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124-698: It was founded at Calatrava la Vieja in Castile , in the twelfth century by St. Raymond of Fitero , as a military branch of the Cistercian family. Rodrigo of Toledo describes the origins of the order: Calatrava is the Arabic name of a castle recovered from the Muslims, in 1147, by the King of Castile, Alfonso VII , called el Emperador . Located in what was then the southernmost border of Castile, this conquest

248-539: A rationalist intellectualism in Almohad religious thought. Al-Mansur's father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , had also shown some favour towards philosophy and kept the philosopher Ibn Tufayl as his confidant. Ibn Tufayl in turn introduced Ibn Rush (Averroes) to the Almohad court, to whom Al-Mansur gave patronage and protection. Although Ibn Rushd (who was also an Islamic judge ) saw rationalism and philosophy as complementary to religion and revelation, his views failed to convince

372-441: A "sophisticated hybrid form of Islam that wove together strands from Hadith science, Zahiri and Shafi'i fiqh , Ghazalian social actions ( hisba ), and spiritual engagement with Shi'i notions of the imam and mahdi ". This contrasted with the highly orthodox or traditionalist Maliki school ( maddhab ) of Sunni Islam which predominated in the region up to that point. Central to his philosophy, Ibn Tumart preached

496-568: A complicated blend of literalist jurisprudence and esoteric dogmatics. Some authors occasionally describe Almohads as heavily influenced by Mu'tazilism . Scholar Madeline Fletcher argues that while one of Ibn Tumart's original teachings, the murshida s (a collection of sayings memorized by his followers), holds positions on the attributes of God which might be construed as moderately Mu'tazilite (and which were criticized as such by Ibn Taimiyya ), identifying him with Mu'tazilites would be an exaggeration. She points out that another of his main texts,

620-400: A fearless warrior on the battlefield, the glory of Padilla shed its last rays in the war of the conquest of Granada, which he did not live to see completed. At Padilla's death (1487), Ferdinand of Aragon exhibited to the chapter, assembled for the election of a new grand master, a Bull from Innocent VIII that invested him with authority to administer the order, and to this decree he compelled

744-464: A fundamentalist or radical version of tawhid – referring to a strict monotheism or to the "oneness of God". This notion gave the movement its name: al - Muwaḥḥidūn ( Arabic : المُوَحِّدون ), meaning roughly "those who advocate tawhid ", which was adapted to "Almohads" in European writings. Ibn Tumart saw his movement as a revolutionary reform movement much as early Islam saw itself relative to

868-591: A large Castilian army, descended from the hills, besieging cities such as Jaén and Andújar . They raided throughout the regions of Jaén , Cordova and Vega de Granada and, before the end of the year, al-Bayyasi had established himself in the city of Cordova . Sensing a power vacuum, both Alfonso IX of León and Sancho II of Portugal opportunistically ordered raids into Andalusian territory that same year. With Almohad arms, men and cash dispatched to Morocco to help Caliph al-Adil impose himself in Marrakesh, there

992-452: A large garden east of the city). The Almohads were thoroughly routed, with huge losses. Half their leadership was killed in action, and the survivors only just managed to scramble back to the mountains. Ibn Tumart died shortly after, in August 1130. That the Almohad movement did not immediately collapse after such a devastating defeat and the death of their charismatic Mahdi, is likely due to

1116-492: A leader in the factions which disturbed the wretched reigns of John II and Henry IV , the last two lamentably weak descendants of St. Ferdinand of Castile. By turns, Giron sustained first Henry IV, in a war against his father, John II, then Alfonso, who pretended to the throne, against Henry IV. Such was Giron's importance that Henry IV, to attach him to his cause, offered him the hand of his own sister, Isabella I of Castile . Giron had already had his vow of celibacy annulled by

1240-521: A league with the King of Aragon; the second, Estevañez, having competed for the grand mastership with the king's candidate, García de Padilla, was murdered in the royal palace, by the king's own treacherous hand; lastly García de Padilla himself, a brother of the royal mistress, fell into disgrace, upon deserting the king's party for that of his half brother, Henry the Bastard , and died in prison (1369). At

1364-512: A massive advance in the Christian reconquista – the old great Andalusian citadels fell in a grand sweep: Mérida and Badajoz in 1230 (to Leon), Majorca in 1230 (to Aragon), Beja in 1234 (to Portugal), Cordova in 1236 (to Castile), Valencia in 1238 (to Aragon), Niebla - Huelva in 1238 (to Leon), Silves in 1242 (to Portugal), Murcia in 1243 (to Castile), Jaén in 1246 (to Castile), Alicante in 1248 (to Castile), culminating in

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1488-713: A mere title of the Bishop of Ciudad Real . In 1980, upon request by his father , who was appointed Dean President of the Council, King Juan Carlos I reinstated the Orders by royal initiative. Under the Apostolic Pastoral Tertio millennio adveniente , the Spanish Orders began their renewal in 1996. Today, the aim of the Spanish Orders is basically the same as they had when founded: the defense of

1612-438: A palace there called Al-Muwarak on the site of the modern-day Alcázar of Seville . The successors of Abd al-Mumin, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (Yusuf I, ruled 1163–1184) and Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (Yaʻqūb I, ruled 1184–1199), were both able men. Initially their government drove many Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile, and Aragon . Ultimately they became less fanatical than

1736-467: A period of effective regency for the young caliph, with power exercised by an oligarchy of elder family members, palace bureaucrats and leading nobles. The Almohad ministers were careful to negotiate a series of truces with the Christian kingdoms, which remained more-or-less in place for next fifteen years (the loss of Alcácer do Sal to the Kingdom of Portugal in 1217 was an exception). In early 1224,

1860-482: A reference to the Arab nobleman who held this area in the 8th century, although as a fortress it may date even earlier – to Iberian times. References to the site date from as early as 785, and in 853 owing to conflicts between the Muslims of Toledo and the emirate of Cordova , it was partially destroyed, but rebuilt later. The site was rebuilt under al-Hakam (son of Abd ar-Rahman II), brother of Muhammad I . It became

