those that wereforbidden. Some ndicaiionof the intellectualevel at whichhe hadto aim his arguments providedby his justification f the inclusionofa remarkable panish ranslation f the Lord's Prayer:".. . Sincea number, hrough heir ailure o understandhe prayers hey recite,showneitherenthusiasm or devotionwhenthey do pray, t occurred

to me that I might render the Lord's Prayer nto our commonCastilian ongue, n view of the numberof times t has to be said".46Rather han endeavour o drawback the Orders o their original

spiritualnorms, other writersaccepted he relaxation f their rulesand tried to create a new raiionale or them. In a work writtenpresumablyo justify he secularizationf the Orders,AndresMendoremarkedhat n his viewthe knights ouldno longerbe considered sreligious; arfrom eading he life of religious rders"thetenorof lifeof the knights s just that of the rest of the laity as regards mbition,

occupation,recreation,day-to-dayconcerns,and indeed in everyotherparticular,withoutany differences eing apparent".46A littlebeforethis, Alonso de Penafielhad written n even stronger erms.In his view, for example, t was not simony or habitos o be boughtand sold, nor even for ministers o be bribed n order hat they mightput in a good wordfor a person nterested n obtaining ne.47 The

42Ibid.,?I3

43 Ibid., f. g4v.44 Martin de Ayala, Compendio Declaracionde lo queson obligados guardar

los Cavallerosde la Ordende Santiago Milan, I552).

45Ibid.,ff. I6V-I7-

46 Andres Mendo, op. cit., p. 89. The Castilianversion of is work, fromwhich all quotationsare taken, s in fact a long resume of the author'sLatin text,De OrdinibusMilitaribusDisquisitionesSalamanca, 657).

47 Alonso de Penafiel y Araujo, Obligaciones excelencias e las tres ()rdenesMilitares Madrid, I643), cap. xi, ff. 84-8V.




vow of poverty, moreover, was no bar to the acquisition of propertyof all sorts, for without goods and money the knight would be unable

to fight or to perform the acts of charityto which he was obliged.48Penafiel's outspokenness is exceptional, but the very fact that the

sale of habitosr the freeacquisitionof propertywere discussedat all issufficientindicationthat such things were in practicenot uncommon.

The majorityof authors might vainly argue that the Orderswere in

fact true religious bodies, but the realitywas obviously too apparent.

When in I684 the Councilof the Orders askedthat knights shouldnotbe included in a donativewhich fell on the owners of carriages, n view

of their religious status, the couIlcil of Castille put forward a long

Consultao refute this pretension,showing that the present way of lifeof the Ordersin no way justifiedtheir being consideredas exempt on

these grounds.49A foreigner might be expected to see such matters in a different

perspective from a Spaniard,and most observersseem to have been

under no illusion as to the true position. Barthelemy Joly, for

example, was a French Benedictine who travelled in Spain at the

beginning of the seventeenth century. He remarked n his memoirsthat the knightswere reallyno morethan wealthy marriedgentlemen,

living comfortablyfrom the revenuesof their encomiendasnd estates,

without having to soil their hands with any manualwork. To addcolour to his description, he quoted two current Spanish proverbs

which poked fun at the sort of men who obtainedthe right to bear theinsigniaof the Order upon their tunics: "con a crusen lospechos eldiablo n los hechos"the Cross on their chests and the devil in their

deeds) and "eldiablonohuyedetodas as cruces"the Devil does not

flee from every Cross).5?lshe seigneurs depicted by Joly would in all probabilityhave been

rich before they ever assumed habitos f the Military Orders. In

theorythe knightshad the right to be sustainedfromthe estatesof the

Orders, but in fact, as we have seen, the amount set aside for theirsupport remainedfixed, despite inflation, at one reala day-I2,000

maravedzsyear. This sum was so inadequatethat it was commonlyreferredto as "the knights' breadand water",and in the end was not

paid at all, the Crown appropriatinghe whole amount for its defenceexpenditure.5l In so far as the Ordersoffered financialrewardsto

48Ibid.,f.sI.49 AHN., Seccion de ConsejosSuprimidos, eg. 7I85: Consultaof Council of

Castille, I0 July I684.6?"Voyagede BarthElemy oly en Espagne, I603-4", ed. L. Barrau-Dihigo,

RevueHispanique, x (I909), p. 589.

61 AGS., Consejoy Juntasde Hacienda, eg. 83I-II40: Consultaof Council ofHacienda,II Oct. I66I see also AntonioDominguezOrtiz,Politicay Haciendade FelipeIV (Madrid, I960), p. 2I3, note 46.




their members, they did so through theirencomiendas,ome of whichwere indeed of considerable worth, though the number was naturally

limited.The yearly incomes of encomiendasluctuated to some extent, butthe following figures, given in an early seventeenth-centuryrelacion,can serve as a general indication:52

Order Number of Encomiendas Value (ducats)Santiago 94 308,889Calatrava 5I I35,000

Alcantara 38 I I4,248

The encomiendasad suffered in both number and value as a conse-quence of the sales and alienations which Charles V and Philip II had

carried out by papal licence, for the nominal purpose of rasing moneyfor the defence of the Mediterraneanagainst pirates.53 The Orderswere compensated for what they lost by the grantof juros,mostly onthe revenues of the silk industry in Granada. The defence of theAndalucian coast might better have been served by refraining fromcrippling the major ndustry of the region by an insupportableburdenof taxation, and in fact it is doubtful whether any interest was everpaid upon these bonds.54 It would appear that about one fifth of allthe encomiendasf the three Orders had been alienated by I600, and

it was no more than a pious hope, therefore, for Philip II to charge hisson with the restitution to the Orders of the properties which hadbeen taken from them.55

In the course of the seventeenth century the value of thoseencomien-das hat remained seems to have declined further, whether on accountof the general economic depression, or possibly through the devasta-tion caused by the Portuguese rebellion in parts of Extremadurawhere many encomiendasere situated. At all events a relacion fI7I2 gives the following figures:56

52 This relacion urvives in a number of copies, each with minor variations:BM., MS. Harleian 3569, ff. I85-204V; BN., MS. 7423, ff. I88-95; RAH.,Coleccionde Salazary Castro,F 8, ff. I-24.

53 On the dismembermentof the property of the Orders, see Salvador deMoxo, "Las Desamortizaciones Eclesiasticas del Siglo XVI ", Anuario deHistoria del DerechoEspanol,xxxi (Madrid, I96I), pp. 327-6I; and Carande,op. cit., pp. 4II-7. Lists of properties alienated may be found in AGS.,PatronatoReal, Libros de Copias,Libro I8, ff. 340V-2' and RAH., ColecciondeSalazary Castro,I 23, ff. 97-II2.

54 The revenues of the silk industry were already earmarked or the salariesof the Captain General of Granada and his officials. See K. Garrad, TheCausesof the SecondRevoltof the Alpufarras,568-7I (Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge,I955), i, p. I78.

55 BM., Add. MS. 25686, f. 226.5B BN., Seccion de Libros Raros, R 23,888, no. 6: "Papeles de D. Luis de

Salazar sobre las (5rdenes". It should be noted that the Calatrava iguresinclude five tenenciasn addition o the 5 encomiendasf the seventeenthcenturyrelacionanalysedabove; six encomiendasf Santiago,however, do not appear nthe later list.



MII,ITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY 47

Order Number of Value in Equivalent nEncomiendas maravedisde vellon ducats

Gross Net Gross NetSantiago 88 585642,624 46,I7I,935 I565380 I23,I25

Calatrava 56 39,833,I57 28,I26,97I I06,222 75,005

Alcantara 38 26,597,856 20,589,483 705928 54,905

Not till much later in the eighteenth century does one again begin tofind figures approachingthose of the early seventeenthcentury.

Among the encomiendashere were some which at the best of timesbrought in only comparativelysmall amounts - 500 ducats, or evenless-which could hardly supporta single individualonce the various

obligations to which the encomienda was liable had been met. Inothers, however,the rewards to be had were certainlyinviting. Thefollowing table gives a break-down of the values of individualencomiendass they were in the earlyseventeenth century:57

Value in ducats Santiago Calatrava AlcantaraUp to 499 4 2

500 - 999 9 4 4I,000 - I,999 32 20 I2

2,000 - 2,999 I 7 I 2 7

3,000 - 3,999 7 3 3

4,ooo - 4,999 I I 3 4

5,000 - 7,499 6 3 6755?? - 9)999 4 I 2

I0,000 and over 4 3

94 SI 38

The majorityof encomiendasielded between one and three thousandducats, while a few were worth considerably more than this:Socuellamos, in the Order of Santiago was worth I6,250 ducats,Manzanares, in that of Calatrava,I6,000 ducats, Herera, in that ofAlcantara, 7702 ducats.

Financial rewards,of course, werenot everything. His biographertells how in I529 Francisco de los Cobos, the royal secretary,was keento exchange his well-endowed encomiendaf Azuaga for the lessvaluable, but far more prestigious encomienda ayorof Leon, "thehighest title a courtier could receive short of a patent of nobility".58Los Cobos was fortunate; for manythe grant of an ecomiendawas ofgreat economic importance, particularly or the younger sons of titledfamilies who could have little hope of any ultimate share in the

57 These figuresare taken from the relacioncited above, note 52.68 Hayward Keniston, Franciscode los Cobos Secretary of the Emperor

CharlesV (Pittsburgh, 959), pp. I2I-2. Details of the exchangeare in AGS.,Est. (Castilla), eg. I7-I8, f. 9.




inheritance. Bernardino de Mendoza, for example, for many yearsSpanish ambassador n Paris, was the younger son of the third count

of Coruna, and had considerable financial problems until the kingbestowed on him the encomiendaf Penausende in the Order ofSantiago.59

It was natural that at the time of a vacancy in an encomienda,hereshould gather large numbers of petitioners for it. Among thesemight be men and women of the highest social rank, for such couldeasily be the occasion for the development of bitter faction fighting.When the encomiendaf Moratallabecame vacant in I6I2, no less thantwenty-three candidates came forward, among them the Princess

Doria, the counts of Fuentes de Aragon, Castellar,and Guzman, andthe marqueses of Cerralvo, Sancino, and Ayamonte.60

The Crown characteristically xtracted as much advantageas it wasable from this source. It alreadyenjoyed direct revenue from variousdues which fell on the encomiendass a whole, and it took the incomesfrom any vacant encomiendas.n addition, however, some of themore wealthyencomiendasere from time to time granted to membersof the royal family. At the beginning of the eighteenth century a"Relation of the encomiendashich are granted with future succession

to the Lord Infante Don Phelipe" listed fourencomiendasf Santiago,five of Calatrava,and three of Alcantara, including four of the fiveencomiendasayores.6l The Order of St. John of Jerusalemwas theone most affected by this policy, which in fact culminated in thevirtual secularization of that Order under Charles III. Althougheven then the Castilian Orders did not escape, theirencomiendaserein fact used for the most part for the reward of services and as ameans of bestowing royal favour.

Not infrequently encomiendasere held by women; although

technically they could be considered only as administrators,and not ascomendadores,his meant in practice that they enjoyed all the financialaxld ocial advantagesofthe encomiendasithout any ofthe (admittedlymeagre) obligations to the Orders themselves that the comendadorgenerally owed. A widow was frequently allowed to continue inpossession of her late husband's encomienda,62r she might well begranted an encomiendaor the first time in the name of a younger son

59 A. Morel-Fatio, "Don Bernardino de Mendoza", Bulletin Hispanique,Viii (I906), pp, 27-8.6?RAH., Colecci6n de Salazary Castro,I 26, ff. 65-8V.

ffl AHN., Est., leg. 2605, f. 66.62 Luis de Salazar y Castro, Los Comendadores e la Orden de Santizo,

ed. Marquesde Ciadoncha Madrid,I949) containsnvunerous xamplesof this.




whom she had to support.63 In I7I2 more than one-fifth of theencomiendasf the Order of Calatravan Castille and Aragon were in

the hands of women (I2 out of 56), as were 8 of the 38encomiendasfAlcantara. 4

The high nobility seem to have enjoyed practicallyhalf the totalnumber of encomiendas,nd a considerablygreaterproportion of theirtotal value. This is brought out clearly by the following tables,relating to the year I622, which show Erst the proportionof comenda-doreswho came from the ranks of the dukes, counts, and marqueses,or their immediate families, and second, the proportion of the totalvalue of the Orders'encomieszdashich these nobles held.65

NUMBERS OF ENCOMIENDAS IN NOBLE HANDS, I622

C)rder Number of Comendadoresrom ?'encomiendas titled families

Santiago 94 38 4? *Calatrava 5 26 50 .9

Alcantara 38 I7 44. 7

Total I 83 8 44 2

VALUE OF ENCOMIENDAS IN NOBLE HANDS, I622

Order Value of all Value of encomiendas ?5Oencomiendas in hands of nobles

Santiago 308,889 I84,869 59. g

Calatrava I35,000 I02,2I4 75 .7Alcantara II4,248 70,o67 6I . 3

Total 558,I37 357,I50 63 "9

The example of Calatrava in particular is quite striking: half the

encomiendasreheld by nobles, yet these account in themselves forover three-quartersof the total value. Obviously there was alwaysthe possibility, however remote, that any knight of the Orders mightbe lucky enought to achieve an encomienda,nd it was perhaps for thisreason that Santiago, the Order with the most encomiendas,as also

B3 RAH., Coleccionde Salazary Castro, I >6, ff. 89-9V: "Memoria que hizoel Sr. Francisco Gero. de Heredia de provisionesde encomiendascon beneficiode mugeres, ano I6I3"; BN., MS. 2693, ff. 57-8: "Relacionde encomiendasdela horden de Santiagoque fuesen dado a personas no cavallerosde la horden,

a rnugeresy a otros efectos diferentes".64 BN., Seccion de Raros, R 23,888, no. 6.65 These tables have been drawnup from the informationcontained n BM.

MS. Harleian 3569, ff. I85-204V (encomiendas nd their values) and in AGS.,Graciay Justicia, leg. 890 (encomiendasnd naJnesof comendadores).




the Ordermost soughtafter or habitos.66But in reality, or poorerhidalgos, oldiersor any but the most influentialCrown ervants, he

chances f obtaining n encomiendaf whatever aluewereslight.Only the most optimistic,or the most noble-blooded, an have

entered he Orderswithanydirectlymaterialistic otives. Caballerosde habito constitutedno special rank within the Castiliannoblehierarchy, ut they did havea distinct nstitutional haracter y virtueof the historical raditionwhich the Ordersembodied. It was thissenseof self-identity, nd n particularhe guarantee f nobilitywhichwas implied n it, which gave the habito ts place n the artistocraticcursushonorum. The intensityof the demand or militaryhabitos,

however, an onlybe understoodn termsof a societywhichexcludedfrom its upper ranksnot only the base-born,but also the raciallysuspect.67

In Spain there are two classes of nobility [wrote a contemporary]. Onegreater,which is hidalguia,and another esser, which is purity of blood, theclass which we call Old Christians. And althoughthe possessionof hidalguiais more prestigious, it is much more disgraceful to lack purity of blood,because in Spain we hold a convnon peasant of pure ancestry in greateresteem than an hidalgof dubious origins.68

The MilitaryOrderswere one of the principalcommunities nSpaindevoted o the preservation nd continuance f the statutesofpurityof blood, which sought o exclude rompositionsof influenceall who might have any trace of Jewish or Moorishblood in theirveins. When the archbishopof Toledo, Juan Martinez Siliceo,introducedhis own limpieza tatute n the CathedralChapter thedecisive mpulse o the generalacceptance f limpiesa s an essential

?s The list of knights of the Order of Santiago note I2 above) contains someI3,000 naInes; the correspondingvoluxnefor the other two Orders (Madrid

I903) includes3,886 membersof the Orderof Calatrava nd2,I I8 of Alcantaratogether less than half the Santiago total. The Council of the Orders triedto introducesome system of rotationbetween the three Orders n the concessionof habitos;one such plan is printed by Jose Gomez Centurion,"Desproporcion-alidad en la concesion de mercedes de habitos entre las tres ?5rdenes deSantiago,Calatrava Alcantara n I674 y I703", Boletinde la Real Academiadela Hzstorsa, x] (I9I2), pp. 449-452.

67 The remarksmade here in connection with the idea of limpiezade sangreare necessarilyvery lisnited. For a wider treatment the tW0 basic works areAntonio Doniinguez Ortiz, La Clase Social de los Conversos n Castilla en laEdad Moderna (Madrid, I956), and Albert A. Sicroff, Les Controverses esStatuts de "Puretede Sang" en Espagnedu XVe au XVIIe Siecle (Paris,I960).Recent work is well summarizedby Dominguez Ortiz in "HistoricalResearch

on Spanish Conversos n the last fifteen years", CollectedStudies in honourofAmericoCastro'seightieth ear, ed. M. P. Hornik (Oxford, I965), pp. 63-82.68 BN., MS. I3043, f. II7V: "Papel que di6 el Reyno de Castilla a uno de

los Senores Ministros de la Junta diputada para tratarse sobre el Memorialpresentadopor el Reyno a Su Magestadcon el libro del PadreMaestre Salucio."



