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A JURIDICAL CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE , THE MASTERSHIP OF DON ALONSO DE ARAGON (1443-1444)

by SOPHIA MENACHE (Haifa)*

The administration of the Order of Calatrava, entrusted by Pope Innocent VIII to King Ferdinand the Catholic (1485), hints at the culmination of a process which the centralizing Castilian Monarchy attempted with ultimate success, that of bringing the Military Orders under its rule'. The Orders of Alcantara and San- tiago were also submitted to royal control, in 1493 and 1494 respectively 2. This process reflects the development by the late of the Military Orders in the . Born amidst the religious fervour and the advance of the twelfth century , the Military Orders became an economic and political power which no monarch could ignore 3. Moreover, while favouring the ascendency of the Military Orders, the Spanish monarchs had tried to ad- vance their own control of the Orders by all the means at their disposal. The elec- tion of masters, with the control they exercised in both spiritual and temporal af- fairs of the Orders, played a crucial role in the royal centralizing policy'. In- deed, before Ferdinand the Catholic received papal authorization to administrate the Military Orders, his royal ancestors had promoted the election of their pro- to the mastership. In 1409, for instance, Fernando de Antequera, at that time the regent of Castile, managed to obtain the Mastership of the Orders of

* This article was written during a sabbatical year at the Center for MedievalStudies at Fordham University.I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof. J. O. Callaghan who introduced me to the enigmatic figure of Don Alonso de Aragon. 1. See the agreement between the Catholic Kings and the Order of Calatrava dated February 13th, 1485in: Bullarium Ordinis Militiae de Calatrava, opus D. Ignatii Josephi de Orga et Cotes, D. Joannis FrancisciAlvarez de Baquedanoet D. Petri de Ortega Zuniga et Aranda ( 1747 - 1761)(hereafter BC), pp. 285-290.Pope Alexander VI cor- roborated the earlier privilegeof Innocent VIII and establishedthe rights of the king and queen in case of the death of the other, BC, pp. 689-693.See also, A.L. Javierre Mur y C. Gutierrez del Arroyo, Fernando el Católico y las Ordenes MilitaresEspanolas, V Con- greso de Historia de la Corona de Arag6n, 1 (Zaragoza, 1955) 287-300; B. Salcedo y Jaramillo, Discurso sobre la soberama que siempre han ejercido en lo temporal los reyes de Espana en las cuatro órdenes militares, Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia 73 ( 1 91 8) 69-9 1 . 2. Andres Bernaldez,Historia de los Reyes CatdlicosDon Fernando y Dona Isabel, ed. D. Cayetano Rosell, Bibliotecade Autores Espanoles, 70 (1914).See also, J. O'Callaghan, TheAffiliation of the Order of Calatrava with the Order of Citeaux,Analecta SacriOrdinis CisterciensisXVI (1960)271-73. 3. M.A. Ladero Quesada, Algunos datos para la historia econ6mica de las 6rdenes militares de Santiago y Calatrava en el siglo XV, Hispania 30 (1970)637-62. See also, C. Estow, The Economic Developmentof the Order of Calatrava, 1158-1366,Speculum 57 (1982-2)267-91; E. Solano Ruiz, La Orden de Calatrava en el Siglo XV ( 1978). 4. Francisco de Rades y Andrada, Chrdnica de las tres órdenes y cavaller?asde San- tiago, Calatrava y Alcdntara (Toledo 1572)fols. lOr.-l lr. 322

Alcantara and Santiago for his sons, Don Sancho and Don Enrique 5. Some years later, the civil wars in Castile brought about the removal of Don Enrique, and the administration of the was entrusted to the powerful constable, Don Alvaro de Luna 6 This article will focus on the election of Don Alonso de Arag6n to the master- ship of Calatrava on August 18th, 1433'. An illegitimate son of King Juan of Navarre, nephew of King Juan II of Castile and King Alfonso V of Aragon, half brother of Ferdinand the Catholic, Don Alonso was related to the most promi- nent political figures of his time and played an important role in the internecine wars which affected both Aragon and Castile in the late fifteenth century 8. His nomination as Master of Calatrava reflected the growing tendency toward restraining the independence of the Military Orders vis-a-vis the centralizing Castilian monarchy. In this regard, the election of Don Alonso heralded a new balance of power between the Castilian Kings and the Order of Calatrava, with juridical aspects which deserve some consideration. Its affiliation with the Cistercian Order endowed the Order of Calatrava with all benefits of papal exemption including the free election of the master9. The procedure of the master's election was finally established by Abbot John VI of Morimond (1444): The comendador mayor was bound to summon all the comen- dadores, and chaplains to the convent of Calatrava within ten days of the death of the master. In practice, however, only the comendadores were sum- moned because of the inexpedience of leaving the frontier exposed. Once assembled, the mass of the Holy Ghost was celebrated and then the election took place. Theoretically, the election should have been unanimous, but the candidate who received the votes of the maior and sanior pars was recognized as the true master'° and received the magisterial standard from the comendador mayor.

5. Fernan Perez de Guzman, Cronica de Juan II, Bibliotecade Autores Espanoles, 68 (1875)315; J. VicensVives, Juan II de Arag6n (1398-1479),Monarquía y Revoluci6n en la Espana del siglo XV ( 1953)9. 6. Pedro Carrillo de Huete, Cr6nica del Halconero de Juan II, ed. J. de Mata Carriazo ( 1946)48, 51, 58; Refundici6n de la Cr6nica del Halconero por el Obispo Don Lope Barrientos, ed. Juan de Mata Carriazo (Madrid 1946)89. Though the Castilian Kings also tried to intervenein the electionsto the mastershipof Calatrava, direct royal nomina- tions had not been recorded in the history of the Order until the election of Don Alonso. 7. The main source for the biographyof Don Alonso is the manuscriptHistoria del In- victoDon Alonso de Aragdn Maestre de la Orden de Calatravay Conde de Ribagorza, hijo natural del rnclito Rey Don Juan el segundo de Arag6n y de Navarra, Real Academia de la Historia, Colecci6n Luis de Salazar 1-35, Sign. 9/609, n° 36203. (hereafter Historia). See the description of the manuscript in Indice de la Colecdon de Don Luis de Salazar y Castro, ed. Baltasar Cuartero y Huerta & Antonio de Vargas Zuniga y Montero de Espinosa, (Madrid 1959),v. XXIII, 173. 8. See the short biographicalessay on Don Alonso publishedby Jose Navarro Latorre, Don Alonso de Arag6n, la Espada o lanza de Juan II (Zaragoza 1983). 9. On the principles of the papal exemption, see, Dom J. Hourlier, classique (1140-1378), Histoire du droit et des institutions de l'église en occident, 6d. G. le Bras, X, 1974, pp. 317-322. Concerning Calatrava, see the bulls of Pope Alexander III (25/9/1164), Gregory VIII (4/11/1187) and Innocent III (28/4/1199), BC, 5-6, 22-25, 31-34and 42-46. 10. The election by the sanior pars was already recognized by Gratian and later developedin the decretals while emphasizingthe freedom of the chapter, see, C. XVIII, q.2, sp. 3 - 5, Corpus Iuris Canonici (C.LC.), (Friedberg 1879); Decretal. Gregor. IX, Lib.I, tit. VI, De electione, c.14, C.LC., p. 54.