Monasteries in Spain have a rich artistic and cultural tradition, and serve as testament to Spain's religious history and political-military history, from the Visigothic Period to the Middle Ages. The monasteries played an important role in the recruitment conducted by Christian aristocracy during and after the progress of the Reconquista, with the consequent decline in the Muslim south of the peninsula.
Their presence in the peninsula dates from the early centuries of Christianity, when the original hermit life gave rise to the formation of religious communities and the construction of small monasteries by Hispanics in the sixth and seventh centuries. Many of these buildings reflect the traditional style of Mozarabic.
The second phase was developed with the arrival of the Benedictines of Cluny, during the Reconquista and several new orders developed at this time: Cistercian, military orders, Premonstratensian, Carthusians, Jeromes, Augustinians, Camaldolese and beggars.
Monastic communities of various sizes sprang up from Catalonia to Galicia; some of these structures remain while others were abandoned or destroyed. Most of the monasteries in Spain are distributed in the northern half in line with the historical discourse of the zone in the Middle Ages. Monasteries are much less numerous in the south, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.
The establishment of monasteries during the Middle Ages was paramount from a social and cultural standpoint, benefiting the arts and agriculture.
The Camino de Santiago proved an important factor in locations of these monastic orders, as often an important objective was to support the pilgrims traveling along this route.
Characteristics and evolution of the monastery in Spain
The first reference to a monastery in Spain was in a letter from St. Augustine to the abbot of the Monastery of Cabrera, written in 398. In 410, the monk Baquiario first used the term monastery in a text written in Hispania. He, as a monk, and Egeria, and the nun Etheria, perhaps more properly a consecrated virgin, were the first such members of religious houses whose names are known.
The first monasteries arose in the fourth century and were humble buildings erected in the shadow of shrines dedicated to or graves of beloved local martyrs. Many of these monastic people were troglodytes, or cave dwellers, as hermits or recluses who served as models for later monastic culture preferred to live in caves equipped to be shelters or shrines. Such is the origin of the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, which preserves as a shrine the cave where Aemilianus, also known as Millán, lived. The caves served as dwellings for disciples of this saint. The practice of living apart from the world was transformed by monks belonging to monasteries; although they lived in communities, the individuals within the community maintained their ascetic practice, living in a remote location, often in the desert.
The quantitative success of monasticism in the Visigothic period led to clashes with the secular clergy, and they brought this dispute to the Councils of Toledo. Much of this conflict derived from the social and economic benefits that were accorded as privileges of the monastic life. In some cases, as in the area of El Bierzo, monasteries, such as Compludo and Ruphianensi Monasterium, accepted whole families. Others which served as foundations of Fructuosus of Braga had the appearance of real villages. In other areas, such as Andalusia, monasteries were segregated by gender. Some sources also attributed more extreme features of the hermit movement, such as social protest, to the more extreme features of the hermit movement, especially in areas such as Burgos, Álava and Logroño. This is in parallel with other religious movements as heresy Priscillianist, which survived in Galicia and other areas into the sixth century.
In the following centuries, Hispanic monasteries emerged and expanded, developing their own set of similar characteristics, with a purely Hispanic artistic style. With the arrival of the monks of Cluny in the eleventh century, and the order of St. Benedict and observers of their rule, the Spanish monastery complex took on new importance and influence. This is the era of quintessential monastic life and notable edifices. Many of these clusters of buildings have survived to the modern era in various states of repair, although many are now used for purposes unrelated to monasticism. The political role of Cluny and its link with the monarchy and noble houses was decisive in the Europeanization of the Christian kingdoms of the mainland and the formation of feudal society in Spain.
With regard to the social and economic role of the Benedictine monasteries, the classic materialistic interpretations—that of a feudal lord overseeing and creating the monastery—are tempered by recent historiography. This study includes other aspects of the communities, such as inclusion in legal and sociological networks, using the methodology of cultural anthropology and microhistory.
Following the momentum of Cluny, Cistercians arrived with new works and reforms, followed by the Carthusians. In the thirteenth century the Franciscans and Dominicans, Premonstratensian and Jesuits, arrived. Some of these groups have remained quite monastic. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, numerous monasteries and convents arose, such as the Monastery of the Valley of the Fallen.