MILITARY ORDERS IN SPANISH SOCIETY SI

qualificationor officeandhonour he explainedhis action n thefollowingway:

The principalreasonwhich hasmovedme the Arehbishopandmy Chapter omake the said Statute is that it is well known and attestedthat in the threeOrdersof Knighthood that there are in Spain, of which our Lord Emperor sgeneraland perpetualAdministrator,no personmay be admitted who is notan Old Christian.69

With he Ordersointimatelyonnectedwitha conceptnowblessedby the Primal See of Spain, the pressure o obtainan habitowasoverwhelming.The Orders ouldnotwithstandhepopular emand.Grantsof habitos ecame o widespreadhatbefore ongthesituation

was reachedwheresuspicion ell automatically n the nobilityandlimpiezaof any familywhich did not hold one. The habitoputautomaticallyotonly tspossessor, ut hisfamilyanddescendants swell, beyond all such suspicion,and the acquisitionof an habitothereforecame to hold supreme mportanceor the three or fourthousandamilieswhoformed he middleranksof the hidalgo lass.For the high nobility,whose positionno one woulddare to call inquestion,and for the commonpeople,the matterdidnot everarise.But forthe mass of middlinghidalgoshe pursuitof anhabitomight

well be anobsession, hesourceofinnumerable orries, xpenses, ndconflicts,he end ofall theiractivities.Habitoswerevaluable otonlyto themanambitiousorhispersonal

fortune. They were also commonly oughtafter as dowries. Thenecessityto place one or more daughters n society throughanadvantageous arriagewasan acuteworry orthosewhoseownsocialpositionwas matchedby no correspondingortune. If the futurehusband ould be temptedby the offerof anhabito,however,a goodmatchwould be more or less assured. A list of those who had

peiitioned heCrown orhabitosnMarch 646, containseventy-ninepersons, ifteenof whomasked or thehabito sa marriage oriion ortheirdaughters.70In I660 whatappears o be only one of severalattempts n the partof theKingandCounciloftheOrders o stoptheconcession f habitos sdowries oundshape n a RoyalDecree,7lbutin practicehis canhavehadlittleeffect,so greatwas the demand orhabitos o be givenfor this purpose. All thatcouldbe done wasto

69 BN., MS. I3267, f. 27gv: "Sobre el Estatuto de Limpieza de la SanetaIglesia de Toledo".

70 AGS., Graeia y Justicia,leg. 890: "Relaeion de personasque suplican aVM les hagamereedde Havito de las tres OrdenesMilitareseuyasmemorialesVM me ha snandado emitir" 3I Mar. I646).

71 AGS., Est. (Espana), eg. 4I27: RoyalDecree, Madrid, 25 Aug. I660.




insist that the future husband at least be named, rather than that thegrant be made a completely open one.7 2

In the same way, a child could hardly be given a better start in lifethan to have an habitoconferred upon him at an early age. Theofficial age of entry into the Orders, fixed in the early Constitutions atsixteen, was reduced after the incorporation of the Orders into theCrown. Now it was permissible to assume the habitowithoutactuallyprofessing or taking any vows, at the age often, or in the case ofSantiago, only seven.73 Even this minimum requirement wasfrequently broken. Habitoswere commonly given to very youngchildren, and cases like that of the infant son of Rodrigo Calderon,

Philip III's unscrupulous favourite, granted the dignity of an habitowhen he was not yet oneyear of age, need cause no particular urprise.74

Once the Orders had so obvious a social function to fulfil, it wasinevitable that they should attempt to close their ranks to all who werersotofthe most unimpeachable ocial respectability. One can see fromthe Constitutions approved by successive General Chapters of theOrders how the entry requirementswere gradually ightened, until bythe early seventeenth centllry hidalgoblood was demanded of theparents and grandparentsof the claimantto anhabito;hisancestryhad

to be free from all trace, however remote, of Jewish or Moorishblood;his pedigree similarly was not to contain victims of the Inquisition,whether penitenced or condemned, nor those who had pursued baseoccupations; while he himself had to be of legitimate birth and to enjoypopular esteem.75 At the same time the rigour of the proofs necessaryto ascertainthese qualities, which were insisted upon before anhabitocould be conceded, was also increased. Only two sets of papersrelating to proofs survive for the period before I5I8, the rest havingperished in a fire at Burgos, where for a time they were stored.76 But

such evidence as there is, suggests that up to the middle of the sixteenthcentury these inquiries were fairly rudimentary, being limited to the

72AHN., Seccion de Consejos Suprimidos, leg. 4444, f. I48: Consulta ofCouncil of Castille, 26 Sept. I67I; leg. 4445, f. 76, idem., IO June I672; andseveral others.

73 Ruiz de Vergara,op. cit., tit. I, cap. vii; Difinicionesde Calatrava, tit. VI,

cap.Vii.

74 Lviis Cabrerade Cordoba, Relacionesde las cosas sucedidas n la Corte deEspana (Madrid, I857), p. 267. Calderon had good reason for wishing hissons to enter the Orders in view of his own highly suspect ancestry. SeeMarcel Bataillon, "Don Rodrigo Calderdn Anversois", Bulletin de la Classe

des Lettres et des SciencesMorales et Politiques,AcademieRoyale de Belgique,xlv (I959), pp. 595-6I6@

76 Ruiz de Vergara,op. cit., tit. I, caps. i, ii, iii, iV, V; Difiniciones e Calatrava,tit. VI, cap. i.

76 Vignau and thagon, Caballeros e Santiago,p. Xii.




collectionof evidence roma few witnessesas to the hidalguia f thepretendent. The procedure ywhichevidencewastaken nthe form

of writtendepositionsby speciallyappointednformants pparentlydidnot beginuntil around 540. From henon, however,he scopeandcomplexity f theseinvestigationsrewenormously. Extensivedocumentaryvidencewas required; xpenses hotup; passionswereexcited;andwitnessesmightwellbe suborned s pettyjealousieswereunleashed.7

Once he requirementsorentryntotheOrdersweremade o severe,the numberof doubtsand queriesthat could ariseover eligibilitynaturally osesharplyas well. Under PhilipIII the manyhabitos

detainedn theCouncilof the Orders ndnot despatched,enerallynaccount f some ault nthe proofs,ed to complaintsndpetitionshatthe severityof the inquiries houldbe relaxed. When he wrote inI603, Diego dela Motareportedhattherewere ifty-four abitos eldup inthe Counciln thisway,whichwasthesourceof manygrievancesthroughout he provinces.78The annalistCabrerade Cordoba nI6I4 referredo the demandsora generalmodificationf thestatutesof limpiezade sangre,arld he mentionedas a particular ourceofcomplainthemanyAlabitosf theOrdersdetainedn the Council.79

Therapidly rowingnumberof petitionsor habitos ot unnaturallymetwitha stiffening fthe rankson the partof thosewho werealreadyknights,andwho did not, for obviousreasons,wish to see the oldprestigeof the Ordersbecomedebased. Alreadyperhaps t was toolate. Suarezde Figueroa,writingn I6I7, recalledhow in his youtha wholevillagewould tand n aweshoulda knightofone of theOrderspass through. "The peasants n particularwouldpracticallybeatthemselveson the chestif they saw the Comendadoro by". Now,however,suchrespectwas a thing of the past. Knighthoodswere

muchmorenumerous, nd not a few knightsmenof no substance tall.80

ThereignofPhilip Vwasan mportanturning oint or heOrders.Their nfluencen Spanish ocietywasnowat its height,yetparadoxi-cally his wastoprovedisastrousor nstitutionswhichhadgained hatpositionprecisely hrough heirexclusivecharacter. Moreoverhe

77 Some interesting general renzarkson the conduct of the inquiries arecontained n Domingues Ortiz, La ClaseSocial de los Conversos, p. 73-9.

78 Diego de la Mota, op. cit., f. I49.79 Luis Cabrerade Cordoba,Op. Cit.) p. 56I. Some of the msny petitions

addressedto the Crown askingfor the speedy despatchof habitosdetainedinthe Council Inay be found in AHN., OM., Consejo de las ()rdenes, ArchivoSecreto, SeriesI, leg. 3I.

80 ChristovalSuarez de Figueroa,El Passagero MadridI6I7), p. 443, quotedDominguez (5rtis,La SoczedadEspanola, , p. 202.




periodof national mergency fterI635 which madeapparent o theworld hat heprestige f Spainwasonlya shadow,ncidentallyave he

lie also to the prestigeof the Orderswithin Spain. They embodieda gloriousmilitary radition, ut no longerwere heirmemberswillingor even able o fight n defenceof theircountry. Prestigewasall thatthe Ordershad hadto justify hemselves or overa century;once thatmythwasexploded, herewasnothing eft on which o rebuild.