1984-515: A revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in Muslim orthodoxy. His followers would become known as the al-Muwaḥḥidūn ("Almohads"), meaning those who affirm the unity of God. After his return to the Maghreb c. 1117, Ibn Tumart spent some time in various Ifriqiyan cities, preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He laid

2108-461: A second time, in consequence of a quarrel with his lieutenant, Juan Nuñez, Lopez voluntarily resigned in favour of Nuñez, who had taken his place (1328), on condition that he should keep the commandery of Zurita; as this condition was violated, Lopez again, for the third time, took the title of Grand Master in Aragon, where he died in 1336. These facts sufficiently prove that after the fourteenth century

2232-527: Is no doubt that these flags in their different colors delighted and pleased the people. According to historian Amira Benninson, the caliphs usually left their capital Marrakesh for war in al-Andalus preceded by the white banner of the Almohads, the Quran of 'Uthman and Quran of Ibn Tumart. Egyptian historiographer Al-Qalqashandi (d. 1418) mentioned white flags in two places, the first being when he spoke about

2356-544: The invasions . The castle was placed under the protection of the Knights Templar , but this proved unsatisfactory, and Sancho III of Castile made an offer: he would grant the town and fortress of Calatrava to anyone who promised to defend it from the Moors. Encouraged by a friar named Diego Velásquez, who had been a warrior before becoming a friar, Saint Raymond of Fitero took up the challenge. Sancho granted them

2480-423: The 'aqida (which was likely edited by others after him), demonstrates a much clearer Ash'arite position on a number of issues. Nonetheless, the Almohads, particularly from the reign of Caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur onward, embraced the use of logical reasoning as a method of validating the more central Almohad concept of tawhid . This effectively provided a religious justification for philosophy and for

2604-548: The Abbasid Caliph , albeit taking up for himself a quasi-caliphal title, 'al-Mutawwakil'. The departure of al-Ma'mun in 1228 marked the end of the Almohad era in Spain. Ibn Hud and the other local Andalusian strongmen were unable to stem the rising flood of Christian attacks, launched almost yearly by Sancho II of Portugal , Alfonso IX of León , Ferdinand III of Castile and James I of Aragon . The next twenty years saw

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2728-580: The Almohad Caliphate in 1209. Summoned by Pope Innocent III , foreign crusaders joined Iberian Christians. An early battle was the reconquest of Calatrava (1212), which was returned to its former masters. In the same year the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa turned the tide of Muslim domination in Spain. Having recovered its stronghold, and resumed the title of Calatrava (1216), the order nevertheless removed to more secure quarters of Calatrava la Nueva , eight miles from old Calatrava (1218). In 1221

2852-480: The Banu Hud dynasty that had once ruled the old taifa of Saragossa , emerged as the central figure of these rebellions, systematically dislodging Almohad garrisons through central Spain. In October 1228, with Spain practically all lost, al-Ma'mun abandoned Seville, taking what little remained of the Almohad army with him to Morocco. Ibn Hud immediately dispatched emissaries to distant Baghdad to offer recognition to

2976-618: The Battle of Alarcos . They held it for 17 years, until 1212, when it was recovered as part of the campaign that resulted in the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa : after conquering Calatrava, there were some disagreements among the members of the Christian coalition: French and other European knights were not used to the summer heat, but more importantly, they did not agree with Alfonso VIII ´s order of humane treatment of Jews and Muslims. Previously, they had created problems in Toledo , (where

3100-559: The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they occasionally entered into alliances with the kings of Castile . The history of their decline differs from that of the Almoravids, whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great religious movement, but lost territories, piecemeal, by the revolt of tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the Banu Marin ( Marinids ) who founded the next dynasty. The last representative of

3224-858: The Hintata , Ibn Tumart abandoned his cave in 1122 and went up into the High Atlas , to organize the Almohad movement among the highland Masmuda tribes. Besides his own tribe, the Hargha, Ibn Tumart secured the adherence of the Ganfisa, the Gadmiwa, the Hintata, the Haskura, and the Hazraja to the Almohad cause. Sometime around 1124, Ibn Tumart established his base at Tinmel , a highly defensible position in

3348-778: The Order of Calatrava . It is now part of the Archaeological Parks ( Parques Arqueológicos ) of the Community of Castile-La Mancha . Situated at Carrión de Calatrava , Calatrava during the High Middle Ages was the only important city in the Guadiana River valley. It thus guarded the roads to Cordova and Toledo . Its name is derived from the ( Arabic : قلعة رباح , romanized :  Qalʿat Rabāḥ , lit.   'Fortress of Rabah'),

3472-606: The Order of Monfragüe was merged into that of Calatrava. With the decline of Muslim power, new orders sprang up, including the Alcántara in the Kingdom of León and Avis in Portugal. Both began under Calatrava's protection and the visitation of its grand master. This age marks the climax of Iberian chivalry: it was then that King Ferdinand the Saint , after the definitive coalition of Castile and León (1229), in (1235) captured

3596-516: The Rif mountains in the north. One of their early bases beyond the mountains was Taza , where Abd al-Mu"min founded a citadel ( ribat ) and a Great Mosque circa 1142. The Almoravid ruler, Ali ibn Yusuf, died in 1143 and was succeeded by his son, Tashfin ibn Ali . The tide turned more definitively in favour of the Almohads from 1144 onwards, when the Zenata tribes in what is now western Algeria joined

3720-483: The dhimmi status of religious minorities further stifled the once flourishing Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain ; Maimonides went east and many Jews moved to Castillian-controlled Toledo . According to the research of Muhammad al-Manuni , there were 400 paper mills in Fes under the reign of Sultan Yaqub al-Mansur in the 12th century. The Almohad ideology preached by Ibn Tumart is described by Amira Bennison as

