Medieval Spain and the Catholic Church

During the 10th century, most of the Iberian peninsula, covering the more densely populated and urbanized areas, belonged to the Caliphate of Cordoba. While a considerable segment of it's population, the so-called Mozarabs, were christians, their communities and dioceses had little contact with Rome.
The fringe of christian statelets in the North - Leon, Castile, Navarra, Aragon, Catalonia - lacked an independent church organization, Navarra, Aragon and Catalonia being administrated by the Archdiocesis of Auch (Gascogne). Leon, with the important pilgrimage center of SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, had more ecclesiastical autonomy; being named finis terrae (the end of the earth), it lacked both outside interference and a proper church organization.

Late in the 11th century, the Reconquista had made significant progress, the christian kingdoms of the North having grown to respectable size. Now the peninsula's church organization was reformed, based on political reality of the day and on regional identity. In 1088, the ARCHDIOCESE OF TOLEDO was reestablished (for Leon-Castile), in 1091 the ARCHDIOCESE OF TARRAGONA (for Catalonia-Aragon-Navarra). Frequent partitions of the christian kingdoms resulted in the separation of further archdioceses : BRAGA 1104, SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 1120, OVIEDO declared an exempt diocese in 1105.
Then there was the frontier. Here monastic orders played an important role, in Castile the ORDER OF CALATRAVA, in Leon also the ORDER OF ALCANTARA, in both the ORDER OF SANTIAGO, in Aragon the ORDERS OF ST. GEORGE OF ALFAMA and of MONTESA, in Portugal the Order of the TEMPLE HOSPITALLERS OF AVIZ.

With most of Muslim Spain liberated in the 13th century, the ARCHDIOCESIS OF SEVILLA was added in 1248, the year in which this city was liberated. The DIOCESIS OF MALLORCA was declared exempt in 1237, thus made autonomous from Tarragona (Aragon) because Mallorca was made a separate kingdom. In 1318, the ARCHDIOCESE OF ZARAGOZA was separated from Tarragona, in 1393, the PATRIARCHATE OF LISBON was carved out of the Archdiocesis of Braga. Thus the Iberian peninsula's church organization, modelled by the political development, remained until it was thoroughly reformed late in the 15th century, under the rule of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.

The Catholic reform church's hold of Spain was stronger than that of other countries in Europe. ST. DOMINICUS, the founder of the DOMINICAN ORDER, was a Spaniard. In the 15th/16th century, when the Catholic church all over Europe was in a deep crisis, Spain (recently having undergone a major church reform) was virtually unaffected by the Reformation. In ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA it produced the founder of the JESUIT ORDER, a major instrument in the COUNTERREFORMATION. In ST. THERESA OF AVILA and in ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, it produced two of the later mystics which had a lasting impact on the redefinition of Catholicism during the Counterreformation.

EXTERNAL
FILES

Articles from the Catholic Encyclopedia : Archdioceses of Sevilla, Tarragona, Toledo, Braga, Diocese of Oviedo, Patriarchate of Lisbon, Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza, Diocese of Mallorca
Articles from the Catholic Encyclopedia : St. Dominicus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross
Articles from the Catholic Encyclopedia : Military Orders of Calatrava, Alcantara, St. George of Alfama (Aragon), Montesa, Santiago de Compostela, Temple Hospitallers of Aviz
Medals of Spain, having telegram style information on the military orders;
History of the Orders of Chivalry, a Survey, from Heraldica ;
Spanish Knighthood Orders, from Ismael

DOCUMENTS

REFERENCE

This page is part of World History at KMLA
Last revised on January 7th 2002