Originally part of a larger castle, the Torres do Oeste were built to defend against Viking attacks. Over the following centuries, bishops such as Diego Gelmírez fortified the structure, which provided control over the the Ría de Arousa estuary and the Ulla river, offering protection to Padrón and Santiago de Compostela.
This monastic community is first attested in the historical record in 1137, in a privilege given by the monarch Alfonso VII. The Mosteiro de Santa María de Oia became affiliated with the Cistercian Order in 1185.
The Order itself was still relatively new at this time; the first house at Cîteaux had been founded less than a century ago in 1098, and it took time for the Cistercians to develop a unified sense of identity and effective bureaucratic mechanisms. Historian Constance Berman even argues that the Cistercians did not emerge as an organized and cohesive Order until the third quarter of the twelfth century (rather than the early twelfth century as previously assumed, and still maintained by some other scholars). Furthermore, Berman argues that “apostolic gestation” (in which new Cistercian houses are founded by a small group of monks sent out from a “mother house”) was not the primary method by which the Cistercians expanded; rather, their incorporation of preexisting monastic communities explains their rapid spread across Europe. In any case, Oia, like Sobrado, is an example of a preexisting monastery that was later incorporated into the Cistercian Order.
Located on the Galician coast, Oia needed to be able to withstand pirate incursions. During the thirteenth century, the community constructed new church and monastery buildings that provided greater fortification against attacks.
Berman, Constance. The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.
Burton, Janet, and Julie Kerr. The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2011.
“Historia.” Concello de Oia.
Jamroziak, Emilia. The Cistercians in Medieval Europe, 1090-1500. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Real Mosteiro de Oia: Official website.
The Castle of Rocha Forte, near the town of Santiago de Compostela, was active from its thirteenth-century construction until the fifteenth century, when it was badly damaged during the Irmandiño revolts. Today, the castle is in a state of ruin.
Located on the route connecting Santiago with Padrón and Noia, Rocha Forte was ideally situated to control the flow of people and goods in and out of Santiago. It also served as a convenient refuge for Santiago’s archbishops when they encountered trouble with the townspeople. Newly appointed archbishop Berengar of Landorra, for example, visited Rocha Forte during the 1318-1320 town uprising against him.
“Castelo da Rocha Forte.” Patrimonio Galego. 8 June 2011.
Cooper, Edward. La fortificación de España en los síglos XIII y XIV. Vol. 1. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa, Marcial Pons Historia, 2014. 163-166.
Portela, Ermelindo, María Carmen Pallares, and Xosé Manuel Sánchez. Rocha Forte: El castillo y su historia. Xunta de Galicia, 2004.
Rocha Forte: Interactive website devoted to the castle of Rocha Forte, near Santiago de Compostela.
Sánchez Sánchez, J.M. “La fortaleza de Rocha Forte: un castillo concéntrico en las corrientes constructivas europeas del siglo XIV.” Compostellanum 52 (2007): 603-632.
Located in Galicia in northwestern Spain, Noia was a busy commercial port town during the Middle Ages. Multiple historic buildings survive in the town, including the Church of San Martín and the Church of Santa María a Nova.
Berengar of Landorra briefly retreated to Noia shortly after his 1317 appointment as Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, which occasioned a rebellion by the Compostelan townspeople against episcopal lordship over the town. These events are described in the Gesta Berengarii. In July 1320, Berengar convinced Maria de Molina, grandmother and tutor of the young Castilian king Alfonso XI, to grant tax exemptions to the town of Noia. Years later, Berengar was responsible for the construction of Santa Maria a Nova, consecrated on January 28, 1327.
González Balasch, María Teresa, ed. Tumbo B de la Catedral de Santiago. Santiago de Compostela: Edicios do Castro, 2004. 157-158.
Sobrado Abbey (known in Galician as “Mosteiro de Santa María de Sobrado dos Monxes” and in Castilian as “Monasterio de Santa María de Sobrado de los Monjes”) was initially founded in the tenth century by Count Hermengildo and his wife Paterna. It became affiliated with the Cistercian Order as a daughter house of Clairvaux in 1142, making it one of the Order’s earlier houses on the Iberian peninsula.
According to the traditional foundation narrative, Cistercian monasticism dates to 1098, arising from a conscious effort to reform monastic life and return to a “purer” adherence to the sixth-century Benedictine Rule. The Cistercians are known for eschewing the luxuries that had become common in eleventh-century monasteries and for their austere artistic and architectural style, which lacked elaborate ornamentation. As the foundation narrative goes, in 1098, Robert, abbot of Molesme, and a group of followers abandoned their abbey to start a new community that was more isolated and more obedient to the Rule. They founded this new community at Cîteaux, though they struggled during their early years. Bernard (1090-1153) joined the monastery with a group of friends in 1112, and his activity a prolific writer, preacher, and abbot of the newly founded Cistercian house Clairvaux appears to have rejuvenated the Order, spurring its expansion over the subsequent decades.
In addition to simplicity and austerity, the Cistercians valued manual labor such as work in the fields. As the Benedictine Rule instructed: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul. The brethren, therefore, must be occupied at stated hours in manual labor.” Monks, however, did not do all the work necessary for running the monastery themselves; Cistercians are well-known for their acceptance of lay brothers (conversi), often drawn from lower social classes than the monks, who performed necessary physical labor for the survival and success of the monastic community.
