The Monks of War

by Desmond Seward

  6. Frey Don Juan de Zúñiga, Master of Alcántara (1478–94), attending a lecture by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, author of the first Spanish grammar. Both Don Juan and the frey-caballero seated at bottom right are wearing the Order's habit white with a green cross on the left breast. From the frontispiece to Nebrija's Institutiones Latinae. Photo: MAS

  7. A doorway at the Priory of the Order of Christ at Thomar. (Photo: MAS)

  8. Fra' Luis Mendes de Vasconcellos, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta (1622–3). The habit is still unmistakably monastic. (Photo: Malta Tourist Office)

  9. Monarchical pretensions Grand Master Manuel Pinto de Fonseca (1741–73) in all but regal robes. (Photo: Malta Tourist Office)

  10. A seventeenth-century galley of the Knights of Malta with a life-size statue of their patron. John the Baptist, on the poop.

  11. The Auberge of Castile in Valetta, remodelled by Grand Master Fra' Manuel Pinto do Fonscca (1741–73). (Photo: Malta Tourist Office)

  12. The Palace of the Grand Priory of Bohemia, Prague, recently returned to the Knights of Malta by the state.

  13. Church of the Bohemian Knights of Malta, Prague. The two towers once guarded a predecessor of the Karl Bridge. (Photo: © Milan Kinel)

  14. Archduke Karl (the only man besides Wellington to defeat Napoleon) being invested as a Teutonic Knight in 1801 by Archduke Maximilian-Franz, whom he later succeeded as I loch und Deutschmeister.

  15. Corpus Christi procession of Teutonic Knights and Knights of Malta at Vienna, 1934.At left the former Hoch und Deutschmeister, Archduke Eugen of Habsburg; in the centre Fra' Karl. Baron von Ludwigstorff, Prince Grand Prior of Bohemia (Order of Malta); and at light Friedrich, Count von Bclrupt-Tissac. who later became a priest of the reformed Teutonic Order.

  16. King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Queen Ena in 1924 with the Prince of the Asturias who wears the habito of a Knight of Santiago. (Photo: Hulton Deutsch)

  17. Knights of Malta in their military uniform. The Prince de Polignac, President of the French Association, at an investiture at Versailles in 1990.

  18. Knights of Malta in choir dress. 1994. 'Fra' Matthew Festing, as Grand Prior of England, taking the oath of allegiance to the Grand Master's delegate, Fra' Anthony. Viscount Furness. in the presence of the Papal Nuncio.

  II

  TRIUMPH AND NEMESIS

  In 1476 Muley Hassan, the aged but ferocious sultan of Granada, refused to pay tribute to Castile, telling its ambassador that 'Granadine mints no longer coin gold – only steel'. Isabella asked the pope for a crusading indulgence in 1479, but the Moors moved first. On the night after Christmas 1481, during a blinding storm, they broke into Zahara, massacring most of its population. It was more than a century since a frontier town had been captured by Moors. Isabella immediately sent the Master of Calatrava to Jaén and the Master of Santiago to Écija, ordering all adelantados and commanders to reinforce their garrisons. In February 1482 a small Castilian force surprised and stormed the rich town of Alhama, holding it against furious attempts at recapture by the enraged sultan, who slew the messenger bringing the news. It was the turn of the Granadines to be horrified. The Christians had thrown their victims' corpses over the walls for dogs to eat the rotting remains. Muley Hassan retreated, to find his son, Abu Abdullah, proclaimed sultan. The humiliated old man took refuge at Málaga, where his brother, az-Zagal – the Valiant – was alcalde. A popular ballad made 'el rey Mow' – Muley Hassan – lament

  Que Christianos, con braveza

  Ya nos han tornado Alhama,

  Ay de mi Alhama!

  King Ferdinand was so encouraged that he attacked the city of Loja, in mountainous country perfectly suited to the Moors' style of fighting. The cadi, Ali-Atar, surrounded the Castilians on the heights of Albohacen, driving them into a ravine. Moorish cavaliers rode in and out, cutting down the unhorsed. Frey Rodrigo of Calatrava was killed by two arrows; many brethren had their heads taken to adorn Granadine saddles. Losing his siege-train, Ferdinand managed to withdraw over the rocky hills but only with the greatest difficulty.

