Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/357

ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. 21.3 solitude of the cloister. The monk, supported by cHArrr.ii his conventual brethren, and a throng of cavaliers -'- — and more humble followers, who sought redemption under the banner of the church, was enabled to make good his word. From the confederation of these knights and ecclesiastics, sprung the military fraternity of Calatrava, which received the confir- mation of the pontiff, Alexander the Third, in 1164. The rules which it adopted were those of St. Benedict, and its discipline was in the highest degree austere. The cavaliers were sworn to perpetual celibacy, from which they were not released till so late as the sixteenth century. Their diet was of the plainest kind. They were allowed meat only thrice a week, and then only one dish. They were to maintain unbroken silence at the table, in the chapel, and the dormitory ; and they were enjoined both to sleep and to worship with the sword girt on their side, in token of readiness for action. In the earlier days of the institution, the spiritual, as well as the military brethren, were allowed to make part of the martial array against the infidel, until this was prohibited, as indecorous, by the Holy See. From this order, branched off that of Montesa, in Valencia, which was instituted at the commencement of the fourteenth century, and con- tinued dependent on the parent stock. ^^ The third great order of religious chivalry in order of ai- ° o ^ cantara. 38 Rades y Andrada, Las Tres res, fol. 49, 50. — Garibay, Com- Ordenes, part. 2, foL 3-9, 49. — pendio, torn. ii. pp. 100- 104. Caro de Torres, Ordenes Milita-