It was inevitable hat the accession f the new monarch houldbeheraldedwith a good deal of anticipatory umour. Many differenthopesandaspirations ereraisedbriefly, ut t was airly oonapparentthattherewasto be no realchangeof direction. The Orderswereno

exception. In I62I despatchesor 30 habitosweresentto Flanders orewarddeservingmembers f the Spanish rmy,and doubtless lso nan endeavouro silence hose criticswho pointedout the incongruityof honours in essence militarybeing given so regularly o merecourtiers.8l Courtiers,however,were not exactlyneglectedeither.Two years ater,while the law of the three actospositivoswas beingpromulgatedn order o facilitatehe taking f proofsof purityof blood,the Councilof the Orderswas making epresentationo the king overthe prodigalitywith which habitoswere granted.82 The Councilof

the Orderswas opposed rom he first o eventhe degreeof relaxationin the limpieza tatutes mplied n the law of the actospositivos. Theintention fthis law, ssuedas a Pragmatic y PhilipIV on Io FebruaryI623, was to render mmunefrom further nvestigation ny familywhichhad successfully ad ts ancestryested hree imes n either heMilitary Orders, the ColegiosMayores, the Inquisition, or theCathedral f Toledo.83 The Council,however, aw this as openingthe flood gates to a torrentof unsuitable nd unworthy pplicants,84and in fact it nevercompletely ut the law into effectsince it always

insisted hatat leastoneoftheactos positivos submittedmusthavebeenobtained n the Council tself.5

Whatever he attitudeof the Councilof the Orders,however, hekinghadto reward is servants omehow. In a letter o the Presidentof his Councilof State, Philip explained he position n terms that

81 Dominguez Ortiz,Op. Cit., I, p. 203.

82 BM., MS. Egerton 332, f. 2I I, Consultaof Council of Orders,5 July I623;

ff. 2I2-5V, Consulta, n.d. On the Decree of the c4ct0s ositivos, see Sicroff,op. cit., pp. 2I6-220.

83 The Pragmatic s printed in Novisima Recopilacion e Leyes, Lib. XI, tit.

xxvii, ley 22.84 The protractedargumentbetween king and Colmcilof the Ordersover this

may be followed in the series of Consultas contained n AHN., OM., Consejode las ()rdenes, leg. 6275, cajaI.

85 AHN., Seccion de Inquisicion, leg. 5I0, f. 29.




could hardly be simpler. "Without reward and punishment no

monarchycan be preserved. Now rewardsmay be either financialor

honorific. Money we have not, so we have thought it right andnecessaryto remedythe fault by increasingthe numberof honours". 6

Membershipin the Orders hereforecontinuedto rise. The followingtable shows the number of habitosof the Order of Santiago alone,despatchedin each five-yearperiodfrom I52ItO I660:87

I52I-25 45 I57I-75 5I I6I6-20 I68

I526-30 I07 I576-80 6I I62I-25 5I5

IS3I-35 I36 I58I-85 90 I626-30 459

I536-40 79 I586-90 79 I63I-35 308

I54I-45 94 I59I-95 87 I636-40 464

I546-50 48 I596-I600 I06 I64I-45 542I55I-55 23 I60I-09 I04 I646-50 424

I556-60 80 I606-I0 I22 I65I-55 360

I56I-65 II3 I6II-I5 I64 I656-60 I97

I566-70 87

These figuresspeak for themselves. In I557 the Order of Santiago

contained 242 knights, and in I572 only 22I.88 The opening of the

seventeenthcenturysawthe firstbig increase n the membershipof the

Orders;by I625 there were I,459 knights in the three Orders,957 of

Santiago, 305of Calatrava, and I97 of Alcantara,89a figure way

above anything known before. This was nothing, however, incomparisonwith what was to come. The Conde Duque de Olivares,

whose all-pervading nfluence enabledhim to cast asidesuch restraintsas had prevailed hitherto, put habitos f the Ordersup for sale with

the same blithe disregard for public opinion as he had shown inintroducing into Castille the Portuguesemarranos.0

The sale of habitoswas so open and unconcealed that even the

author of the Nicandro,Olivares'chief apologist, does not trouble to

deny it, but contents himself with justifying it, arguing that in fact

habitoswere given only to men who would in any event have meritedthem, and who could properlybe rewarded n no otherway 91 At the

beginning of the war with France, the sale of habitoswas one of the

86AHN., Est., Coleccion Vega, xix (Papeles Varios), sig. 859 D: king toPresidentof Council, II Aug. I625.

87 Figures derivedfromVignau andlBhagon,Caballeros e Santiago.88 RAH., Coleccionde Salazary Castro,I 34, ff. 79-80, and8gv-go: "Nomina

de la Orden de Santiago".89 AGS., Consejoy Juntasde Hacienda,leg. 440-6I4: lists of knightsof the

MilitaryOrders.90 On this, see Dominguez Ortiz, Politica y Haciendade Felipe IV, part II,

chap. 3.91 BN., MS. II004, ff. 6v-7v: "Nicandro,o Antidotocontra as calumniasque

la ignoranciay embidia ha esparcidopor deslucir y rnanchar as heroycas einmortalesaccionesdel CondeDuque de Olivares".




faculties with which the count of Castrillo was empowered when hewas left in charge of the government in Madrid.92 Ippolito Guidi,

the ambassador of the duke of Modena, was writing in I643 that itwas so commonplace for habitoso be sold in Madrid, that an oldretainer of Count Fulvio Testi was now to be seen proudly displayingthe cross of Santiago upon his chest.93 The story may well beapocryphal, and undoubtedly the majority of habitos till went topersons well qualified to assume them. It was an unfortunate story,however, from the point of view of a social hierarchy, the upperreaches of which were concernedto preserve and fortify their position;a hierarchy, moreover, still deeply affected by renaissance ideas of

nobility as a hall mark of both personal merit and ancient lineage.94Olivares had already shocked traditional orthodoxy by declaring in

a meeting of the Council of State that the statutes of limpiezawereunjust and impious "against all law, divine, natural, and human",95and his own blood was notoriously suspect.96 It is hardly surprising,therefore, that under his rule grave suspicions came to be voiced atthe apparent subversion taking place within the Orders. Thewritings of satirists and moralists alike bear ample witness to popularalarm. 7

Meanwhile the tranquility of the royal conscience was assured bythe customaryjuntasof lawyers and theologians. Penafiel describesthe situation.98

His Majesty decided that three hundredhabitos hould be conferred,each fora certain sum in silver, so that the resultant- ield might help to defray theexpenses of the war irl Cataloniaand Poralgal. Before His Majesty issuedthe necessarydecree, however, he assembleduntas of distinguished awyerswho rnet together with many learned theologians to debate the matter, andto safeguardHis Majesty's conscience. They ruied that His Majesty mightdistribute the habitos o his vassals for a silver payment, without incurringthe sin of simony, and His Majesty thereuponresolvedto execute the project.

92 AGS., Est. (Espana), eg. 4I26: king to Geronimo de Villanueva, I Nov.I64I; BM., MS. Egerton332, f. 238 : Count of Castrillo o Secretaryof Councilof Orders, I2 May I642.

93 Carl Justi, Diego Velazquezund sein 3'ahrhundert,i (Bonn, I888), p, 234

and note.94 Marcel Bataillon, 2rasme t l'Espagne Paris,I937), second Spanishedition,

Erasmoy Espana (Mexico, I966), iS the essential work on the reception ofrenaissance humanist ideas in sixteenth-century Spain. Interesting for itsremarkson the humanists'view of nobility is Fritz Caspari,Humanism nd theSocial Order n TudorEngland Chicago,I954).

95AGS., Est. (Inglaterra), eg. 2849: Consulta of Council of State, I Nov.I625.

9 6 Julio CaroBaroia,La SociedadCriptofudia n la Cortede FelipeI V (Madrid,I963)5 P 4?

97 Julio Caro Baroia, Los 3?udios n la Espana Modernay Contemporanea,i(Madrid, I96I), pp. 355-7.

98 Penafiel, op. cit., f. 88.




The price for which habitoswere sold varied, but in relationto the

prestige of the oice, it was not high. A Jesuit news-letter of I639

reported: "Every day there are many habitos estowed as pensions orto rewardservicesrendered,and so frequentlyare they sold at a figure

of I8,000 or 20,000 realeshat this might be reckonedas the customary

price of them".99 Pellicer'snews-sheet for I2 November I64I, gave

a little more informationon what happened:

Circumstancesbeing at such a desperatepitch, His Majestyhas been pleasedto orderMy Lord Countof Castrillo o disposeof 500 habitos, ith provisionthat the proofs be conductedat court by commonrepute,amongpersonsofquality who deserve them, who shall contributein cash stlch a sum as isequivalentto the value of the grant.l??

