Military Orders and Rabidas (Of Lions and Falcons)

The Military Orders and the Rábidas are confraternity of knights and warriors originally established as religious societies during the medieval age for protection of Christianity and Islam respectively. The main ones and with more permanent basis of recruitment, fortifications, training and battle experience are the ones in Al-Andalus and Spain. Both the military orders and rabidas have royal or caliphal patronage.

Military Orders
A military order is a confraternity of knights, originally established as Catholic religious societies during the medieval Crusades for protection of Christians in response to the aggression and persecution of the Islamic conquests (623–1050) in the Holy Land and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as by Baltic paganism in Eastern Europe.

Establishes a militia, the Military ORders protected the frontier from Muslim raids and served as a discipline auxiliary force in the campaigns of the reconquista. They assisted in the eviction of the Muslims and doing battle with them, sometimes separately, sometimes with the royal armies. They were given by kings possessions along the frontier however in bestowing them, the conditions was that the seat of the order should be in their respective states. Some of the military orders also provided the protection of pilgrims to the shrine of St. James and the hospices on the roads leading to Compostela. This explains the mixed character of their order—hospitaller and military.

The Christian Kingdoms produced several famous orders:
 * Order of Aviz - 1146 (1128) Aviz Portugal
 * Order of Saint Michael of the Wing - 1147 (1171) Santarém, Portugal
 * Cross Calatrava.svg Order of Calatrava - 1158 Calatrava la Vieja, Kingdom of Castile, Spain
 * Order of Santiago - 1170 León or Uclés in Castile, Spain
 * Cross Santiago.svg Order of Alcántara - 1177 - Alcántara, Extremadura, Spain
 * Monreal del Campo, Aragon -1196-1221 (Order of Calatrava) castle of Monfragüe near Plasencia on the Tagus
 * Military Order of Monreal - 1231 Monreal del Campo, Aragon
 * Order of Saint Mary of Spain - 1270-1280 (Order of Santiago)
 * Order of Montesa -1371 (Aragon)
 * Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ - 1317(Portugal)
 * Order of the Tower and Sword - 1459 Portugal

Rábidas
A rábida (from ribat ) is an Arabic term for a small fortification built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of North Africa to house military volunteers, called the murabitun. These fortifications later served to protect commercial routes, and as centers for isolated Muslim communities. Ribats were first seen in the 8th century.

Rabida also refers to the voluntary defense of Islam which is why ribats were originally used to house those who fought to defend Islam in Jihad. The rabidas were first established near the borders of the Christian Kingdoms and served as auxiliary defense against raids and military campaigns in makeshift fortress.

However in time they become military fraternities under the leadership of a marabout. The marabout, at first the charismatic founder of the rabida, was later to be elected by its member murabitun.

The rabisdas also started to build more complex and defensive Alcazars (Castles) as frontier outposts near the Tangus river. At some point in the 14th century the emirs of the border provinces started to bestow resources and money. Also some rabidas gained from central authorities operational autonomy, giving n exchange an oath to defend the frontier and its inhabitants. The operational autonomy was at odds with the truce and peace agreements made by Christians and Muslim, so a low level warfare was kept and the target were usually the Military Orders who acted on their own will.

They are maintained by means of voluntary contributions, waqfs, bounty and part of the provincial taxes. One of their main contributions to the Islamization of the frontier communities were the establishment of zaouia or zawiya (Islamic religious school or monastery) that besides being a pool of recruits for the rabida, was also key in the propagation and conversion of the local population to Islam. Also stimulated by the markets and lodges built around them.

A typical settlement near the border of the Christian Kingdoms would have an alcazar manned by the rabida, a mosque, zaouia, market, lodges surrounded by hamlets were the farmers, land laborers and workshops are established.