Hospitalarios y obispos en Castilla durante los siglos XII y XIII = Hospitallers and Bishops in Castile During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract

There were many periods in which good relations prevailed between the Order of Saint John and the bishops of Castile. However, it was inevitable that jurisdictional conflicts would eventually arise between the two powers. In Castile, they appear since the last quarter of the twelfth century. Unlike other military orders, the Castilian Hospitallers usually carried out this litigation with little violence and quickly sought an agreement with the concerned bishop. They often arrived at a standard solution to the disputes among the military orders and the bishops in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The ecclesiastical rights of Hospitaller churches were divided between the Order of Saint John and a specific bishop. The distribution varied in each diocese depending on the correlation of forces. This type of agreement can be identified in Castile as of the late twelfth century. In general terms, each bishopric came to a single agreement with the Order. Nevertheless, there were some like Zamora, Astorga or Toledo, with whom the Hospitallers made several agreements. This type of concord represents the most decisive accommodation mechanism of the Order of Saint John in the structures of the Castilian Church.