Over the course of the twelfth century, the Cistercian Order expanded significantly from its original house at Cîteaux, establishing monasteries in Scandinavia, the British Isles, Eastern Europe, and Iberia. Some new houses were established from scratch by existing “mother” houses, which sent monks to the new “daughter” houses and also equipped them with necessary manuscripts. Others, including Sobrado and Oia in Galicia, were already established monastic communities that were then incorporated into the Cistercian Order (though they were still integrated into the Cistercian filiation network; Clairvaux became the mother house of Sobrado). Abbots of mother houses were required to visit their daughter houses to ensure that they were following correct Cistercian practices.
The Cistercian General Chapter was the highest authority in the Order; every September, abbots convened at Cîteaux for General Chapter meetings to discuss problems, petitions, and new rules and regulations. Abbots from nearby foundations were required to attend annually, while those coming from faraway were obliged to attend less often. Thanks to Cistercian filiation networks and General Chapter meetings, the Order generally upheld an impressive level of standardization and organization across a broad geographical area.
No system is perfect–the Cistercian General Chapter often rebuked abbots who failed to attend Chapter meetings and in 1257 chastised the abbot of Sobrado, “who did not express sufficient cause for his delay away from the General Chapter.” The abbot was suspended from office for six days and instructed to attend the next Chapter meeting.1
Several rooms survive from the Middle Ages, including the late twelfth- or thirteenth-century chapter house, the twelfth-century chapel of St. John the Baptist, and the thirteenth-century kitchen.
Located next to the refectory, the kitchen was in use from its construction in the thirteenth century until the desamortización in the nineteenth (also known as the “Spanish confiscation,” desamortización denotes the seizure of Church assets by the Spanish government). In the center of the kitchen, four large columns surround and support the chimney.
1 Canivez, Statuta, vol. 2, Year 1257, #40, 432.
Canivez, Joseph-Marie, ed. Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis, 8 vols. Louvain: Bureaux de la Revue, 1933-41.
Burton, Janet, and Julie Kerr. The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2011.
“Cistercian Life.” The Cistercians in Yorkshire. Project directed by Sarah Foot.
D’Emilio, James, ed. and trans. Culture and Society in Medieval Galicia: A Cultural Crossroads at the Edge of Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Jamroziak, Emilia. The Cistercians in Medieval Europe, 1090-1500. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Ordóñez, Santiago. Sobrado dos Monxes: Primer monasterio cisterciense de España. León: Edilesa, 1998.
This spot was once home to a Celtic settlement and became known as Iria Flavia under the Roman emperor Titus, who ruled from 79 to 81. The town is traditionally known as the first place in Spain where St. James preached. Upon James’ death in Jerusalem, his disciples sailed with his body back to Galicia, arriving in Iria Flavia where they moored their boat to a pedrón (large stone), inspiring the town’s new name of Padrón. Visitors can still see the famous stone today at the parish church of Santiago de Padrón.
During the early Middle Ages, Iria/Padrón became the seat of a bishopric. The town suffered attacks from both Vikings and Normans, prompting the construction of the defensive Torres do Oeste (West Towers) nearby on the Ulla River, at the head of the estuary known as the Ría de Arousa.
Soraluce Blond, José Ramón. Cascos históricos de Galicia. La Coruña: Arenas Publicaciones, 2011. 193-203.
Soraluce Blond, José Ramón. Cascos históricos de Galicia. La Coruña: Arenas Publicaciones, 2011. 165-166.
The Church of Santa María a Nova in Noia is a small but striking example of late medieval Gothic architecture in Spain. It was constructed under the authority of Berengar of Landorra, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, and consecrated on January 28, 1327.
As you walk around the outside of the church, you’ll notice large tombstones, many dating from the late medieval period. The property’s cemetery contains medieval tombstones with a variety of inscriptions, images, and symbols, sometimes indicating membership in a guild.
There are also tombstones of nobles. These often feature their family heraldry and date from the 14th to the 19th centuries.
Santa María a Nova has three portals, two covered with porches. The main portal has a unique sculptural program, depicting the Adoration of the Magi, the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, the founding bishop Berengar, and St. Joseph.
There is a chapel dating to 1575 on one side of the church. It features a Plateresque arch and a vault that resembles the famous scallop shells of Santiago de Compostela. Notable figures from late medieval and early modern Noia are buried inside.
Today, one of the most prominent features inside the church is an 18th-century Baroque retable.
You can see a number of tombstones which have been brought inside and displayed. These stones display a variety of marks and images, some with human forms (e.g. denoting a pilgrim) and others bearing the signs of a guild or profession. The tombstone to the right has two footprints inscribed, likely indicating that the deceased was a cobbler.
The golden Baroque retable, while certainly dazzling, was not present at Santa María during the Middle Ages.
Díaz y Díaz, Manuel, et al., ed. and trans. Hechos de Don Berenguel de Landoria, arzobispo de Santiago [Gesta Berengarii]. Santiago de Compostela: University of Santiago de Compostela, 1983. Latin edition with facing translation in Castilian.
Soraluce Blond, José Ramón. Cascos históricos de Galicia. La Coruña: Arenas Publicaciones, 2011. 166-168.
Villa-amil y Castro, José. Iglesias gallegas de la Edad Media. Madrid: Imprenta de San Francisco de Sales, 1904.