Clearly the distribution of hundreds of habitos nd the relaxation

madein the procedurefor investigatillgthe qualitiesof the candidates,

reduced now to a mere formality, could only combine to produce

a devaluationof the prestige of honours once so prized. As over so

much of western Europe at this time, the "inflationof honours" was

removing much of the dignity attachedto them.l?lThere were naturally many people who were concerned that this

should not happen. In I643 it was firrillyreassertedthat the proofs

for habitoshould be madein the placesof originof the pretendants. 02Going to Madrid or to some other large city was an obvious way to

escape the petty jealousies of a small community, and to hide any

defects of ancestry that these might uncover.l03 The Orders had

therefore to insist that necessaryinquiries should not be limited to

those who came into contact with the pretendantin the capital, who

might well be quite ignorant of his family background. Other

reformswerealso in the air. Scarcelyhad Olivaresretiredfrom oice

than the king ordered that habitoshould not be given in return for

loans or other services to the Treasury, and that the concession ofhabitoshould also be stopped in respect of those who hitherto had

been granted them for serving, or for raising men to serve, in

Catalonia. 04

With the summoningof a GeneralChapterof the Orders n s652-the first such meeting for nearlythirty years,despite the statuteto the

99Memorial istorico spanol,v (Madrid, I862), pp. 257-8.

100 osef Pellicer y Tobar, "Avisos Historicos", reprinted in AntonioValladares,Semanariorudito,xxii Madrid, I790), p. I62.

101Lawrence Stone, "The Inflation of Honours, I558-I64I", Past and

Present,o. I4 (Nov. I958), pp. 45-70, relatesspecifically o the Englishcourt,but containsmuch of obvious relevancetoo to the Spanishexperience.

102 lfiIemorialistorico spanol,vii,pp. 34-5.103 See Julio Caro Baroja,Los fudios,i, pp. 376-7.104 RAH., Coleccionde Pellicer,vol. xxvi, ff. s36v-7.



PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 43

effect hata Chapterwasto be calledevery hreeyears hopeswererevived hatsomethingurthermightbe doneto haltthe downwardtrend.l05 Discussioncentredon how habitosmightbe restored otheirolddignity, hrough einforcingheproofsof nobilityandpurityof blood. The most notoriousabusescertainlydo appear o havebeeneliminated, utit wasclearlyarfromeasy o pullback,oncetheappetitesof wealthyand influential spirantso membershipn theOrdershadbeenwhetted. The customof concedinghabitoso theprocuradoresf the Cortes ortheirservices,orexample,wasalreadywell-established.l06Whoeverhad occasion o lend any mannerofserviceotheCrown r tothecommunity, owevermodest t mightbe,

considered imselfentitled o be honoured orit witha knighthood,andnotinfrequentlyewouldactually btainone. TheCrowntselffound t hard o refrainromutilizing o cheapandeffectivea wayofrewardingts servants. In I652n forexample,aftera popular evoltin Seville,many loyal citizensconfidently xpectedto have theirassistancen quellingheriotrecognized ndrewardedwiththegrantof anhabito. In theend,the CardinalArchbishop imenteldrewupa list of thirty-twonameswhich he submitted o the CouncilofCastille,who in turn selectedthirteenof the most deservingand

bestowedhabitos ponthese.l07Theprestige f theOrdersmightbedilutedbystrength fnumbers,

but it could not by this means ever disappear. What Olivaresattempted o do in addition,however,was to use the Ordersas asourceof men and of moneyfor warpurposes,andin so doing heextinguishedor ever the lingeringnotionthat they still containedcorporatelyomemeasureof militaryprowess. An habitomight begiven as a reward orthemanwhoraiseda givennumberof men fortheroyalarmies thisowncost,l08butthechiefconcern ftheConde

Duquewas osecurehepersonalmilitaryervice fallthearistocracy,

105 Interestingpapersrelatingto this Chapterare contained n AHN., OM.LibrosManuscritos,sig. I340 C- BN., MS. 7I7- and BM., Add. MS. 28437.

106 This is apparent rom a summary nspection of the Consultasde Graciaexpedients issued by the Camara de Castilla for the concession of variouspositions and ofiices. They are to be found in AHN., Seccion de ConsejosSuprimidos,legs. 4407-4742. As early as I525 procuradores ere petitioningfor habitosbeforethey returned o their localities:AGS., Est. (Castilla), eg. I3,

f. 69.

107 AHN., Seccion de ConsejosSuprimidos, eg. 7I62, f. 25 (Royal Decree,26 July I652), andf. 29 (Consultaof Councilof Castille,28 Aug. I652); AntonioDominguez Ortiz, "Documentossobre el motin de la Feria en I652", ArchivoHispalense) os. 2I-2 (I947), pp. 69-93.

108 For example AGS., GuerraAntigua, leg. I329: Consulta of yunta deExecucion,0 July I640; leg. I374: idem.,IS Mar. I64I; leg. I379: Consultaofunta de Coroneles)9 June I64I; and several more.



MILITARY ORDERS IN SPANISH SOCIETY

59and n particularfthe knights f theMilitaryOrders 09 Repeatedly,knightsweresummoned o serve n person,or at leastto appointand

pay a proxy o serve n their stead,ll?but the regimentwhichwas soassembled was starved of provisions,suffered heavy desertions,particularly n the part of the knights hemselves,andwas defeatedby Frenchforcesnear Lerida n October 642. Admittedly t wasable to recoup ts forces sufficiently o play an effectivepart in thelater campaigns,ncluding he recapture f Barcelona; ut by thisstage it was not a companyof knights at all, but merely one ofmercenaries aid by the knights to fight in their name. It is aninterestingand rather patheticcommentaryon the ideals of the

MilitaryOrders hat even these paid mercenarieshad to submitthemselves t thiscritical tage n Spain'smilitaryortuneso the sameinquiriesas to birthand ancestry s characterizedhe admission fnew knights,beforebeing allowed o takeup arms.lll

If Olivareshad at root a pressingneed to use the revenuesandresources of the Orders in a time of nationalemergency, thefavouritism nd corruptionwhichmarkedout the reignof the lastAustrianking had little such justification. Under Charles II itwould appear hat habitoswere no longer openly sold, though this

does not by anymeans mply thattheir concession everted o moreorthodox criteria. Rarely now does there seem to be even thepretence that habitoswere bestowedas a reward of true merit.Among the mass of petitions or habitosdirected o the CouncilofCastille, he reasonsput forward o justifythe requestsare diverseand occasionallyizarre. Someasked or an habito orhaving oughtbulls n localfiestas;ll2or others t wasenough hat their athershadserved as treasurers f millones r in other positions n the admini-stration.ll3 Manywere contentsimply with detailing he services

lent in the past by their ancestors. Petitionswerepassedon in thesame way by the Council of the Indies in favour of relatores,

treasurers,lguaciles mayores, andothercolonial fficials.ll4 Hitherto

109For full details see Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, "La Movilizacion de laNobleza Castellana en I640", Anuario de Historia del DerechoEspanol, xxv(I955), pp. 799-823.

110E.g. BM., Add. MS. 2I439, f. 77: Order of Philip IV that the knights ofCalatrava erve on the frontiers of Spain, 30 Jan. I640. Other instances aregiven by DominguezOrtiz in the article cited in the previousnote.

1ll BM., MS. Egerton332, f. 24I: "Calidadesque han de tener los hidalgosque han de ser admitidosparaservir en el batallonde Cavalleriade las Ordenes

en lugar de los Comendadores Cavallerosdellas",3I Dec. I642.2AHN., Seccion de ConsejosSuprimidos, eg. 4444, ff. 99, I00.3 Ibid., f. I47; leg. 4445, f. 50; and manyothers.

114AGI., Seccion de Gobierno,Indiferente General), eg. 788, containsmanysuch examples.



60 PASTND PRESENT NUMBER3

these etitions had gone directly to the Council of the Orders for

consideration,ut they were now so numerousthat it was considered

advisableor them to be channelledin the first instance through theCamaraeCastilla,wherethey could be vetted. This body rejected

aood number of them out of hand, but others which had no greater

intrinsicmerit it accepted, with no very clear criteriaof discrimina-

tion. There were attempts to reserve habitosof the Order of

Santiagoor men with military service, while allowing entry to the

otherwo Ordersto those who meritedit throughfamilydistinctionor

politicalervice,ll5 but how far these were effectivein practiceis not

at ll clear What is certainis that the characterand purpose of the

venerablenstitutionof knighthood n the MilitaryOrdershadbecome

completely erverted.