3844-820: The huffaz or reciters of the Quran into a training school of the Almohad elite. They were no longer described as "memorisers" but as "guardians" who learned riding, swimming, archery, and received a general education of high standards. Abd al-Mu'min thus transformed the Almohad movement from a Masmuda aristocracy to a Mu'minid dynastic state. While most of the Almohad elites accepted this new concentration of power, it nonetheless triggered an uprising by two of Ibn Tumart's half-brothers, 'Abd al-'Aziz and 'Isa. Shortly after Abd al-Mu'min announced his heir, towards 1154–1155, they rebelled in Fez and then marched on Marrakesh, whose governor they killed. Abd al-Mu'min, who had been in Salé, returned to

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3968-668: The unity of God ' ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula ( Al-Andalus ) and North Africa (the Maghreb ). The Almohad movement was founded by Ibn Tumart among the Berber Masmuda tribes, but the Almohad caliphate and its ruling dynasty, known as the Mu'minid dynasty , were founded after his death by Abd al-Mu'min al-Kumi . Around 1121, Ibn Tumart

4092-614: The Almohad armies. These moves also had the corollary effect of advancing the Arabisation of future Morocco. Abd al-Mu'min spent the mid-1150s organizing the Almohad state and arranging for power to be passed on through his family line. In 1154, he declared his son Muhammad as his heir. In order to neutralise the power of the Masmuda, he relied on his tribe of origin, the Kumiyas (from the central Maghreb), whom he integrated into

4216-638: The Almohad camp, along with some of the previously Almoravid-aligned leaders of the Masufa tribe. This allowed them to defeat Tashfin decisively and capture Tlemcen in 1144. Tashfin fled to Oran, which the Almohads then attacked and captured, and he died in March 1145 while trying to escape. The Almohads pursued the defeated Almoravid army west to Fez, which they captured in 1146 after a nine-month siege. They finally captured Marrakesh in 1147, after an eleven-month siege. The last Almoravid ruler, Ishaq ibn Ali ,

4340-533: The Almohad flag in Tunisia, where he stated that: "It was a white flag called the victorious flag, and it was raised before their sultan when riding for Eid prayers or for the movement of the makhzen slaves (which were the ordinary people of the country and the people of the markets)". By the end of the Almohad reign, dissident movements would adopt black in recognition of the Abbasid caliphate and in rejection of

4464-434: The Almohad governor of Jaén , who took a handful of followers and decamped for the hills around Baeza. He set up a rebel camp and forged an alliance with the hitherto quiet Ferdinand III of Castile . Sensing his greater priority was Marrakesh, where recusant Almohad sheikh s had rallied behind Yahya, another son of al-Nasir, al-Adil paid little attention to them. In 1225, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi's band of rebels, accompanied by

4588-417: The Almohad power structure and from whom he recruited some 40,000 into the army. They would later form the bodyguard of the caliph and his successors. In addition, Abd al-Mu'min relied on Arabs, the great Hilalian families that he had deported to Morocco, to further weaken the influence of the Masmuda sheikhs. With his son appointed as his successor, Abd al-Mu'min placed his other children as governors of

4712-455: The Almohads (1195). Velasquez lived long enough to witness the failure of his daring scheme. He died the next year in the monastery of Gumiel (1196). The order in Castile appeared to be finished, and the branch of Aragon sought primacy. The Knights of Alcañiz actually proceeded to elect a new grand master, but the grand master still living in Castile claimed his right. Finally, by a compromise,

4836-658: The Almohads governed their co-religionists in Iberia and central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions outside Morocco being treated as provinces. When Almohad emirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jihad against the Christians and then return to Morocco. In 1212, the Almohad Caliph Muhammad 'al-Nasir' (1199–1214), the successor of al-Mansur, after an initially successful advance north,

4960-407: The Almohads were recognized for their use of white banners, which were supposed to evoke their "purity of purpose". This began a long tradition of using white as main dynastic color in what is now Morocco for the later Marinids and Saadian sultanates. Whether these white banners contained any specific motifs or inscriptions is not certain. Historian Ḥasan 'Ali Ḥasan writes: As for the flags of

5084-557: The Almohads, the main flag was white, and on one side was written during the reign of Ibn Tumart: "The one Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the Mahdi is the successor of Allah", and on the other side: "There is no god but Allah, and my success is only with Allah, and I entrust my affairs to Allah", and the white color continued with the rest of the caliphs, even if they adopted other colored flags, red, yellow and other colors. There

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5208-465: The Almoravids, and Ya'qub al-Mansur was a highly accomplished man who wrote a good Arabic style and protected the philosopher Averroes . In 1190–1191, he campaigned in southern Portugal and won back territory lost in 1189. His title of " al-Manṣūr " ("the Victorious") was earned by his victory over Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos (1195). From the time of Yusuf II , however,

5332-531: The Andalusi historian Ibn Ṣāḥib aṣ-Ṣalāt  [ ar ] . For example, the khaṭīb , or sermon-giver, of al-Qarawiyyīn Mosque in Fes, Mahdī b. 'Īsā, was replaced under the Almohads by Abū l-Ḥasan b. 'Aṭiyya khaṭīb because he was fluent in Berber. As the Almohads rejected the status of Dhimma , the Almohad conquest of al-Andalus caused the emigration of Andalusi Christians from southern Iberia to

5456-596: The Castilians to lay a long and difficult siege. The brave defiance of little Capilla, and the spectacle of al-Bayyasi's shipping provisions to the Castilian besiegers, shocked Andalusians and shifted sentiment back towards the Almohad caliph. A popular uprising broke out in Cordova – al-Bayyasi was killed and his head dispatched as a trophy to Marrakesh. But Caliph al-Adil did not rejoice in this victory for long – he

5580-524: The Catholic faith. The sword has been put aside, but their doctrine, example, self-sanctification, and divine worship remain active, aside from their cultural and social activities. Their two hundred and fifty members guard the spirit and life of the Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa under their Grand Master, King Felipe VI , and the Real Consejo de las Órdenes (Royal Council of

5704-648: The Christian north, which had an impact on the use of Romance within Almohad territory. After the Almohad period, Muslim territories in Iberia were reduced to the Emirate of Granada , in which the percentage of the population that had converted to Islam reached 90% and Arabic-Romance bilingualism seems to have disappeared. The Almohads worked to suppress the influence of the Maliki school of fiqh, even publicly burning copies of Muwatta Imam Malik and Maliki commentaries. They sought to disseminate ibn Tumart's beliefs; he

