Order of Alcántara

The Order of Alcántara (Leonese: Orde de Alcántara, Spanish: Orden de Alcántara), also called the Knights of St. Julian, was originally a military order of León, founded in 1166 and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1177.

Alcántara is a town on the Tagus (which is here crossed by a bridge - cantara in Arabic, hence the name). The town is situated on the plain of Extremadura, a great field of conflict for the Muslims and Christians of Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century. Alcántara was first taken in 1167 by the King of León, Ferdinand II. In 1174 it fell again into the hands of Abu Yaqub Yusuf, the third of the African Almohades; and was not recovered until 1214, when it was taken by Alfonso IX of León.

To defend this conquest, on a border exposed to many assaults, the king resorted to military orders. The Middle Ages knew neither standing armies nor garrisons, a deficiency that the military orders supplied, combining as they did military training with monastic stability. In 1214 Alcántara was first committed to the care of the Castilian Knights of Calatrava, who had lately received great support after their performance in 1212 at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Almohades. Alonzo of León wished to found at Alcántara a special branch of this celebrated order for his realm. However, four years later the Order decided that the post was too far from its Castilian headquarters. They gave up the scheme and transferred the castle, with the permission of the king, to a peculiar Leonese order still in a formative stage, known as Knights of St. Julian de Pereiro.

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