Vintage Antique 1900 - 1930

Spain's Patron Saint Santiago St. James Souvenir Silver Figurine

The Cross of Saint James symbol that originates from the Battle of Clavijo, and is a red cross resembling a sword, with the shape of a fleur-de-lis on the hilt and the arms

The Order of Santiago 

Spanish: Orden de Santiago, is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of St. James, to defend Christendom and to remove the Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula.[1] Entrance was not however restricted to nobility of Spain exclusively, and many members have been prominent Catholic Europeans in general. The Order's insignia is particularly recognisable and abundant in Western art.[2]

After the death of the Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas in 1493, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated the Order into the Spanish Crown. Pope Adrian VI forever united the office of grandmaster of Santiago to the crown in 1523.

The First Republic suppressed the Order in 1873 and, although it was re-established in the Restoration, it was reduced to a nobiliary institute of honorable character. It was ruled by a Superior Council dependent on the Ministry of War, which was also extinguished after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931.

The Order of Santiago is one of the four Spanish military orders, together with those of Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa. It was restored as a civil association with the kingship of Juan Carlos I with the character of a nobiliary, honorable, and religious organization that remains as such.

Insignia

Further information: Cross of Saint James

The Order's insignia is said to originate from the Battle of Clavijo, and is a red cross resembling a sword, with the shape of a fleur-de-lis on the hilt and the arms.[3] The knights wore the cross stamped on the royal standard and white cape. The cross of the royal standard had a Mediterranean scallop in the center and another one at the end of each arm.[4]

The three fleurs-de-lis represent the "honor without stain", which is in reference to the moral features of the Apostle's character.[4]

The sword represents the chivalrous character of the apostle St. James and his martyr ways, since he was decapitated with a sword. It can also symbolize taking the sword in the name of Christ, in a certain sense.[3]

It is said that its shape originated in the era of the Crusades, when the knights took with them small crosses with sharpened bottoms to stick them in the ground and carry out their daily devotions.[citation needed]

History

Badge of order at the Walters Museum, 17th century

Middle Ages

Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, the centre of devotion to this Apostle, is neither the cradle nor the principal seat of the order. Two cities contend for the honour of having given it birth, León in the kingdom of that name, and Uclés in Castile. At that time (1157–1230) the royal dynasty was divided into two branches, the rivalry of which tended to obscure the beginnings of the order. The Knights of Santiago had possessions in each of the kingdoms, but Ferdinand II of León and Alfonso VIII of Castile, in bestowing them, set the condition that the seat of the order should be in their respective states. Hence arose long disputes which only ended in 1230 when Ferdinand III, the Saint, united both crowns. Thereafter, Uclés, in Cuenca Province, was regarded as the headquarters of the order; there the grand master habitually resided, aspirants passed their year of probation, and the rich archives of the order were preserved until united in 1869 with the "Archivo Histórico Nacional" of Madrid. The order received its first rule in 1171 from Cardinal Jacinto (later Pope Celestine III), then legate in Iberia of Pope Alexander III. This first Grand Master was Pedro Fernández de Castro, also known as Pedro Fernández de Fuentecalada, a soldier of King Ferdinand II and a former crusader.

Álvaro de Luna (between 1388 and 1390; June 2, 1453), Constable of Castile, Grand Master of the military order of Santiago, and favorite of King John II of Castile

Unlike the contemporary orders of Calatrava and Alcántara, which followed the severe rule of the Benedictines of Cîteaux, Santiago adopted the milder rule of the Canons of St. Augustine. At León, they offered their services to the Canons Regular of Saint Eligius in that town for the protection of pilgrims to the shrine of St. James and the hospices on the roads leading to Compostela. This explains the mixed character of their order—hospitaller and military—like that of St. John of Jerusalem. They were recognized as religious by Pope Alexander III, whose Bull of 5 July 1175,[1] was subsequently confirmed by more than twenty of his successors. These pontifical acts, collected in the Bullarium of the order, secured them all the privileges and exemptions of other monastic orders. The order comprised several affiliated classes: canons, charged with the administration of the sacraments; canonesses, occupied with the service of pilgrims; religious knights living in community, and married knights. The right to marry, which other military orders only obtained at the end of the Middle Ages, was accorded them from the beginning under certain conditions, such as the authorization of the king, the obligation of observing continence during Advent, Lent, and on certain festivals of the year, which they spent at their monasteries in retreat.

Portrait of Íñigo López de Mendoza with the embroidered cross of the order, by Frans Pourbus the Elder

The mildness of this rule furthered the rapid spread of the order, which eclipsed the older orders of Calatrava and Alcántara, and whose power was reputed abroad even before 1200. The first Bull of confirmation, that of Pope Alexander III, already enumerated a large number of endowments. At its height Santiago alone had more possessions than Calatrava and Alcántara together. In Spain, these possessions included 83 commanderies (of which 3 were reserved to the grand commanders), 2 cities, 178 boroughs and villages, 200 parishes, 5 hospitals, 5 convents, and 1 college at Salamanca. The number of knights was then 400 and they could muster more than 1000 lances. They had possessions in Portugal, France, Italy, Hungary, and even Palestine. Abrantes, their first commandery in Portugal, dates from the reign of Afonso I in 1172, and soon became a distinct order which Pope Nicholas IV released from the jurisdiction of Uclés in 1290.

Their military history is linked with that of the Iberian states. They assisted in the eviction of the Muslims and doing battle with them, sometimes separately, sometimes with the royal armies. They also had a share in the fatal dissensions which disturbed the Christians of Iberia and brought about more than one schism in the order. Finally they took part in the maritime expeditions against the Muslims. Thus arose the obligation imposed upon aspirants to serve six months in the galleys, which still existed in the eighteenth century, but from which exemption was easily purchased. Authority was exercised by a grand master assisted by a Council of Thirteen, which elected the grand master and had the right to depose him for due cause; they had supreme jurisdiction in all disputes between members of the order. The first grand master, Pedro Fernández de Castro, died in 1184. He had had 39 successors, among them several Spanish Infantes, when, in 1499, Ferdinand the Catholic induced the pope to assign to him the administration of the order. Under Charles V, Pope Adrian VI annexed to the crown of Spain the three great military orders (Alcántara, Calatrava, and Santiago) with hereditary transmission even in the female line (1522). Thenceforth the three orders were united under one government, though their titles and possessions remained separate. To discharge the detail of this administration, Charles V instituted a special ministry, the Council of Orders, composed of a president named by the king, whom he represented, and six knights, two delegates from each order. To this council belonged the presentation of knights to vacant commanderies and jurisdiction in all matters, civil or ecclesiastical, save the purely spiritual cases reserved for ecclesiastical dignitaries. Thus ended the autonomy of the orders, but not their prestige.