Los caballeros cruzados en el ejército de la Monarquía Hispánica durante los siglos XVI y XVII : ¿anhelo o realidad?

After remembering the medieval foundation of the military orders, the strategic power of these orders in Castile is reviewed during the last years of the XVth century, with special attention to the military effects of the incorporation of the Maestrazgos into the Castilian Crown. The sense of knight’s honour is analysed, its relationship with the purity of blood, and the apparent scarcity of soldiers among the knights of these orders. The Junta de Caballería, and the Batallón de las Milicias de las Órdenes, founded in 1640, the diffi culties and the details of its organization are valued with new documentary sources. Some notes about the military orders in the Spanish chivalry during XVIII-XXth centuries are offered with a brief revision on the fortresses of these orders after their incorporation.