Recent monasteries founded and built in Spain were:
Monasterio de Santa María de Viaceli (Cóbreces, Cantabria), promoted and sponsored by the brothers Manuel and Antonio Bernaldo de Quirós and Pomar and Cistercian foundation in 1909 Convent of San Lorenzo in Oñati, Guipuzcoa, in 1928 Monastery of the Valley of the Fallen (Abbey of the Holy Cross in the Valley of the Fallen), 1940–1958, under draft Pedro Muguruza and Diego Mendez. House of Spirituality of the Dominican Fathers (Caleruega, Burgos), 1952. Roll Monastery (or Monastery of the Immaculate Conception) in Salamanca 1961, created by the architect . Monasterio de Santa Maria de las Shallots (Hornachuelos, Córdoba), 1986
Foundations
Monasteries in this area were historically founded mainly by kings, bishops and nobles. There were a number of reasons individuals might found a monastery, largely self-serving ones: to reserve a burial there, which came with perpetual prayers by the monks on behalf of the founder's soul, sheltering a princess, widow, unmarried or bastard, in the case of kings. Sometimes there were political reasons for founding or protection of a particular monastery; many of the religious houses who protected were located in border areas where battles often raged, such as Castile and León or Navarre, as was the case Matallana monastery (in the Valladolid), or Bujedo-Navarre. Bishops had an interest in building a monastery on which to exercise their authority, especially in the feudal period, as this guaranteed an income. The nobility desired salvation for themselves and his family, plus a demonstration of political influence through sponsoring one of these great works. The monastic vows (poverty, chastity and obedience) were considered an appropriate vocation for younger sons, regardless of 6 or 7 the sincerity or otherwise of his vocation, in order to reduce the likelihood of disputes over the inheritance of the firstborn, who would then hold undivided estates according to the institution of primogeniture. This close identification between the clergy and nobility, both privileged classes, survived as an enduring connection during the Middle Ages and the Modern Age to the end of the ancien regime.
Other monasteries arose without intervention from the above-mentioned members of society, when a community formed around a shrine. This is the case of the monastery of San Juan de Ortega which originally was a humble chapel founded by the saint to preserve relics of St. Nicholas of Bari Over time, sufficient people arrived to care for the shrine to require the formation of an official community. Or from hermits, in some cases doubling, that were left to be guided by any rule, as the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Vallbona (Vallbona de les Monges), the monastery of Santo Domingo de Ocaña (Toledo) of the sixteenth century has the distinction of being founded by a neighbor who wanted to be close to the preachers.
There are recent foundations, of the twentieth century, whose intent is very clear from the outset, as is the spiritual community of the Dominican Fathers of Caleruega (Burgos), in 1952, destined for the convent-school-house of spirituality. The Monastery of Our Lady of the Angels of Palma de Mallorca, in 1914, can be included as a religious house of education, as it was conceived as a major seminary, Novitiate House, Ecumenical Centre College and routinely providing Evangelical Protestants Lutheran Germans.
The first Hispanic monasteries
During the sixth and seventh centuries, the Hispanic Visigoth cultures are evidenced in a wealth of monastic communities in which ancient tradition still flourished and where the monks themselves supported monastic rule by living it. Many monasteries arose in this period.
Some sources consider the Monastery of St. Victorian of Asan (in Sobrarbe, Huesca province) as the first monastery founded in Spain, but more likely, given the existence of references to previous monasteries, the first initiative for foundation of churches sprang from the Visigoth king Gesalec in 506. Other possible inspirations are attributed to Swabians in the northwest, with the activity of San Martín de Dumio, from Pannonia. Other founding saints such as San Donato, came from Africa Játiva. San Fructuoso de Braga founded the monastery of Compludo in the early seventh century and twenty other foundations from Galicia to Andalusia. During the same century, San Leandro and his brother St. Isidore composed their own monastic rules.
Morphologically, Hispanic monasteries are clearly distinguished by two concepts: Enclosing the community, which is known by the name of claustra Cloistered units, called domus.
The cloister was an enclosure that isolated and protected the monastery and its residents, which is very important to the religious life being cultivated. In one chapter, the San Isidoro rule states: "The mill of the monastery on its premises only have one door and one wicket to leave the garden."
It was later advised that the city remain separate from the cloister, and respect that separation. This suggests the building of an enclosure or wall surrounding the buildings and gardens of the monastery. This first is called monastic enclosure or cloister.
The second concept is referred to the domus, i.e. the group of houses which constitute the monastery. Documents refer to two different places within the monasteries: domus domorum, or ultimate home, which refers to the church building, and maior domus, which is the served as bedrooms and community activities. According to the surviving descriptions and annotations, the maior domus should be a dependency of high architectural quality and large size, standing next to the church, at the height of the atrium.
In the domus as a whole, there were several required dwellings such as the cilla, nursing, the punishment cell, the novitiate, the gatekeeper's shelter. What would be called a chapter house centuries later among the Benedictines was referred to at this time as a conference room in these early Hispanic monasteries. Many documents mention this space and its utility but historians are not certain where it was located. It is known that minor issues monks gathered in the choir.
Documentation of these early Hispanic monasteries is abundant and descriptive. However, only a few of the cloisters have been preserved; the remainder of the sites are lost and archaeological evidence is inconclusive.
Repopulation of the monasteries