Historical reviews

We are in Qalat Rabah Calatrava La Vieja, Carrión de Calatrava in one of the oldest Islamic cities on the Peninsula, already mentioned in the times of Abd al-Rahman I, in 785, which reached great splendor in the 17th century. IX by becoming the capital of a large Muslim region. Faithful to its origins, it took advantage of the Guadiana River to establish a hydraulic defensive system. Important signs of the 1st Iron Age and the Iberian period have been detected in it, as well as some Romans.

An Islamic city whose most important defensive system was the riverbed, with a much greater flow in the Middle Ages, which turned the place into a true island between the waters. The wall is surrounded by forty-four towers, and the unique corachas, designed to supply the city with water if it were surrounded. The settlement itself is divided into two areas, separated by a large wall: the fortress and the medina, with the suburbs remaining outside.

From the mosques, baths and shops of the medina we will find remains of rooms and paved streets. In the fortress we can see the successive Islamic extensions, the Templar apse that was never completed, and the church that the Calatrava Commandery erected here.

In contrast, the chronicle sources lean towards the military conquest of the town and its territory, the version of the Toledo Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada leaves no room for doubt.

The first objective was to get important lordly powers of the kingdom to take an interest in Calatrava. As soon as he acquired dominion over the town, Alfonso VII handed over to the Bishop of Segovia Don Pedro and his chapter all the inheritance that the champion and governor Farax, (killed by the Christians in 1145) had in Calatrava.

Shortly thereafter, on February 13, 1147, the Castilian-Leonese monarch donated to the Archbishop of Toledo Don Raimundo and his canons the Major and most dignified Mosque of Calatrava, vineyards, shops and estates, so that they could transform them into a Church with ten clerics. including priests and deacons.

In the year 1147 Gutier Ruiz “alchaedus” – military leader – of Toledo took care of the civil and military organization of the new town. Before the year 1147 came to an end, monarch Alfonso VII gave the town its own jurisdiction to promote repopulation.

At that time at the end of 1147, the governor of Calatrava was Vitalis de Tolosa, Calatrava was temporarily transferred to the Count of Armengol of Urgel, who was present at the acquisition of it and in 1148 held its possession, along with that of Valladolid.

Following the version of the Hebrew historian Abraham Ben David, shortly afterwards, coinciding with the Almohad offensive in the Iberian Peninsula, Alfonso VII handed over the Calatrava government to Judá Ben Yosef Ezra, belonging to an influential family of Granada Jews.

From his new position, the Jewish magnate helped the Jews fleeing the Almohad positions, especially after the capture of Granada (1154). 

However, only a year later the situation of the Castilian-Leonese kingdom vis-à-vis the Muslims would undergo a considerable transformation: the Almohads recovered Almería and upon the return of the expedition Alfonso VII died, the counteroffensive initiated by the African Muslims, new dominators of al- Andalus, caused the abandonment of the Calatrava fortress by the Templars, leaving the entire kingdom of Toledo in a state of defenselessness. In fact, shortly after the death of the Castilian-Leonese emperor, a rumor began to spread that a powerful Muslim army was preparing to march on Calatrava.

The Templar friars who were in charge of the defense of the fortress, considered that they did not have enough forces to defend it, they handed over the fortress and the town of Calatrava to the new monarch Sancho III. Thus was born the first Military Order of Hispanic origin, that of Calatrava. We know the story thanks to the version of Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada. The transfer of the town to the Cistercian Order and the Abbot Don Raimundo de Fitero took place in January 1158.

The success of the Castilian attacks convinced the Almohad caliph of the need to send an army against Castile, and the first objective was the strategic castle of Salvatierra, located in the heart of the lands conquered by the Muslims after the battle of Alarcos. The castle was solidly defended by the Calatravos and well supplied with food, the siege of the fortress was costly.

The Muslims took the nearby castle of Dueñas, the situation was desperate for the defenders and the reduced army of Alfonso VIII could not face such harassment, finally after a long and intense siege of around 2 months, in which they used 40 war machines, the defenders of Salvatierra surrendered and handed over the square.

In the summer of 1212, Castile was preparing a large army to defeat the Muslims. The Pope granted the company crusade privileges, where ultramontanes, military orders, Temple, Calatrava, Santiago and Hospitallers joined.

In June they marched from Toledo, and the first place they took was the castle of Malagón, later on July 1, 1212, where Master Rodrigo Díaz left freires there for its defense, they took Calatrava la Vieja where there were 70 Muslim Knights under the command of the leader Ibn Qadis. They then took different nearby fortresses including Alarcos. Finally, on July 16, 1212, the battle at Navas de Tolosa took place in which the Christian army defeated the Muslims.

According to the historian Calatravo Francisco de Rades y Andrada, in 1217 it was decided to move the headquarters of the Order and its convent to a fortress located several kilometers to the south, very close to the Salvatierra Castle, which was still in the power of the Muslims..

Following the version of the Latin Chronicle, that fortress was that of Dueñas, recovered by Alfonso VIII in 1213 and given to the Calatravos friars.

From then on it was called Calatrava la Nueva. There are several reasons for the transfer of the Order:

• The interests of the Archbishop of Toledo, especially the monopoly of income.
• The new strategic situation of the southernmost border.
• The unhealthiness of the Calatrava la Vieja location in a swampy area of the Guadiana.
• The need to promote a social and economic organization in the southern sector of Campo de Calatrava.
• However, the population did not abandon the town of Calatrava la Vieja, but began an unstoppable decline.

CISTER OF CALATRAVA THE OLD, LATER IN CHRISTIAN TIMES IT WAS A DUNGEON

CHARACTERS OF CALATRAVA THE OLD 1145-1217



• ADALIX-WARDEN FARAX - 1145
• ALFONSO VII - 1147
• BISHOP OF SEGOVIA DON PEDRO - February 13, 1147
• ARCHBISHOP OF TOLEDO DON RAIMUNDO - 1147
• GUTIER RUIZ “ALCHAEDUS” MILITARY CHIEF - 1147
• VITALIS DE TOLOSA - FINALS 1147
• COUNT OF ARMENGOL OF URGEL - 1148
• JUDAH BEN YOSEF EZRA - 1150
• ORDER OF THE TEMPLE - 1150-1158
• SANCHO III - 1158
• SAN RAIMUNDO DE FITERO - JANUARY 1158
• IBN QADIS - JULY 1195
• ALFONSO VIII - JUNE 1212
• MASTER RODRIGO DÍAZ - July 1, 1212
• MAESTRE MARTÍN FERNÁNDEZ DE QUINTANA - 1217

What did the Hebrew Judah ben Yosef Ezra and the Poor Knights of Christ-Templars do during the period in which the Hebrew Judah ben Yosef Ezra and the Poor Knights of Christ-Templars were contemporaries in the governorship and defense of Calatrava the Old?

What pact could the most powerful Order of Christianity and the Hebrews of the time reach?

Why is it that during the period of 8 years that the Templars were in Calatrava la Vieja, it is only known that they began the construction of a Templar Church?

What strong interests did the Order of the Temple have in bringing its most advanced stockade to Southern Europe in Calatrava La Vieja?

Why did they only leave their mark on the apse of the Templar Church, and simply abandon the fortress 8 years later?

Was this powerful Order only dedicated to the construction of this unfinished Church?