CISTERCIAN PROPERTIES IN PORTUGAL’S NORTHERN BORDER – THE CASES OF THE ABBEYS OF MORERUELA, CASTAÑEDA AND FIÃES

Abstract

The Cistercian Order settled in the Iberian region in the middle of the twentieth century. Their success is visible on the cases of Moreruela, Castañeda (Kingdoms of Lion and Castile) and Fiães (Portugal), which cases show the frontier did not condition Cistercian land expansion, showing that the concept of frontier cannot be understood in an absolute and linear approach. Therefore, the Cistercian properties only was restrained with the beginning of the territorialisation of the Iberian monarchs, more over the property owned by foreign institutions. The subject is particularly relevant due to the need of establishing connection points, in the different Iberian kingdoms, of the evolution of the assets held by the Cistercians. The article also seeks to establish the relation between the Cistercian Abbeys and the monarchies.