Town · Kingdom of Castile · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Zorita de los Canes (Order of Calatrava)

Castle on the Tajo given by Alfonso VIII to the Order of Calatrava in 1174, one of the Order's principal houses in the kingdom of Toledo.

After the loss of Calatrava in 1195 the Order's convent moved to Ciruelos, and in 1198 to Salvatierra.

Who holds it

Name
Martín Pérez de Siones (master in 1198) or his successor Martín Martínez (master by 1201)
Title
Master of the Order of Calatrava, lord of the place
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
low

Real Academia de Toledo study of the Order: Martín Pérez de Siones master in 1176 and 1198; Martín Martínez in 1201 and 1204-05. The change is not pinned.

Lord in 1200

The Order of Calatrava.

Overlord

The Order of Calatrava, under Alfonso VIII

How things stand that morning

Held by the Order.

Wealth

The Order's estates on the Tajo.

Military

Castle on the Tajo crossing.

Fuero

Not pinned (the Order's well-known Fuero de Zorita, of the Cuenca family, is of 1218: not yet).

Council

Council of the Order's town.

Communities

Castilian settlers.

Fairs and markets

None pinned.

Militia

The knights of Calatrava and their vassals.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Grant date from standard accounts; master not pinned.

On the map: Shown as a point.

Primary sources for Castile

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Toledo and other short Iberian annals (12th and 13th centuries; Anales Toledanos I to 1219). Florez's volume 23 gathers the short annals of the peninsula. Read online
  • Chronicle of the World (Lucas of Tuy), Lucas de Tuy (1236, for Queen Berenguela). The Leonese counterpart to Rodrigo, written at San Isidoro for Berenguela. Read online
  • Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile, Anonymous, probably Juan of Osma, chancellor of Castile (about 1223 to 1239). The chancellor's chronicle of Alfonso VIII's reign, detailed from the 1190s. Read online
  • Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
  • The Complete History: the passages on the Maghreb and al-Andalus, Ibn al-Athir (about 1220 to 1231, at Mosul). The year entries for 595 to 597 of the Hijra (late 1198 to 1201) record the death of Yaqub al-Mansur, the accession of al-Nasir and the opening of Yahya ibn Ghaniya's war in Ifriqiya; the following years follow Yahya and the Ghuzz captain Qaraqush through Tripoli, Gabès and Mahdia to al-Nasir's reconquest in 1206, with the best eastern account of Qaraqush's career. Read online
  • The Garden of Pages: a History of the Kings of the Maghreb and of the City of Fez, Ibn Abi Zar al-Fasi (completed in 1326 at Fez, for the Marinid sultan Abu Said Uthman). The Almohad chapters give a brisk dated narrative of al-Mansur's death and burial, al-Nasir's accession and the Banu Ghaniya troubles, with the kind of detail (coinage, public works at Fez and Rabat, prices, plagues) that a Fez compiler cared about, and the annals of Fez supply the city's governors and markets. Read online
  • The Wondrous Account of the History of al-Andalus and the Maghreb, Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi (about 1312, at Marrakesh). The Almohad section is the fullest year-by-year narrative of the caliphate around 1200: the last campaigns and the death of Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur in January 1199, the accession of his son Muhammad al-Nasir, the renewed war of the Banu Ghaniya in Ifriqiya under Yahya ibn Ishaq and his ally Qaraqush, the Almohad losses of Mahdia and Tunis a few years later, and al-Nasir's reconquest of Ifriqiya in 1205 to 1206 followed by the appointment of Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs as governor. Read online
  • Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online

13 more in the sources library for France and Iberia.

Sources and studies

  1. Orígenes de la Orden de Calatrava en el territorio toledano: encomiendas y ámbitos de dominio (1158-1212) (Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo)
  2. Julio González, El reino de Castilla en la época de Alfonso VIII (Madrid, 1960), 3 vols.

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.