  Fortunately there were men who knew how to repair Castilian morale. The Clavero of Calatrava, Garci López de Padilla, elected to take Rodrigo's place, was flesh-and-blood testimony to the military vocation's survival, who said his Office in choir every day and really lived the rule; noted for his devotion to the Order's founder, St Ramón Fitero, he spent much of his time in prayer before his relics. In battle Frey Garci was a skilled and popular soldier.1

  After defeating the Master of Santiago in the Axarquia in March 1483, the Moors launched a counter-raid by Sultan Abu Abdullah himself. 'Boabdil' rode out with nearly 10,000 handpicked cavalry, including his gallant father-in-law, Ali-Atar, to attack the town of Lucena but was ambushed by a force of only 1,500 lances. In the rout Ali-Atar was slain and the sultan taken prisoner. Immediately Muley Hassan's supporters, led by az-Zagal, seized the kingdom. After much deliberation Ferdinand and the royal council decided, with inspired cunning, to release Boabdil; the Granadines were divided against each other and eventually Boabdil took Almería, his father retaining the capital. Yet until 1484 the war seemed no more than another incident in the Reconquista. The Christians employed the traditional tactics of the cavalgada, with heavy cavalry and lightly armed escaladores – footmen carrying ladders and grappling-hooks, knives and axes in their belts, their task being to scale castle walls quickly and silently. The Moors too retained their customary style of fighting. Even if hand gunners were replacing slingers, their favourite soldiers were still jinetes on Arab ponies or Berber footmen, including savage Negro gomeres, while even the poorest Granadine kept his crossbow. Two-thirds of Granada was mountainous, protecting the coastal plain whose strong towns were supplied by sea from the Maghrib. The sierras were inhabited by pugnacious mountaineers who cut Castilian supply-lines climbing the misty passes. Armies could not live off waterless rocks, and even in the vega invaders starved when the Moors deliberately destroyed their own crops. Winter made conditions impossible. This little Spanish kingdom was the jewel of Islam and its people had no sense of doom.

  However, with the resources of a united Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella hired specialist mercenaries from all over Europe. German and Italian gunners brought 'bombards', firing iron or marble cannon-balls weighing up to 160 lb., as well as fireballs, lumps of tow soaked in oil, gunpowder and stone shells which were not as primitive as they sound, splintering on impact, with an effect like shrapnel. Siege engineers came from Italy to train corps of sappers. In 1485 'Switzers', the first pikemen, appeared in Spain, carrying the great eighteen-foot spear and using the hollow square. French crusaders, men-at-arms – heavy cavalry in plate armour – came too, though the English Earl Rivers brought archers and billmen, 300 veterans from the Wars of the Roses. New troops were accompanied by new tactics. Campaigns were directed at each of the three chief cities in turn, Malaga in the west, Almería in the east and finally Granada itself. Captured towns became bridgeheads, garrisoned during the winter, so that no ground had been lost when the advance was resumed the following spring. Light troops systematically devastated the vega on a scale hitherto unknown, while the Castilian and Catalan fleets blockaded the coast, their war-galleys chasing Barbary merchantmen away from Granadine ports.

  By 1484 Muley Hassan was near death. His brother, az-Zagal, rode into Granada, with the heads of Calatravan freyles dangling from his saddle, and seized the throne. Again Boabdil fled to the Christians and again he was released to fight his uncle. However, in the spring of 1485 King Ferdinand set out from Córdoba with 29,000 troops, accompanied by the Masters of Santiago and Alcántara. Their objective was Ronda, the second city of the western province. Hitherto it had been thought impregnable, built on a hilltop and surrounded by deep ravines. But sappers dragged the new artillery up the mountains facing Ronda, until the great bombards were trained on the city. The inhabitants were not at first alarmed. Then on 5 May the bombardment began, with gunners firing down into the city. The Rondeños w
ere terrified by the fireballs with their blazing tails but, on seeing their ramparts splinter and crumble, towers collapse and houses demolished, were more appalled by the cannon shot. To reply they had nothing heavier than arquebuses. After only four days the outer walls fell and the suburbs were stormed, whereupon guns were brought up to hammer the inner ramparts at pointblank range, while more traditional weapons, stone-throwing catapults and battering rams, set to work. On 15 May the garrison surrendered unconditionally.

