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Magistrate
The Spanish military Orders (referred to as just “the Order” in the play) were a set of religious and military institutions which arose in order to reconquer the Iberian Peninsula in Spain from the Muslim Moors. The most important Orders arose between the 12th and 14th centuries: the Order of Calatrava, the Order of Santiago, and the Order of Alcántara, the Order of Montesa. The Order’s highest authority was given the title of Master, followed by the Grand Commander. These men were often tied to the Spanish nobility and pledged allegiance to various monarchies, as depicted in the play. In Fuente Ovejuna, Master of Calatrava heads the Order of Calatrava, the Commander also belongs to the Order of Calatrava, and Manrique is the Master of the Order of Santiago.
The Orders Quotes in Fuente Ovejuna
The Fuente Ovejuna quotes below are all either spoken by The Orders or refer to The Orders. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1
Quotes
Take your sword, so far unstained
By blood, and turn it red as the Cross
Upon your breast. How else can I
Address you as Master of the Cross
If the one is red and not the other?
Let both of them be crimson, and you,
Worthy Girón, crown the immortal temple of
Your famous ancestors.
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LAURENCIA: So God go with you
In the hunt, sir... I mean for deer.
If it weren’t for that cross upon
Your chest, I’d take you for the devil, such
Is your pursuit of me!
COMMANDER: Such language is
Offensive! I’ll put my bow aside
And let my hands overcome those airs
And graces!
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Act 2
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ALDERMAN: You speak
Unjustly. To speak of us like that
Is to deny us honour.
COMMANDER: You believe
You have honour? You’ll be claiming next
You are knights of Calatrava!
ALDERMAN. There are doubtless some who wear the Cross
You place upon their breast whose blood
Is far less pure than ours.
COMMANDER: You think
My blood makes yours more impure?
ALDERMAN: Bad deeds have never cleansed, my lord.
They merely stain.
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Get the entire Fuente Ovejuna LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Orders Term Timeline in Fuente Ovejuna
The timeline below shows where the term The Orders appears in Fuente Ovejuna. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...doesn’t know any better. The Commander counters, explaining that becoming the Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava should have been enough to teach the boy respect.
(full context)
...Master and the Commander’s social rank demand respect in return. The Master swears by the Order’s Cross on their clothes that he honors the Commander as much as he honors his...
(full context)
Act 2
...they don’t have honor, but the alderman responds that there are many who wear the Order’s Cross whose blood is far less pure than that of the villagers. He says that...
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...The Commander says that Frondoso’s crime—pointing a bow at the Commander—was against the Master, the Order, and its sacred honor. The punishment is therefore out of the Commander’s hands.
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