Order of Alcantara
The Order of Alcantara originated as a small religious-military fraternity founded in 1156 by two brothers from Salamanca, Suero and Gomez Fernandez. Based at the small town of San Julian del Peral, near Ciudad Real, it received Papal approval by Bull of Alexander III of 29 December 1177. This, while granting Gomez the title of Prior, did not define either the rule by which the brothers must live or their spiritual obligations although, they were given permission to receive Chaplains. In 1183 their superior was given the title of "Master" and they were bound to a moderated rule of Saint Benedict, to enable them to fulfill their martial duties.
In 1200 Gomez died to be succeeded as Grand Master by Benedict Suarez. By this time the Order had acquired several more small towns and fortresses in the south of the Kingdom of Leon. The fortress-town of Alcantara had been captured by the King of Leon in 1213, who had granted it to the Order of Calatrava provided the knights established a Convent there. Too far from Calatrava, it was proposed that the Order of Saint Julian should be granted the town, with the Master of Saint Julian having a right to participate in the election of the Master of Calatrava to whom he would be subordinate. It appears that it was at this time that the knights formally adopted the Cistercian rule, although not receiving papal license to abandon their original Bendictine rule. The knights of San Julian duly took over Alcantara, adopting the name of the fortress-town, but they were not invited to the subsequent election for the Master of Calatrava. So, the Knights of Alcantara repudiated the agreement, declaring themselves autonomous. An agreement was eventually reached. This revived the Order of Alcantara as it acquired several of the Calatrava’s estates and the latter becoming its superior in disciplinary and ecclesiastical matters.
The knights of Alcantara were inevitably drawn into the civil wars between the Kings of Aragon, Castile, Leon and Navarre, despite the fact that they were in breach of their vows in that they had to take up arms only against the Muslims. At the same time there were quarrels within the Order itself and, in 1318, a group of knights petitioned the Master of Calatrava, as Reformer of their Order, to intervene on their behalf. The Master of Alcantara, Ruiz Velazquez, refused to accept the superior jurisdiction of the Master of Calatrava and prepared his defenses against attack. After a bitter struggle in which many were killed on both sides, a truce was declared and each took their complaints to the Chapter-General of the Cistercian Order. As a result the Master, Grand Commander and Clavero, who refused to accept this decision, was removed. Suer Perez de Maldonado was then elected as Master of the Order.
When Suer Perez died, his brother Ruiz succeeded him but then resigned, leading to the election of one Master, Gonzalo Nunez, sponsored by Alfonso IX of Castile and Leon, another elected by the knights at Alcantara, Ruiz Perez. The King’s candidate, Gonzalo Nunez, still claimed the title of Master so the King persuaded Master Perez to accept a visitation of the Superior of the Cistercians and the Master of Calatrava, who recommended Perez’s resignation and Nunez succession, which duly followed. Nunez proved to be a brave and capable leader of the Order, distinguishing himself and the Order against the Moors until he fell foul of the King’s mistress. Alfonso, wishing to arrest Nunez, ordered him to Madrid but the Master refused and fortified the various castles of the Order. Although the King imposed another Master in the person of Nuno Chamizio, Nunez could count on the support of the majority of the knights at first and allied himself with the King of Portugal.
Unfortunately for him the knights were unwilling to continue to resist the royal authority and when he was declared a traitor by King Alfonso, they abandoned him to his fate. In 1338 he was beheaded and his body burned. Despite a temporary union under one Master, the Order continued to be divided by internal squabbles and once more found itself in conflict with the Crown during the reign of Pedro the Cruel. These divisions continued through the fifteenth century until 1473, when the Duchess of Plasencia obtained a papal brief appointing her son, Juan de Zuniga, Master of the Order, using the pretense that the post was vacant. The knights and two other rival Masters refused to accept this act, but eventually King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel forced them to do so. Zuniga became the sole Master from 1473 until 1494, when he resigned in favor of King Ferdinand, who had two years earlier obtained a papal bull granting him the administration of the Order.