5828-570: The Christianity and Judaism which preceded it, with himself as its mahdi and leader. In terms of Muslim jurisprudence , the state gave recognition to the Zahiri ( ظاهري ) school of thought, though Shafi'ites were also given a measure of authority at times. While not all Almohad leaders were Zahirites, quite a few of them were not only adherents of the legal school but also well-versed in its tenets. Additionally, all Almohad leaders – both

5952-515: The Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively. The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the piecemeal loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled the rise of their most effective enemies, the Marinids from northern Morocco in 1215. The last representative of the line, Idris al-Wathiq , was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269;

6076-710: The Cistercian monastery of Fitero offered himself. This step is said to have been suggested to the abbot by Father Diego Velázquez, a simple monk, but one who had been a knight, and thus was well acquainted with military matters. Diego was inspired with the idea of employing the lay brothers of the abbey to defend Calatrava. These Cistercian lay brothers--at that time a recent innovation in monastic life--not being in Holy orders, were variously employed in manual trades such as those of tending herds, construction, farm labor, or husbandry. Diego recommended that they become soldiers of

6200-643: The Cross . Thus a new order was created in 1157. Motivated by the desire for religious and pecuniary rewards, these brethren were eager to take the offensive against the Moors . When the Abbot Raymond died (1163), a certain Don García started to lead them in battle as their first grand master. At the same time, the choir monks, not without protest, left Calatrava to live under an abbot whom they had chosen, in

6324-513: The Diocese of Jaén and the Vicariate of Ciudad Real . Its lordships included sixty-four villages, with a population of 200,000 souls, and produced an annual income estimated at 50,000 ducats. The kings whose fortune the mismanagement of the late reigns had depleted could not but covet these riches, while such formidable military power filled with distrust the monarchs who were obliged to tolerate

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6448-603: The High Atlas. Their principal damage was in rendering insecure (or altogether impassable) the roads and mountain passes south of Marrakesh – threatening the route to all-important Sijilmassa , the gateway of the trans-Saharan trade . Unable to send enough manpower through the narrow passes to dislodge the Almohad rebels from their easily defended mountain strong points, the Almoravid authorities reconciled themselves to setting up strongholds to confine them there (most famously

6572-485: The Mahdi's privy council, composed of his earliest and closest companions; and the consultative Council of Fifty, composed of the leading sheikh s of the Masmuda tribes. The early preachers and missionaries ( ṭalaba and huffāẓ ) also had their representatives. Militarily, there was a strict hierarchy of units. The Hargha tribe coming first (although not strictly ethnic; it included many "honorary" or "adopted" tribesmen from other ethnicities, e.g. Abd al-Mu'min himself). This

6696-832: The Marinids seized Marrakesh, ending the Almohad domination of the Western Maghreb. The Almohad movement originated with Ibn Tumart , a member of the Masmuda , an Amazigh tribal confederation of the Atlas Mountains of southern Morocco. At the time, Morocco , western Algeria and Spain ( al-Andalus ), were under the rule of the Almoravids , a Sanhaja Berber dynasty. Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, and thereafter to Baghdad to deepen them. In Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to

6820-432: The Normans two years earlier, recognized Almohad authority right after. In the 1170s and 1180s, Almohad power in the eastern Maghreb was challenged by the Banu Ghaniya and by Qaraqush , an Ayyubid commander. Yaqub al-Mansur eventually defeated both factions and reconquered Ifriqiya in 1187–1188. In 1189–1190, the Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin) requested the assistance of an Almohad navy for his fight against

6944-402: The Office; to sleep in their armour; to wear, as their full dress, the Cistercian white mantle with the scarlet cross fleur de lisée. Calatrava was subject not to Cîteaux , but to Morimond in Champagne , the mother-house of Fitero , from which Calatrava had sprung. Consequently, the Abbot of Morimond possessed the right of visiting the houses and of reforming the statutes of Calatrava, while

7068-418: The Order of Calatrava was declared to be inaccessible not only to tradesmen, but even to sons of tradesmen. The last attempt to employ the knights of the three orders for a military purpose was that of Philip IV, in quelling the rebellion of the Catalans (1640–50), but the orders restricted their efforts to the complete equipment of one regiment, which has since been known in the Spanish army as "The Regiment of

7192-500: The Orders". In 1750 the singer Farinelli was made a Knight of the Order of Calatrava. When the Bourbon dynasty occupied the throne, Charles III , having founded the personal order of his name, levied upon the old orders a contribution of a million reals to pension 200 knights of the new order (1775). Their revenues being the only remaining raison d'être of the order, confiscation necessarily led to dissolution. Confiscated by King Joseph (1808), re-established by Ferdinand VII at

7316-401: The Orders) presided over by his Royal Highness Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria . The Swiss luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe took the cross of the order in 1887 and established it as its company logo as a tribute to the knights, which remains until today. Calatrava la Vieja Calatrava la Vieja (formerly just Calatrava ) is a medieval site and original nucleus of

7440-462: The Restoration (1814), the possessions of Calatrava were finally dissipated in the general secularization of 1838. In 1931, once again unilaterally, the Second Spanish Republic suppressed the Spanish Orders. To survive, they resorted to the Ley de Asociaciones Civiles ("Law of Civil Associations"), leading a precarious existence until the Concordat of 1953 recognized its Priory . The papal bull Constat militarium , later reduced this Priory to

7564-422: The affairs of his kingdom. The canonical visits of the Abbot of Morimond ceased; difficulties were raised when the grand prior came from Morimond to take possession of his dignity. The last French prior was Nicholas of Avesnes, who died in 1552. After a long contest, a compromise was effected in 1630, leaving to Morimond its right of electing the grand prior, but limiting its choice to Spanish Cistercians. Moreover,

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7688-425: The autonomous existence of the order. During the struggle between Afonso V of Portugal and Ferdinand of Aragon for the right of succession to Henry IV of Castile , the last male of his house (1474), much depended upon the attitude of Calatrava. The knights were divided. While the grand master, Rodrigo Giron , supported Portugal, his lieutenant, Lopez de Padilla, stood by Aragon. The battle of Toro (1479), where

7812-417: The bastard Alfonso of Aragon, who continued to be recognized by the knights of the Aragonese branch. At last, through the withdrawal of his rivals one after the other, Pedro Giron remained the only grand master (1457). Giron belonged to an eminent Castilian family descending from Portugal; an ambitious intriguer, more anxious about his family interests than about those of his order, he played an important part as

7936-522: The blame for the latitude on the ruling dynasty of the Almoravids, whom he accused of obscurantism and impiety. He also opposed their sponsorship of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, which drew upon consensus ( ijma ) and other sources beyond the Qur'an and Sunnah in their reasoning, an anathema to the stricter Zahirism favored by Ibn Tumart. His antics and fiery preaching led fed-up authorities to move him along from town to town. After being expelled from Bejaia , Ibn Tumart set up camp in Mellala, in

8060-429: The borders of Castile. It exercised feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. Thus, more than once, we see the order bringing to the field, as its individual contributions, 1200 to 2000 knights, a considerable force in the Middle Ages . Moreover, it enjoyed autonomy, being by its constitutions independent in temporal matters and acknowledging only spiritual superiors—the Abbot of Morimond and, in appeal,

8184-449: The capital of the old caliphate, Cordova , soon afterwards Murcia , Jaén , and Seville . The European crusade seemed at an end. Encouraged by these victories, Ferdinand's successor, Alfonso X, the Wise , planned a crusade in the East and contemplated marching, with his Castilian knights, to restore the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1272). Calatrava had developed abundant resources of men and wealth, with lands and castles scattered along

8308-421: The capital of the region. At the fall of the Caliphate of Cordova , the Taifa kingdoms or republics of Seville , Cordova , and Toledo competed to acquire Calatrava. Toledo was conquered by Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085, and the Almoravids arrived in the Iberian Peninsula a year later. In 1147, Calatrava was conquered by Alfonso VII , becoming one of the farthest Christian outposts during this stage of

8432-411: The city, defeated the rebels, and had everyone involved executed. In March 1159, Abd al-Mu'min led a new campaign to the east. He conquered Tunis by force when the local Banu Khurasan leaders refused to surrender. Mahdia was besieged soon after and surrendered in January 1160. The Normans there negotiated their withdrawal and were allowed to leave for Sicily . Tripoli, which had rebelled against

8556-418: The consequent rivalry which ensued between the Castilian and Leonese branches of his dynasty. On the other hand, the first successes of the Reconquista, in the 12th century, soon met up with a new wave of Islamic warriors, the invasion of the Almohads from Morocco. The first encounter resulted in a defeat for Castile. After the disastrous Battle of Alarcos , the knights abandoned their bulwark of Calatrava to

8680-404: The crusaders, which al-Mansur declined. Al-Andalus followed the fate of North Africa. Between 1146 and 1173, the Almohads gradually wrested control from the Almoravids over the Muslim principalities in Iberia. The Almohads transferred the capital of Muslim Iberia from Córdoba to Seville . They founded a great mosque there; its tower, the Giralda , was erected in 1184. The Almohads also built

8804-402: The different armies of the Crusade gathered), with assaults and murders in the Jewish Quarter . So, more than 30,000 men deserted and crossed back over the Pyrenees . In 1217, the Order of Calatrava moved to Calatrava la Nueva (castle of Dueñas), 60 km to the south. Thus, the original site became known as "Calatrava la Vieja" ("Old Calatrava"). Calatrava la Vieja remained the center of

8928-511: The disasters were promptly blamed on the distractions of Caliph al-Adil and the incompetence and cowardice of his lieutenants, the successes credited to non-Almohad local leaders who rallied defenses. But al-Adil's fortunes were briefly buoyed. In payment for Castilian assistance, al-Bayyasi had given Ferdinand III three strategic frontier fortresses: Baños de la Encina , Salvatierra (the old Order of Calatrava fortress near Ciudad Real ) and Capilla . But Capilla refused to hand them over, forcing

9052-510: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception . This was the last manifestation of any religious spirit in the orders. The military spirit, too, had long since disappeared. The orders had, in fact, fallen into a state of utter inactivity. The commanderies were but so many pensions at the king's free disposal, and predictably granted by him to the high-born rather than to the deserving in character, whatever their social status. In 1628

9176-420: The electors his own candidate, Alfonso, a bastard, of the royal stock of Aragon (1443); but Alfonso having joined a party formed against him, the king sought to have him deposed by the chapter of the order. This time the electors divided, and a double election issued in not fewer than three grand masters: Pedro Giron , who took possession of Calatrava; Ramirez de Guzman, who occupied the castles of Andalusia; and

9300-516: The electors to submit. Thus ended the political autonomy of the Order of Calatrava. The reason of its being—the struggle against the Moors—seemed, indeed, to end with the fall of Granada (1492). The canonical bond between Calatrava and Morimond had been relaxing more and more. The King of Spain was too jealous of his authority to tolerate any foreign—especially French—intervention in

9424-423: The end of Ramadan in late 1121, after a particularly moving sermon, reviewing his failure to persuade the Almoravids to reform by argument, Ibn Tumart 'revealed' himself as the true Mahdi , a divinely guided judge and lawgiver, and was recognized as such by his audience. This was effectively a declaration of war on the Almoravid state. On the advice of one of his followers, Omar Hintati , a prominent chieftain of

9548-459: The exceptional services they had rendered they received from the King of Castile new grants of land, which formed their first commanderies. They had already been called into the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon , and been rewarded by a new encomienda (landed estate), that of Alcañiz (1179). But these successes were followed by a series of misfortunes, due in the first instance to the unfortunate partition which Alfonso had made of his possessions, and

9672-582: The fall of the greatest of Andalusian cities, the ex-Almohad capital of Seville , into Christian hands in 1248. Ferdinand III of Castile entered Seville as a conqueror on December 22, 1248. The Andalusians were helpless before this onslaught. Ibn Hudd had attempted to check the Leonese advance early on, but most of his Andalusian army was destroyed at the battle of Alange in 1230. Ibn Hud scrambled to move remaining arms and men to save threatened or besieged Andalusian citadels, but with so many attacks at once, it

9796-538: The fold. Three years after Ibn Tumart's death he was officially proclaimed "Caliph". After 1133, Abd al-Mu'min quickly expanded Almohad control across the Maghreb, while the embattled Almoravids retained their capital in Marrakesh. Various other tribes rallied to the Almohads or to the Almoravids as the war between them continued. Initially, Almohad operations were limited to the Atlas mountains. In 1139, they expanded to

9920-468: The fortress of Tasghîmût that protected the approach to Aghmat , which was conquered by the Almohads in 1132), while exploring alternative routes through more easterly passes. Ibn Tumart organized the Almohads as a commune, with a minutely detailed structure. At the core was the Ahl ad-dār ("House of the Mahdi"), composed of Ibn Tumart's family. This was supplemented by two councils: an inner Council of Ten,

10044-453: The grand master); two grand comendadores , one for Castile and the other for Aragon; the grand prior, representing the Abbot of Morimond in the spiritual government; the sacristan (guardian of the relics); and the obrero (supervisor of buildings). The order, having reached its apogee of prosperity, now held sway over fifty-six commanderies and sixteen priories, or cures, distributed between

10168-499: The greater part of the Almohad army in Spain across the straits in 1228 to confront Yahya. That same year, Portuguese and Leonese renewed their raids deep into Muslim territory, basically unchecked. Feeling the Almohads had failed to protect them, popular uprisings took place throughout al-Andalus. City after city deposed their hapless Almohad governors and installed local strongmen in their place. A Murcian strongman, Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Hud al-Judhami , who claimed descendance from

10292-491: The highest ecclesiastical dignity of the order, that of grand prior, could be held only by a monk of Morimond. The Cistercian monk Isaac of Stella criticised the new militia, which he called a monstrum novum. He did not approve of the forced conversions and the conflation of death in politically-motivated battle with martyrdom. The first military services of the Knights of Calatrava were highly successful, and in return for

10416-423: The knights of the order were virtually secularized: Pope Paul III commuted their vow of celibacy to one of conjugal fidelity (1540). As members of the order were allowed to found families, and were authorized by Julius III (1551) to make free use of their personal property, the vow of poverty also passed into virtual desuetude. In 1652, under Philip IV , the three Spanish orders took a new vow: that of defending

10540-536: The line, Idris al-Wathiq , was reduced to the possession of Marrakesh , where he was murdered by a slave in 1269. The use of Berber languages was important in Almohad doctrine . Under the Almohads, the khuṭba (sermon) at Friday prayer was made to be delivered in Arabic and Berber , with the latter referred to as al-lisān al-gharbī (Arabic: اللسان الغربي , lit.   'the western tongue') by

10664-493: The man dangerous, and urged him to be put to death or imprisoned. But the emir decided merely to expel him from the city. Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Hargha, in his home village of Igiliz (exact location uncertain), in the Sous valley. He retreated to a nearby cave, and lived out an ascetic lifestyle, coming out only to preach his program of puritan reform, attracting greater and greater crowds. At length, towards

10788-425: The master of Alcañiz was recognized as second in dignity, with the title of Grand Commander for Aragon. The scattered remains of Castilian knights sheltered in the Cistercian monastery of Cirvelos , and there began to regroup and expand. They soon erected a new bulwark, Salvatierra Castle , where they took the name, which they kept for fourteen years, of Knights of Salvatierra (1198). But Salvatierra itself fell to

10912-465: The monastery of Cirvelos . Only Velasquez and a few other clerics, to act as chaplains, remained in Calatrava with the knights, Velasquez becoming prior of the whole community. This somewhat revolutionary arrangement was approved by the general chapter at Cîteaux , and by Pope Alexander III (1164). A general chapter held at Cîteaux in 1187 gave to the Knights of Calatrava their definitive rule, which

11036-487: The mountains for their first sizeable attack in the lowlands. It was a disaster for their opponents. The Almohads swept aside an Almoravid column that had come out to meet them before Aghmat, and then chased their remnant all the way to Marrakesh. They laid siege to Marrakesh for forty days until, in April (or May) 1130, the Almoravids sallied from the city and crushed the Almohads in the bloody Battle of al-Buhayra (named after

11160-508: The outskirts of the city, where he received his first disciples – notably, al-Bashir (who would become his chief strategist) and Abd al-Mu'min (a Zenata Berber, who would later become his successor). In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his small band of followers proceeded to Morocco , stopping first in Fez , where he briefly engaged the Maliki scholars of the city in debate. He even went so far as to assault

11284-475: The pebble that finally broke al-Andalus. It was the first internal coup among the Almohads. The Almohad clan, despite occasional disagreements, had always remained tightly knit and loyally behind dynastic precedence. Caliph al-Adil's murderous breach of dynastic and constitutional propriety marred his acceptability to other Almohad sheikhs . One of the recusants was his cousin, Abd Allah al-Bayyasi ("the Baezan "),

11408-411: The pope, and was on his way to the court, when he died, thus saving the future Queen of Castile from an unworthy consort (1466). The same pope, Pius II , granted to Pedro Giron the extravagant privilege of resigning his high dignity in favour of his bastard, Rodrigo Telles Giron, a child eight years old. Thus the grand mastership fell into the hands of guardians—an unheard of event. The Abbot of Morimond

11532-429: The pope. These authorities interfered, in consequence of a schism which first broke out in 1296 through the simultaneous election of two grand masters, García Lopez and Gautier Perez. Lopez, dispossessed a first time by a delegate of Morimond, appealed to Pope Boniface VIII , who quashed the sentence and referred the case to the general chapter at Cîteaux, where Lopez was re-established in his dignity (1302). Dispossessed

11656-419: The preliminary of a novitiate. A schism in the order ensued and was healed only after the king's death, in 1414, when a general chapter, held at Cîteaux, cancelled the election of Villena and acknowledged his competitor, Luis González de Guzmán , as the only legitimate master. After the death of Guzman in 1442, a new encroachment of John II of Castile gave rise to a new schism. He had succeeded in forcing upon

11780-451: The pretensions of Portugal were annihilated, ended this schism, the last in the history of the order. The grand master, reconciled with Ferdinand of Aragon, fell, during the war against the Moors, at the siege of Loja (1482). His lieutenant, Lopez de Padilla , succeeded him and, as the last of the twenty-seven independent grand masters of Calatrava, revived for a season the heroic virtues of his order's better days. A mortified monk in his cell,

11904-541: The privilege of defending Calatrava, and Raymond organized an army, with the support of Juan II of Toledo , the Archbishop of Toledo , that successfully prevented the Moors from attacking this place in 1158. As a result of this success, Raymond decided to found the Order of Calatrava, organized along Cistercian lines. The city was reconquered by the Almohads in 1195, after their victory against Alfonso VIII at

12028-445: The provinces of the caliphate. His sons and descendants became known as the sayyid s ("nobles"). To appease the traditional Masmuda elites, he appointed some of them, along with theirs sons and descendants, to act as important advisers, deputies, and commanders under the sayyid s. They became known as the abna' al-muwahhidin or "Sons of the Almohads". Abd al-Mu'min also altered the Almohad structure set up by Ibn Tumart by making

12152-512: The region, the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym , reacted to the Almohad advance by gathering an army against them. The Almohads routed them in the Battle of Sétif in April 1153. Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw value in their military abilities. He persuaded them by various means – including taking some families as hostages to Marrakesh and more generous actions like offering them material and land incentives – to move to present-day Morocco and join

12276-414: The regular army ( jund ), then the religious corps – the muezzins , the hafidh and the hizb – followed by the archers, the conscripts, and the slaves. Ibn Tumart's closest companion and chief strategist, al-Bashir, took upon himself the role of " political commissar ", enforcing doctrinal discipline among the Masmuda tribesmen, often with a heavy hand. In early 1130, the Almohads finally descended from

12400-512: The religiously learned and the laymen – were hostile toward the Malikite school favored by the Almoravids. During the reign of Abu Yaqub, chief judge Ibn Maḍāʾ oversaw the banning of all religious books written by non-Zahirites; when Abu Yaqub's son Abu Yusuf took the throne, he ordered Ibn Maḍāʾ to undertake the actual burning of such books. In terms of Islamic theology , the Almohads were Ash'arites , their Zahirite-Ash'arism giving rise to

12524-413: The rigorous discipline and fervent observance of the order's earlier times had, under the relaxing influence of prosperity, given place to a spirit of intrigue and ambition. Peter of Castile entered into a conflict with the order. That prince had three grand masters in succession sentenced to death, as having incurred his suspicion: the first of these was beheaded (1355) on a charge of having entered into

12648-665: The royal land grant, but it was completely abandoned by the early fifteenth century, when the Knight Commander of Calatrava moved his residence to Carrión de Calatrava. 39°04′26″N 3°50′06″W  /  39.074°N 3.835°W  / 39.074; -3.835 Almohads In Al-Andalus: The Almohad Caliphate ( IPA : / ˈ æ l m ə h æ d / ; Arabic : خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or دَوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or ٱلدَّوْلَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِيَّةُ from Arabic : ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ , romanized :  al-Muwaḥḥidūn , lit.   'those who profess

12772-424: The same time began the encroachments of royal authority in the election of the grand master, whose power was a check upon that of the king. For instance, in 1404, Henry of Villena , Enrique de Villena , was elected twenty-fourth grand master merely through the favour of Henry III of Castile , although Villena was married, a stranger to the order, and by papal dispensation entered upon his high functions without even

12896-519: The sister of the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf , in the streets of Fez , because she was going about unveiled, after the manner of Berber women. After being expelled from Fez, he went to Marrakesh , where he successfully tracked down the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf at a local mosque, and challenged the emir, and the leading scholars of the area, to a doctrinal debate. After the debate, the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumart's views were blasphemous and

13020-503: The skills of his successor, Abd al-Mu'min . Ibn Tumart's death was kept a secret for three years, a period which Almohad chroniclers described as a ghayba or "occultation". This period likely gave Abd al-Mu'min time to secure his position as successor to the political leadership of the movement. Although a Zenata Berber from Tagra (Algeria), and thus an alien among the Masmuda of southern Morocco, Abd al-Mu'min nonetheless saw off his principal rivals and hammered wavering tribes back to

13144-405: The theological school of al-Ash'ari , and came under the influence of the teacher al-Ghazali . He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters. Ibn Tumart's main principle was a strict unitarianism ( tawhid ), which denied the independent existence of the attributes of God as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented

13268-517: The traditional Maliki ulema , with whom the Almohads were already at odds. After the decline of Almohadism, Maliki Sunnism ultimately became the dominant official religious doctrine of the region. By contrast, the teachings of Ibn Rushd and other philosophers like him were far more influential for Jewish philosophers – including Maimonides , his contemporary – and Christian Latin scholars – like Thomas Aquinas – who later promoted his commentaries on Aristotle . Most historical records indicate that

13392-467: The valley of the Nfis in the High Atlas. Tinmal would serve both as the spiritual center and military headquarters of the Almohad movement. It became their dar al-hijra (roughly 'place of retreat'), emulating the story of the hijra (journey) of Muhammad 's to Medina in the 7th century. For the first eight years, the Almohad rebellion was limited to a guerilla war along the peaks and ravines of

13516-459: The youthful caliph died in an accident, without any heirs. The palace bureaucrats in Marrakesh , led by the wazir Uthman ibn Jam'i, quickly engineered the election of his elderly grand-uncle, Abd al-Wahid I 'al-Makhlu' , as the new Almohad caliph. But the rapid appointment upset other branches of the family, notably the brothers of the late al-Nasir, who governed in al-Andalus . The challenge

