Tierra de Caballeros (Land of Knights) owes its name to the connection between this area within La Mancha and the Knightly Orders of Calatrava and Santiago. In the 12th and 13th Centuries during the Reconquest, the Castilian monarchs needed these knightly orders, firstly, to help defend the border positions between the Christian kingdoms and the Muslims of Al-Andalus, and later, to help repopulate the newly-won territories.
Settlements developed under the protection of a fortification, or new villages were founded and a freer society was created in which settlers and vassals had access to ownership of the land. The knights sponsored the main buildings in the towns. Even Alfonso X needed to found a royal village (present-day Ciudad Real) to assert his authority in such a vast territory dominated by the Knightly Orders. In Valdepeñas, the development of grape growing is associated with the repopulation carried out by the Order of Calatrava.
During the Middle Ages, the era in which they arose and reached their high point, knightly orders became so prominent and significant that they are essential institutions in the study of the society in which they came about and played a decisive role in history. They have been some of the most unique and influential organisations in the areas where they settled.
Monastic life and knighthood are the essential elements that constitute the different military orders. They came about as the result of two main factors: the institutionalisation of knighthood and the crystallisation of the crusades as a kind of holy war. These orders are the result of an era in which the Church exercised dominating power over Europe. These institutions became the spearhead of Medieval Christianity, with an ongoing duty toward attending the sick and the poor, in combination with monastic life. .
Another feature that is essentially linked to the origins and development of military orders is their relationship with the border. Their activities are limited to three main stages: firstly, the Holy Land, where their presence in the kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states was consolidated; secondly, the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, and thirdly, the Baltic region.
These military orders fulfilled five main functions: military; ecclesiastical, because they controlled certain parishes on their estates; hospitality, because they assisted the members of the order, tended to the wounded in battle, redeemed prisoners of war and offered aid to the ill, needy and pilgrims; economic, through colonisation; and political, as they contributed to the stability of the monarchies by stabilising borders.
Starting in the 12th Century, knighthood ceased to be solely a military discipline associated with nobility to become a way of life, a code of conduct. Knights were considered equally important in peace times, practising the values of justice, fairness, loyalty, integrity, prudence, generosity and amiability. It was even considered that, in order to properly council and govern, they had to be wise and benevolent. Don Quixote was aware of this code of chivalry and for that reason we would like to reflect on this universal character whom Cervantes set in La Mancha (a land he knew quite well because of his constant journeys between the Court and Andalusia) as the expression of the knightly spirit existing in this land colonised mostly by knightly orders. Thus, we feel that Don Quixote de La Mancha had his raison d’être in this “Tierra de Caballeros” (land of knights).
The Order of Calatrava
It received its name from the castle of Calatrava la Vieja, which was of great strategic value due to its location on the road from Castile to Andalusia. As the Knights Templar were not bold enough to defend Calatrava, they returned it to king Sancho III who, in turn, handed it over to S. Raimundo, the abbot of the monastery of Fitero, considered the founder of the Order in 1158. In light of the progress of the Reconquest, they built an impressive castle, Calatrava la Nueva, to increase the prestige of the Order, and in the 13th Century, the “maestres” (masters) moved to Almagro, thus making the city the seat of the Order.
The Order of Santiago
It was originally founded as the Brotherhood of Knights by Ramiro I under the rules of the Brotherhood of the parish of Santiago de Uclés (Cuenca), where its main convent is located, and favoured by Fernando II in 1170 for the defence of Cáceres. The archbishop of Santiago linked it to the dedication to the apostle to protect and assist pilgrims on the French road and it soon received the support of bishops of other important diocese and the pontifical legate. It did not limit its presence to the border zones, and was also present in numerous other areas of the Peninsula.
In this region, the order was in charge of reconquering and repopulating Campo de Montiel, and it established its seat in Villanueva de los Infantes.
