Order of Santiago

Order of Santiago Orden de Santiago
The Cross of Saint James as used by the Order
Type	Religious Order of Honour and Military Order
Established	1170
Country	Spain
Royal house	House of Bourbon - Spain
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
Sovereign	King Felipe VI
Precedence
Equivalent	Order of Calatrava Order of Alcántara Order of Montesa
Related	Order of Saint James of the Sword

The Order of Santiago (/ˌsɒntiˈɑːɡoʊ/; Spanish: Orden de Santiago [sanˈtjaɣo]) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, Santiago (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of St. James, to defend Christendom and to remove the Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula with the Reconquista.^[1] Entrance was not restricted to nobility of Spain exclusively, and some members have been Catholic Europeans from other parts of Europe. The Order's insignia is particularly recognisable and abundant in Western art.^[2]

With the culmination of the Reconquista and the death of the Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated the Order into the Spanish Crown, and the Pope Adrian VI forever united the office of Grand Master of Santiago to the Crown in 1523.

The First Republic suppressed the Order in 1873, but it was re-established in the Restoration as a nobiliary institute of honorable character. The Order was again suppressed after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931. With the fall of the Republic and the re-establishment of the Monarchy, the Order of Santiago was definitely restored with the kingship of Juan Carlos I with the character of a nobiliary, honorable, and religious order; and remains as such.

The Order of Santiago is one of the four Spanish military orders, together with those of Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa.