CALATRAVA, Knights of

CALATRAVA, Knights of, a military order in Spain, instituted by Sancho III. king of Castile, upon the following occasion. When that prince took the strong fort of Calatrava from the Moors of Andalusia, he gave it to the Templars, who wanting courage to defend it returned it to him again, A.D. 1157. Then Don Raymon, of the order of the Cistercians, accompanied by several persons of high rank, offered to defend the place, which the king thereupon delivered up to them, giving them a charter as the knights of Calatrava. This order increased so much under Alfonso, that the knights desired to have a grand master, who was accord-

Calauria ingly appointed. Ferdinand and Isabella, with the consent of Pope Innocent VIII., afterwards reunited the grand mastership of Calatrava to the Spanish crown, so that the kings of Spain became perpetual administrators of this office. The knights of Calatrava bear a cross gules, fleur-de-lised with green. Their rule and habit were originally those of the Cistercians. (Fr. de Rader y Andrada, Cronica de las tres ordines de Santiago, Calatrava, y Alcántara, Toledo, 1572, fol.; Rev. E. Clarke's Spain.)