CALATRA'VA, an order of knighthood in Spain, instituted at Calatrava (q.v.). The statutes of the order, framed by the chapter-general of the Cistercian monks, were sanctioned by the bishop of Toledo in 1164, and afterwards by the pope. At subsequent periods, many privileges were added. After the death of the king, their patron, some of the knights were no longer willing to obey the abbot, and they consequently sepa rated themselves from the monks, and elected a grand-master, Don Garcias de Redon. At a later period, they again united themselves to the Cistercians, after they had gained rich possessions from the Moors both in Spain and Portugal. When Castile had fallen into anarchy, and the other kingdoms were exhausting themselves by internal feuds, the war against the unbelievers was almost entirely carried on by the knights of Calatrava. Their almost uniform success, however, gave rise to rashness; the knights were defeated by emir Jacob ben Yuseff, nearly all of them perished, and Calatrava was occupied by the Moors. After this disaster, the knights transferred their seat to the castle of Salva tierra, by the name of which they passed for a long time afterwards. A truce of 12 years having been concluded. during which the order revived, the knights were able, at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, in 1212. again 10 turn the tide in favor of the Chris tians. They then returned to Calatrava. Notwithstanding their splendid achievements, the knights of C. never possessed the vast wealth of their brethren of St. James of Com
postella (q.v.), a fact which is probably to be accounted for by their having ceded apart of their conquests to the orders of Alcantara and Aviz. But their grand-masters, who were chosen from the highest families in Spain, were very powerful, and exercised a vast influence on public affairs. They did not, however, escape the jealousy of the crown. Two of them were accused of treason, and died on the scaffold; and on the death of the 13th grand-master, in 1489, the administration of the order was transferred to the king by a bull of pope Innocent VIII. By way of compensation for the loss of their inde pendence, the knights were permitted to marry once, though they were still bound to make vows of poverty, obedience, and conjugal chastity; and latterly to profess belief in the immaculate conception. Their original costume consisted of a coat of white mail, with a white scapulary, a black cap, and a pilgrim's hood; but this dress the anti-pope Benedict XIII., in 1397, granted them permission to exchange for a civil apparel. Their present costume is a white mantle, with a red cross cut out in the form of lilies upon the left breast; while the cross of the order has the same symbol on a silver ground. Two convents for nuns were attached to the order, and were at one time richly endowed. The nuns, attached to the order of C. in 1519, wore the dress of Cistercian nuns, with the cross of the order on the left side of the capoch, fastened to the scapulary.