  The bombardment of Ronda doomed the Granadines. Nearly 100 strongholds surrendered. By the end of the year half of western Granada, as far as the mountains guarding Malaga, was in Christian hands. Desperately the Ulema tried to make peace between the sultan and his uncle, but neither would agree. Meanwhile their supporters fought savagely. Loja, Boabdil's residence, was the target selected by Ferdinand in May 1486; his artillery battered it into submission. It was soon followed by the towns of Mochin and Illora, the 'shield and right eye' of Granada, controlling the western roads to the capital. Once more Boabdil was released. The following year, 1487, the Castilian army concentrated on Malaga, 'the hand and mouth of Granada' and second city of the kingdom. In the spring they first took Vélez Malaga and then, with 70,000 men, besieged the great port itself. A fierce emir, Hamet el Zagri, and a strong Berber guzat were in command of the city, which had two vast keeps, the Gibralfaro and the Alcazaba. The Christians were in larger force than ever before, with bigger and better artillery. As an ultimate refinement of psychological warfare they brought carillons of bells which played havoc with devout Moslem sensibilities.

  The surrender of Málaga meant that the Nasrid capital would become untenable. The dying kingdom was now split in two, the north ruled by Boabdil from the Alhambra, and the eastern province of Almería ruled by az-Zagal at Baza, Granada's other great artery. In the summer of 1488 Ferdinand attacked Almería unsuccessfully. The Moors were filled with joy, for at last they had beaten back the Christians. But in the following year the king returned with an army of nearly 100,000 men. This city, protected by woods and a network of canals, held a garrison of 20,000 carefully chosen warriors who were commanded by a redoubtable general, Cidi Yahya. The siege, which was drawn out for five months, cost the Spaniards 20,000 casualties through plague and sorties. In August the rains turned the battlefield into a swamp, the bombards being bogged down in mud. By November, though the cidi wished to carry on, the Moors were near breaking point. A high officer of Santiago, the commander of León, negotiated a truce and Yahya sent to az-Zagal, asking leave to yield. The old emir gave way to pious resignation. In December Yahya surrendered Baza. Az-Zagal then gave up his strongholds of Guadix and Almería and retired to the Maghrib, where he was blinded by the Sultan of Fez. Moslem Spain's last great warrior ended a beggar in the souk.

  Boabdil never believed his terrible uncle could fail and had promised to surrender Granada in return for a vassal principality. But even this degenerate could not abandon the city of his ancestors. He refused, and once again Moors raided La Frontera, inciting their enslaved brothers to rise. King Ferdinand led two savage cavalgadas into the vega during 1490, but the Moors gained a victory by annihilating a small force of English bowmen at Alhendin. Finally, in April 1491, the beautiful Moslem capital, filled with refugees, was invested by the Christians, for the last time, with 50,000 men. The Granadines foresaw their own doom, yet like the poulains at Acre they fought magnificently. The crusaders nearly lost heart, but then Queen Isabella arrived to build the city of Santa Fé (Holy Faith). The town was built of stone, not wood or canvas, opposite Granada as a sign of invincible determination. In November Boabdil despaired. Negotiations were concluded principally through Frey Gonsalvo de Córdoba, a commander of Santiago who spoke fluent Arabic* Weeping, the last Sultan of al-Andalus greeted his destroyers on 2 January 1492 before riding off to a small domain in the desolate Alpujarras. Then the Christian army entered.

  On the Torre de la Vela of the red Alhambra, Frey Diego de Castrillo, Grand Commander of Calatrava, erected a crucifix and, when the Master of Santiago set up the crimson banner of St James with the Moor slayer on his white horse, the whole army greeted it with a roar of 'Santiago y cierra España'. The holy land of the apostle James was cleansed of Babylonians, its captivity brought to an end. The brethren had consecrated the Reconquista, and now it was complete. The entry into Granada was their apotheosis.