13640-585: Was a hopeless endeavor. After Ibn Hud's death in 1238, some of the Andalusian cities, in a last-ditch effort to save themselves, offered themselves once again to the Almohads, but to no avail. The Almohads would not return. With the departure of the Almohads, the Nasrid dynasty (" Banū Naṣr ", Arabic : بنو نصر ) rose to power in Granada . After the great Christian advance of 1228–1248, the Emirate of Granada

13764-490: Was a veritable massacre – the Portuguese men-at-arms easily mowed down the throng of poorly armed townsfolk. Thousands, perhaps as much as 20,000, were said to have been slain before the walls of Seville. A similar disaster befell a similar popular levy by Murcians at Aspe that same year. But Christian raiders had been stopped at Cáceres and Requena . Trust in the Almohad leadership was severely shaken by these events –

13888-431: Was approved in the same year by Pope Gregory VIII . This rule, modeled upon the Cistercian customs for lay brothers, was imposed upon the knights, besides the obligations of the three religious vows, the rules of silence in the refectory, dormitory, and oratory; of abstinence on four days a week, besides several fast days during the year; they were also obliged to recite a fixed number of paternosters for each day Hour of

14012-576: Was assassinated in Marrakesh in October 1227, by the partisans of Yahya, who was promptly acclaimed as the new Almohad caliph Yahya "al-Mu'tasim" . The Andalusian branch of the Almohads refused to accept this turn of events. Al-Adil's brother, then in Seville, proclaimed himself the new Almohad caliph Abd al-Ala Idris I 'al-Ma'mun' . He promptly purchased a truce from Ferdinand III in return for 300,000 maravedis , allowing him to organize and dispatch

14136-412: Was called upon to devise a temporary administration, until Telles should reach his majority. The administration was entrusted to four knights elected by the chapter, and from this period date the definitive statutes of the order known as "Rules of Abbot William III" (1467). These statutes recognized in the order seven high dignitaries: the grand master; the clavero (guardian of the castle and lieutenant of

14260-488: Was defeated by an alliance of the three Christian kings of Castile , Aragón and Navarre at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena . The battle broke the Almohad advance, but the Christian powers remained too disorganized to profit from it immediately. Before his death in 1213, al-Nasir appointed his young ten-year-old son as the next caliph Yusuf II "al-Mustansir" . The Almohads passed through

14384-436: Was followed by the men of Tinmel, then the other Masmuda tribes in order, and rounded off by the black fighters, the ʻabīd . Each unit had a strict internal hierarchy, headed by a mohtasib , and divided into two factions: one for the early adherents, another for the late adherents, each headed by a mizwar (or amzwaru ); then came the sakkakin (treasurers), effectively the money-minters, tax-collectors, and bursars, then came

14508-477: Was immediately raised by one of them, then governor in Murcia , who declared himself Caliph Abdallah al-Adil . With the help of his brothers, he quickly seized control of al-Andalus. His chief advisor, the shadowy Abu Zayd ibn Yujjan, tapped into his contacts in Marrakesh, and secured the deposition and assassination of Abd al-Wahid I, and the expulsion of the al-Jami'i clan . This coup has been characterized as

14632-517: Was killed. In 1151, Abd al-Mu'min launched an expedition to the east. This may have been encouraged by the Norman conquests along the coast of Ifriqiya, as fighting the Christian invaders here gave him a pretext for conquering the rest of the region. In August 1152, he captured Béjaïa , the capital of the Hammadids . The last Hammadid ruler, Yahya ibn Abd al-Aziz , fled by sea. The Arab tribes of

14756-400: Was little means to stop the sudden onslaught. In late 1225, with surprising ease, the Portuguese raiders reached the environs of Seville . Knowing they were outnumbered, the Almohad governors of the city refused to confront the Portuguese raiders, prompting the disgusted population of Seville to take matters into their own hands, raise a militia, and go out in the field by themselves. The result

14880-403: Was more difficult to keep than to make, especially at a time with neither standing armies nor garrisons were known. In part to correct this deficiency, the military orders such as Knights Templars were founded, where men could fulfill a vow of perpetual war against the Muslim. The Templars, however, were unable to hold Calatrava, and the king found further volunteer warriors when Raymond, Abbot of

15004-431: Was practically all that remained of old al-Andalus . Some of the captured citadels (e.g. Murcia, Jaen, Niebla) were reorganized as tributary vassals for a few more years, but most were annexed by the 1260s. Granada alone would remain independent for an additional 250 years, flourishing as the new center of al-Andalus. In their African holdings, the Almohads encouraged the establishment of Christians even in Fez , and after

15128-483: Was recognized by his followers as the Mahdi , and shortly afterwards he established his base at Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains . Under Abd al-Mu'min (r. 1130–1163), they succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing Morocco in 1147, when he conquered Marrakesh and declared himself caliph . They then extended their power over all of the Maghreb by 1159. Al-Andalus followed, and all of Muslim Iberia

15252-829: Was the author of the Aʿazzu Mā Yuṭlab , the Counterpart of the Muwatta ( محاذي الموطأ ), and the Compendium of Sahih Muslim ( تلخيص صحيح مسلم ). Literary production continued despite the Almohad reforms's devastating effect on cultural life in their domain. Almohad universities continued the knowledge of preceding Andalusi scholars as well as ancient Greek and Roman writers; contemporary literary figures included Averroes , Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rukuniyya , ibn Tufayl , ibn Zuhr , ibn al-Abbar , ibn Amira and many more poets, philosophers, and scholars. The abolishment of

15376-504: Was under Almohad rule by 1172. The turning point of their presence in the Iberian Peninsula came in 1212, when Muhammad al-Nasir (1199–1214) was defeated at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena by an alliance of the Christian forces from Castile , Aragon and Navarre . Much of the remaining territories of al-Andalus were lost in the ensuing decades, with the cities of Córdoba and Seville falling to

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