It has been argued already that the Military Orders served as

amirrorof the social ideals of Golden Age Spain. From this poiIlt

ofview it is perhapseven more interestingto discoverthe reasonsfor

whichhabitosmight be withheld than those for which they might be

conferred. The papersrelatingto habitoswhich were never granted

remainn the SecretArchive of the Council of the Orders,anda great

dealof workwould be necessaryto drawany generalconclusionsfrom

them. Other sources, however, are more accessible.Dispensations

grantedby the Papacy make clear the most frequent difficulties in

whicha would-be knightmight find himself. He might, for example,

enjoyhis hidalgo tatus by royal privilege rather than by blood; he

might discover that he was of illegitimate birth or that his blood

contained some trace of a Jewish or Moorish ancestor; or perhaps

most interesting in view of the light it sheds on the position of the

Orders within contemporary society, he might discover that the

occupationor professionthat he, or one of his ancestors,pursued, was

consideredunworthy of the prestige ofknighthood.

The numberof dispensationsgranted n differentyearsis impossible

to ascertainwith any certainty. Such figures as there are, however,

conform well with what one might expect, as is evident from the

table opposite, page 6I.ll6

Dispensations under Philip II were few and far between, but a

steadyrise is evident underhis successor. With the coming to power

of Olivares,the number of dispensationsrose out of all proportion,as

115 RAH., Variosde Historia,volume I (9-29-5-5949), f. IOI: Royi Order,

4 Sep. I692.116 AHN., OM., Consejo de las 6rdenes, leg. 6275, caja 2: "Memoriade

Brevesde Su Sanctidaden razonde dispensary suplirdefectosparaobtenerel

habito de la Orden de Santiago". See also RAH., Coleccion de Salazary

Castro,135, ff. 132-3.



6IILITARYRDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY

PAPALISPENSATIONSFROM THE ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

OF SANTIAGO, I558-I657

I558 I I583 - I608 2

I559 - I584 - I609 3

I560 - I585 - I6I0 I

I56I - I586 I I6II 4

I562 I I587 - I6I2 2

I563 - I588 - I6I3 I

I564 - I589 - I6I4 2

I565 2 I590 I I6I5 3

I566 - I59I - I6I6 5

I567 - I592 - I6I7 8

I568 - I593 I I6I8 2

I569 - I594 - I6I9 I

I570 - I595 - I6204

I57I - I596 - I62I 4

I572 - I597 I I622 I

I573 - I598 I I623 6

I574 - I599 2 I624 5

I575 - I600 - I625 5

I576 - I60I I I626 I0

I577 - I602 I I627 6

I578 - I603 I I628 I4

I579 I I604 2 I629 I5

I580 - I605 - I630 6

I58I - I606 I I63I I

I582 - I607 - I632 2

OFHE ORDER

I633I 34

I635

I636

I637

I638

I639

I640

I64I

I642

I643

I 644

I 645

I 646

I647

I648

I 49

I 50

I65I

I 52

I653

I 54

I655

I656

I657

4

2

4

I7

7

9

I2

IZ

7

82

9

6

s

8

3

2

4-

2

4

habitoswereconferredn largenumbers o raisemoneyfor the war

withFrance,andafter 640 forthe Catalan ndPortugueseebellions

aswell.ll7 An analysisof the personalor ancestralaultsfor which

dispensations eregranted howsthefollowing:Philip II Philip III Philip IV Total

Lack of nobility 2 22 II7 I4I

Illegitimacy 5 23 2I 49

Pursuit of base office - 3 67 7?

Impurity of blood 3 I - 4

Noble status by royal privilege only - I 3 4

TotalI0 50 208 268

These figures are not as revealing as they might be, since the

categoriesarenot altogetherdistinct. Pursuitof a manualoccupation,

for example, might well be described simply as lack of nobility;

moreover,the number of those hidalgos ho enjoyedtheir position by

privilegeandnot by blood seemsundulysmall,andsome men properly

of this categorymay in fact also be included under this same general

heading. It is perhapssignificant,however, that underPhilip IV the

117 The tableshouldbe readin conjunctionwith that given aboveon page 55

showingthe numbersof habitosgranted n the Orderof Santiagooverthe same

period.



62PASTND PRESENT NUMBER3

percentagef dispensations given for faults of nobility should be

noticeablyigherthan under Philip III (56-25as against44 per cent),

whileispensations given for low occupations,

a mere 6 per cent

underhilip III should under his successor have risen over five fold

to2o2per cent. Impurity of blood was rarelythe subject of formal

dispensation,nd when it was, it was invariablyon behalf of those

withoorish antecedents. Those families with the blood of Jews

oronverted ews in their veins were, as we have seen, rigorously

barredrom the Orders, as they were from other similar closed

communitiesn Spain. The only formal exception to this was a

dispensationade by Philip III in favour of the descendants of the

saintly. Pablo de Cartagena,bishop of Burgos in the thirteenth

century,ll8privilege which raised a storm of criticism.ll9 In

practice,any others of dubious radical antecedents seem to have

enteredhe Ordersby varioussubterfuges,impossibleas it was forany

genealogicalnquiries, howeverthorough, to be completelysure.l20

Generallythe initiative for dispensing from one or other of the

entryequirementsof the Orderswas takenby the king, in the face of

morer less open oppositionon the partof the Councilof the Orders.

Somexamples of this are well known. The habitowon by the

distinguishedeneral JulianRomero was the outcome only of

PhilipI's personal intervention.l2l In I624 the admiral Francisco

deRibera was awardedan habitoby Philip IV in recognitionof his

heroichree-day running battle with a Turkish force ten times

superior.The informacionesere very extensive and over one

hundred itnesses were finallyexamined, only for the Council of the

Orderso deny the grant for lack of proof as to the hidalguiaf his

mother. It was only strongpressurewhich led to the necessarybrief

ofdispensationbeing requestedand grantedby Urban VIII; but the

kingnsisted, in defianceof his Council, that no mention be made in

the ormaltitle of the habitohat it had been issued only as a result of

special papal dispensation.l22 Perhaps the best example of the

118 FranciscoCanteraBurgos,Alvar Garciade Santa Mariay sufamilia de

ConversosMadrid, I952), pp. 280-4.

119BM., MS. Egerton 332, ff. I90-I: "Representaciondel Consejo de las

(:)rdenesmanifestando os inconvenientesdel Breve Pontificiopor el qual se

concede a los descendentesde D. Pablo de Cartagenaobispo de Burgos el

obtenerhabitosmilitaresa pesarde serconfesos".

120 A numberof examplesare providedby Julio CaroBaroja,Losdios, ii,

partiv, sections4 and 5.

121 For full detailssee Antonio Marichalar,3tulianRomero Madrid, I952),

pp. I I4-5. The papers relating to Romero's habito are inAHN., OM.,

ExpedientesePruebas arael ingreso nla Ordende Santiago,no. 72I3.

122 CesareoFernandezDuro, Introductionto Jose Wanguesnerty Poggio,

El AlmiranteD. FranciscoDiaz Pimientay su dpoca Madrid, I905), p. Xii.



63ILITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY

necessity for royal intervention in order to secure anhabito s that ofDiego Velazquez. The red cross of Santiagowhich the artistproudly

displays on his tunic in his self-portrait in Las Meninaswas the out-come of a long sequence of obstruction and delay on the part of theCouncil of the Orders. The legend attached to this painting-thaton its completion Philip himself seized the brush and added the crossto the artist's chest, saying that this was all that was necessary torender it a masterpiece must unfortunately be rejected: theformalities attending the grant of the habito ate frorlltwo years afterthe work was finished. But the essence of the story is true, in that ithighlights the direct royal responsibility for the conferring of the

knighthood.l23 These particular instances are naturally well-documented, but they could doubtless be repeated of many other lessfamous men.

The impression one gains is that, in general terms, the hierarchy ofthe Orderswas intransigent so far as entry was concerned. When therules were bent in any way, royal influence was usually not far to seek.If in the General Chapter of I652 it was conceded that dispensationson behalf of men with distinguished military service might be soughtand granted more readily, this was only because of the opposition

raised by the widespread grants of habitoso lawyers, administrativeofficials, and courtiers. Once one began to reassert the militarynature of the Orders, it was hard not to concede that in the case ofsoldiers certain defects of genealogy might necessarily have to beoverlooked. The argument is apparent in a paper dated 3 AugustI653, directed to the king by the Council of the Chapter of the Orderof Santiago.l24 Among the points it made were the following:

The Orderof Santiagoand its knightshave alwaysenjoyedenormousprestige,but since the year I600 . . . its rules have been relaxed n all mannerof ways

a situation worthy of the closest attention of Your Majesty and your greatwisdom in looking to a remedy for it, since both as King and Master you oweit to honour and favour the Order. The Council of the Chapter thereforeasks:That no habitoof this Orderbe concededto anyonewho is not clearlyreputed

123There is naturally a large literature on Velazquez and his habito. Theproofs, which took II3 days to conduct, are printed by G. CruzadaVillaamil"Informacionesde las calidadesde Diego de Silva Velazquez para el habito dela Orden de Santiago", Revista Europea, i (I874), pp. 39-43, 80-4, I05-I0