  The Catholic sovereigns had no wish to destroy the military Orders; they simply wanted to control them. The Portuguese expedient of nominating infantes to the masterships had been successful. By careful pressure on the curia the Aragonese Pope, Alexander VI Borgia, was persuaded to ratify the Crown's assumption of the maestrazgos, of Calatrava (when Garci López de Padilla died in 1487) and of Santiago (when Alonso de Cardenas died in 1493). These were not extinguished but were merely administered by the king as a provisional measure. Then, in 1494, Juan de Zúñiga of Alcántara was persuaded to abdicate. The next step was the nomination, instead of election, of claveros and Grand Commanders, the latter becoming royal lieutenants. But although the mesa maestral was appropriated to purposes of state, life in the commanderies changed little.2 Juan de Zúñiga retired to a commandery with three knights and three chaplain brothers to observe the rule properly, and, if Alexander VI dispensed all Spanish military brethren from celibacy, it was a dispensation rather than a reform and merely brought them into line with Santiago. Alexander VI had given as reason the need 'to avoid the scandal of concubinage', but many brethren remained celibate.

  No strong government could tolerate these immense corporations. Soon after 1500 it was estimated that Santiago possessed 94 commanderies with an annual revenue of 60,000 ducats, and Alcántara 38 commanderies with 45,000 ducats. Estimates for Calatrava vary, but there seem to have been between 51 and 56 commanderies with 16 priories, yielding an income of between 40,000 and 50,000 ducats, the Orders' estates comprising not fewer than 64 villages with 200,000 inhabitants.3 For the Renaissance mind such wealth was better used as an instrument of royal rather than clerical patronage. Now that the Reconquista was complete, the Spanish Orders' decline became inevitable. The new centralized monarchies took over the brotherhoods, with royal councils to administer their masterships. This decline, however, was only gradual; in 1508 Cardinal Ximenes proposed that Santiago's headquarters be moved to Oran, while as late as 1516 the Trecenazgo at Uclés attempted to elect a Maestre. Then in 1523 Charles V officially embodied administration of the master-ships of Santiago, Alcántara and Calatrava in the Crown, and in 1527 he pledged their revenues to the Fuggers. By mid-century military Orders were hardly more than civil lists to provide royal favourites with titles, palaces and pensions, even if canon law regarded them as religious. The Iberian military vocation was dead, though it remained a splendid ghost for many years.

  By contrast, while the Iberian Orders began their long decline, the Knights of Malta began to play an even more prominent role in Spanish and Portuguese life. Membership of their order became far more sought after than that of Santiago or Calatrava. The Grand Priors of Castile and the Castellans of Amposta were often royal princes, as were the Priors of Crato in Portugal.

  In 1500 it seemed that the Portuguese Knights' vocation still had a future in Africa or the Indies, although brethren of Aviz and of Christ were allowed to marry after 1496 'on account of concubinage' and in 1505 were dispensed from their vow of poverty. Aviz had 48 commanderies and 128 priories, but this was nothing in comparison to the riches of the Knights of Christ. King Manoel reassumed his mastership, encouraging members of other Orders to transfer. His brethren possessed 454 commanderies by the end of his reign, in Portugal, Africa and the Indies. Their wealth was reflected in the Order's headquarters. Built on a hill overlooking Thomar, the priory's size and splendour make it easy to believe that the Knights of Christ was the richest corporation in Europe.

  Unfortunately, an attempt to reform the Order was too extreme. The Hieronimite priest Antonio de Lisboa made impossible
conditions, restoring all the old vows, while chaplains had to resume conventual life at Thomar, following the arduous Cistercian rule. The innovations for knights proved impracticable and were soon discarded. When Prior Antonio began to observe the new constitutions in 1530, he had only twelve Thomaristas with him. The reform drove a wedge between knights and chaplain brethren, destroying any sense of vocation which remained to the former.

  Yet as late as 1536 Santiago rebuilt its second commandery, San Marcos at León. This Renaissance Ziggurat, its massive court surrounding an elaborate conventual church, was a palace barracks rather than a fortress, and a witness to the brethren's staggering wealth as well as to their confidence in the future. By the middle of the century Santiago, Calatrava and Alcántara all possessed university colleges at Salamanca and a real attempt was made to reform chaplains, not drastically as in the purging of Thomar, but as a rational improvement. The brethren produced their greatest writer, a frey derigo, Rades y Andrada, whose Chrónica de las tres Ordenes, published in 1572, still remains the standard work on Spanish military Orders.* He was an excellent historian, conscientious and methodical, who carefully collated charters and compiled lists of Masters and commanders. Every military Order produces chroniclers, but Rades was outstanding. Unfortunately, as in Portugal, the chaplains' revival cut them off from the caballeros.