275-8, and 402-6. Additional information is provided by Francisco R. deldhagon n two articles: "Diego Velazquezen la Orden de Santiago",RevistadeArchivos,BibliotecasyMuseos, ii (I899), pp. 257-7I; and "Nuevos documentosreferentesa Diego Velazquez en la Orden de Santiago", bid., vii (I902), pp.57-

69. The legend of Las Meninas s discussedby Carl Justi, op. cit.124 BN., MS. 7I7, ff. 203-I4: "E1Consso del CapituloGeneralde la Orden de

Santiago representa lo que tiene por combeniente se disponga para mayorbeneficio della".




to be a gentleman of pure ancestry, or in possession of a rich estate withwhich to lend lustre and honour to the Order, as was invariably he case inthe time of Philip II; he had secret inquiries made as to the characterandbackgroundof every pretendentbefore concedingthe habito, aking care thatno honour or award be made to anyone whose proofs did not show himworthy of them . . . with the exception of soldiers whose valorous servicesand exploits themselves enhance their blood. This honour, establishedforthe rewardof military valour, s no more than their due.That Your Majesty be pleased to refrain from bestowing the favour of anhabitoon any of your servantswho does not enjoy the rank of knight in theroyal household, nor on any of your ministers' servants who is not of thisrank.Military honours were established or militarymen; the rewardsof study forthose who aspired o judicialor administrative osts. Nonwadayshe positionis so distorted hat not only do oidoreshave the greaterprestige, but they also

hold the nlajorityof the habitosand encomiendas hich were not intended forthem at all, with the result that there are few such oices that they have notappropriated or themselves. Only a few years ago there were no admini-strators,other than the membersof the Council of the Orders,enjoyingthesepositions; if these last were promoted to membership of the Council ofCastille, they were at once recognizable by their habitos. Now, howevereven the alcaldesde cortecan aspire to the same honour .... It is not rightthat soldiers cannot share in honollrs designed for themselves, while thesemen are enjoying the benefit of them. Generosity n bestowing mercedes fthis sort has advanced o such a point that even the solicitorsof the Councilshold habitos and the Colegiosare full of them, a development which hasresulted in a fall in the esteem in which they were held in former timesThat His Holiness should not be asked to grant dispensations rom the entryrequirementswhich the knights of this Order have to fulfil, since they areunnecessaryand give rise to a lack of esteem for the Order, on which theyreflect little credit. The only exception that may be made is in respect ofsoldiers. If their deeds and services are as fine as those of Julian Romerowho was dispensed from the lack of nobility in his farnily, hey may be heldto warrantspecial favour. But they must not have any trace of Jewish orMoorish blood, nor have any ancestor who has been penitenced by theInquisition, in conformitywith the relevant statute. A new statute shouldbe Inadeto the effect that no dispensationsbe given at all other than to thosewho have served ten years in the war. In any event nobody should be ableto receive dispensations for more than one fault, in order to fulfil therequirements or entry.

The manwho chosenot to confess o any defects n his ancestry,nthe hope that he mightbe fortunate nough o be granted dispensa-tion, hadnecessarilyo seekalliesamong he witnesses rld nformants.This might indeed be advisable il any event, for who knew whatconsequencesmalice,or simplya badmemory,mighthave. No less aperson hanthe bishopof Cuzcowrote n I636, advisinghis nephew,who was a candidate or an habito,to secure riendlywitnesses. Heshould take good care to reward hem in advance,suggestedthebishop,who promised o let his nephewhavea suitable um of moneyfor this purpose.l25 On the other hand, there was always thepossibilityof admitting he faults in one's pedigree,and appealing

125 MemorialHistoricoEspanol,xviii (Madrid, I864), pp. XiV-XVi.



65ILITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY

directly to the king, the one man who could set aside the rules laiddown by the Orders and their Council, and the one man also with

some interest in rewarding services rendered in his name.To the possible defects of birth and ancestrythat any person seeking

an habitomight have, there was added a further potential stumblingblock: that of base office. Manual occupation was, as we have seen,incompatible with nobility, and as such with the assumption of anhabito. The criteria adopted by the Order of Santiago at Toledo inIS60 for "low and vulgar offices" were those of silversmith andpainter, if these occupations were pursued as money-makingactivities,shopkeeper and moneylender, embroiderer, stone-cutter, inn or

tavern keeper, scribe (other than one of the royal scribes), publicattorney, or any other pursuits similar or inferior to these.l26 Doubtsfrequently arose with regard to borderline activities, which might ormight not be regarded as "oficios viles y mecanicos", and livelypolemics were sometimes the result. Was a midwife, for example,prejudicing her own and her descendants' nobility by performing herduties ?127 More important, what of such persons as artists, membersof the liberal professions, notaries, secretaries, or merchants?

This last category was the one which caused most trouble. In the

Spanish ports, and particularly n Seville and Cadiz, it was commonto find well-known families who took advantageof the new opportuni-ties presented by the economic expansion of the sixteenth century toengage in overseas trade and speculative enterprise. The example offoreign merchants,and above all the Genoese,l28settling in Spain afterthe opening up of the New World market, produced a natural desireto share in this profitable field. Scruples at sullying one's hands invulgar trade were forgotten. The Crown, for its part, could notafford to stand in the way of domestic enterprise, and in any event it

was much men who were usually best able to loan money to theTreasury when required. If the Crown's bankers wantedhabitosnreturn, then it would not be politic to refuse them.

Appearances, of course, had to be kept up. When in I6I5 theproofs were taken in connection with the habito f Calatrava onferredupon Jorge Fugger, the German banker, the leading question wasobviously the one that inquired whether he or his ancestors had everdedicated themselves to trade or lent money at interest. The bishopof Augsburg, one of the witnesses, skilfully side-stepped the issue by

1 26 Ruiz de Vergara,op. cit., tit. I, cap. v.

127 B1M.,MS. Egerton343, ff. I3-6V. It was concluded that she was not.128 On the Genoese, see particularlyRuth Pike, Enterpriseand Adventure:

The Gencwesen Seville and the Opening f the New World Ithaca, I966).



66 PASTND PRESENT NUMBER3

declaringhat he neither knew nor had heard it said, that Fugger

himself,is father or his grandfather,had been merchants, or had

lent oney for their own profit. What dealingsthey had were in anycase ith the king of Spain alone, and not with any other prince or

individual,nd werethereforenot a matterof public concern.l29 To

avoidny future difficulties,and to establish a uniform rule, a papal

briefwas obtained in I622, which extended to all the Orders the

statutef Santiago, to the effect that the prohibition on commercial

activityppliednot to large-scaleentrepreneurs,but only to the small

shopkeeperr common money-lender.l30

It was clear that the power of money was much more implacable

thanhat of nobility, and certainlyno less dominant withinSpanish

society. "El dinerotodolo puedey vence" Money can do and

conquereverything) and "El dinero es caballero" Money is a

gentleman)were popularproverbslong before Quevedo turned them

intoa refrain for one of his most celebrated poems: "Poderoso

caballero/eson Dinero" Mr. Money is a powerful gentleman).l3l

Typicalof the mentalityof those who ascendedinto the aristocracyby

virtueof their wealth ratherthan their blood is the way in which the

moneyednobility of Burgosattemptedtenaciouslyto enter the Order

ofSt. John of Jerusalem. This was the one Orderwhich had refused

torelax the rigidity of its Constitutions and it remained firm in its

aristocratic xclusiveness. The bankers of Burgos were repeatedly

spurned,despite letterswhich they persuadedPhilip II to send to the

Masterof the Orderaskinghim to look more kindly upon them, and

to follow the example of the Order of Santiago in dispensing

occasionally rom the blanketprohibitionupon mercaderes.l32

The Orderof St. John stood firm, and only a very few could boast

the precious honour of professing in it. The inhabitantsof Burgos

and the other prosperouscities of thePeninsulahad thereforeto rest

content with the Spanish national Orders,which might quietly drop*

*-

t lelr more lnconvenlent requirements.

The time when noble merchantsfound it easiest to assume habitos

wasapparently he firsthalf of Philip IV's reign. In I 626 the Council

129 Luis MarcinezKleiser,Guiade Madridpara el ano I656 (Madrid, I926),

P. 36.130 AHN., OM., Consejode las ()rdenes, leg. 6275 caja I. The Briefitself

nlaybe readin IgnatioJosephde Ortegay Cotes,BuilariumOrdinisMilitiaede

Alcantara(Madrid, I759), pp. 70-I.

131 Gonzalo Correas,Vocabulario eRefranes FrasesproverbialesMadrid,

I906), p. 85. Quevedo'spoem, from El ParnasoEspanolg nay be found in

BibliotecadeAutoresEspanoles,xix (Madrid,I877), pp. 93-4.

132 IsmaelGarciaRamila,"Tipicaspinceladasdelvivirburgalesen los diasde

antano",Boletindela RealAcademiadela Historia,cxxxv (I954), pp. I43-50.



MII,ITARY ORDERSIN SPANISH SOCIETY 67

of State debateda new constitution roposedby the Catalanswhichwould enabletheir nobility to engage n trade without prejudicingtheir chancesof obtainingmilitaryhabitos.l33One of the members,D. Duartede Portugal, oiced he general eeling n making he usualdistinction etween he entrepreneur ho madehis money rom rade,yet employedunderlings o do the routine ransactionsiorhim, andthe smallman who of necessityhad directly o engage n buyingandsellinghimself. Assuminghe was of good birth,the firsttype couldaspire to an habito; under no circumstances ould the second.Anothermemberof the Council,D. Pedrode Toledo,pointed o thereal crux of the matter:

In Genoa trade is the general way of life and means of livelihood, just as inExtremadura nd Ledn grazingand wool are. What is so general cannot beforbidden, for it is not sixnply trade as such, but an essential method ofdistributing individual wealth.

Trade was clearly a vital factor for Spain's continuanceas animperialpower, and it could not be dismissedas vulgar money-making. When in I630 an habito was granted to the powerfulSeville businessmanTomas Manara or his son Miguel, a child ofthree at the time, D. MelchorMaldonado, ne of the witnessesand

himself he Treasurer f the Casade Contractacioneclared hat:. . . Although it is true that the said Tomas Maiiara s a businesssnanwith avaluablestake n the Indies trade, there is no questionof his being a merchant,nor does this witness believe that he can be consideredas pursuing any baseoffice, in the sense in which the term is used in this interrogatory, ince it isclear that in this city other gentlemen of much worth who hold habitosn theMilitary Orderspursue similar occupations.

Otherwitnessescited in supportof this observationhe habitos eldby the merchantsAdriande Legasco, Simon Freus de la Fuente,

Julio Cesar Escayoli,Juan de Cordoba,Luis Ponce de Sandoval,Fernando e Saavedra ndothers,not to mention he dukeof MedinaSidoniaandothernoble ordswhotookpart n the same rade,withnothought hat t mightdetract rom heirpersonal onour.l34

Afterthe Chapter f I6525 however,moresubtletywas called or.Pedro Lopez de San Roman, a citizen of Seville, of considerablewealth,obtainedan habitoof the Orderof Santiago. The Marquesde Tabara,Presidentof the Councilof the Orders, ummonedhimshortly afterwards,however, and accused him of deceiving the

133 AGS., Est. (Inglaterra), eg. 2849: Consulta of Council of State, 2I OCt.

I626.

l34Manuel Gomez Imaz, D. Miguel Manara: algunos datos referentesalinsigne undadorde la Santa Caridadde Sevilla (Seville, I902), pp. 4I-2.



68PAST AND PRESENT

NUMBER 43Councilby not revealingthat he was a broker n the Seville Lonja ndmerchantin the Indies trade. Pedro Lopez replied that he was anld Christianof hidalgo ncestry

in all four grandparents' ines, andhat his merchantstatuswasno obstacle,since his genealogypresentedo other difficulty. He added, perhaps unwisely in the event, thatanyof those who did wearthe habitoould not in fact boast such anmpeccableancestry as his. His protests seem to have availed himothing, for he was stripped of his habitoand imprisoned "whichppeareda very bad and excessive punishment''.l35Merchantswerenot of coursethe only classto comeacrossproblemsf his nature,thoughthey doprovideagood exampleof anoccupation,heeconomic importanceof which wasmatchedby no correspondingocial osition. The holdersof some proscribedofficeswould hardlyhinkn termsof enteringthe Orders n the firstplace,but otherswhosewn fforts had apparentlylifted them out of the pariicularrank inhichheirfathersor theirgrandfathershad lived, might well feel thatheir ew social position justifiedtheir so doing. An innkeeper, forxample, ould be unlikely to petition for an hnibito;n artist, on thetherand, might well do so. The exampleof Velazquezhas alreadyeenmentioned in a different context, but it has its place too in theideretting of the struggleof the artistto be

recognizedas a memberf liberal profession and not merely as a manual labourer. Inrdero achieve his habitot was in the end necessaryfor Velazquezoubscribeto the fictionthat he painted not as a professionbut onlyorhe king'spleasure.l36 For similarreasonsthe sons of D. Jose dellmoad to suffer severe setbacks before finally being allowed tossumeabitosf Santiago,for their rivalswere quickto allegethat inctings the royalarchitecttheir fatherwas labouringwith his hands.heouncil pointed out the lack of rank of the pretendants, butortunatelyor them, CharlesII, a few days beforehisdeath, gave therderor the necessarydespatchesto be issued.l37The primitive Rules of the Orders contain no dispositions inonnectionith nobility, blood or occupation,though it would appearhatuch requirementswere in practice exacted from an early date.hesexclusions only begin to appear formally in the DifinicionesndEstablecimientosf the sisteenth century as a symptom of theransformationf the Orders into institutions of social discrimina-

lS5Dominguez Ortiz, La SociedadEspanola,i, p. 208 (citingJeronimode

arrionuevo,visos,ed. A. Paz y Melia [Madrid, I892], ii, p. 203).6See above,note I23.

137uanCatalinaGarcia,BibliotecadeEscritores ela ProvinciadeGuadalajaraMadrid,899), pp. 373-7.



69ILITARY ORDERS IN SPANISH SOCIETY

tion.l38 Such a codification was necessary if the Orders were toisolate themselves as a distinguished and highly respected sector ofthe Spanish aristocracy,but this they could not ever be: royal policyand popular pressure served alike to enlarge their membership and totake away the force of their statutes, by dispensing from any that

* *

provec lnconvenlentAs time went on, the Orders were revealed as a chimera. They

were religious bodies which owed no greaterreligious obligations thanany other secular institution. They professed military aims andwere unwilling to fight even in defence of their country at a time ofnational peril. And in addition, they set themselves up as thearbiters of social acceptability, and ignored even their own criteriafor judging this. Their position, in fact, was wholly anachrotiisticbut then the social concepts which they embodied, and the societywhich they mirrored, were equally anachronistic. The Ordersbecame honorific orders of chivalry in an age in which notions ofhonour and chivalry were of immense importance.l39 They servedas a means of authenticatingnoble ancestry for a generation which setits standards by such criteria.l40 If there were absurdities in theway the Orders continued to function, it is because they attempted to

give force to attitudes and ideals, themselves in a sense absurd, whichwere basic to the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century mentality.

The Orders can be regarded as a microcosm of Castilian society inits rise as well as in its decline. The peculiar circumstances whichhad given birth to the Orders had in fact given birth also to thoseforms of Castilian life which emerged dominant at the end of themiddle ages. It has become almost a historical cliche to assert thatsomewhere in the psychological background to Spanish imperialismthere lurks a crusading tradition, handed down through the long wars

138 Thus the Regla de la Ordende la Cavalleriade Senor Santiagodel Espada(Valladolid, 527) begins tentatively to insist on hidalguiaand limpieza tit. I,

cap. i). In successive editions of the Statutes of this and the other Ordersthephraseology becomes stricter and more rigid. The Order of Alcantara hadsecuredpapalconfirtnation f its own limpieza tatuteas earlyas I483 (Bullarium,pp. 24I-2)e

139 Americo Castro,"Algunasobservacionesacercadel concepto del honor enlos siglos XVI y XVII", Revista de FilologiaEspanola)ii (I9I6), pp. I-50, and357-86, contains snany ideas on the Spanish attitude to honour, which wasclosely connectedof course with the whole problem of limpieza.

140 See for example Penalosa y Mondragon, op. cit., Excelencia V: "Amongthe Spaniards s to be found a more ancient nobility than exists in other nations,for they still conserve the blood of their first ancestor Tubal and in order toachieve honour and lordship, they performthe bravestof deeds".




of the Reconquista,l4l nd certainlyHabsburgSpain was alwaysanationacutelyawareof its own historical ast. Whatmorenatural,

therefore, han o see in the survival f the Orders, he primeembodi-ment of the militaryand religiousnorms of medieval Spain, theessential ntellectual ink betweenreconquest nd conquest,crusadeand empire. At every stage Spanish ociety nfluenced, nd was inturn influencedby, the institutionof the MilitaryOrders.

Gonville nd CaiusCollege,Cambridge L. P. Wright

l4lAn excellent brief account of this "tradition of conquest" is given byJ. H. Parry, The SpanishSeaborneEmpire London, I966), pp. 27-37. For theSpanish background o the conquest and settlement of the New World, see

ordenes militares españa siglo xvii

Documents