Maestranza de caballería

Maestranzas de caballería (literally translated as 'cavalry armories') are noble militias created in the early modern era by the Spanish Crown, with the aim of giving the nobility practice in horsemanship and the use of weapons.

In the sixteenth century, the caballería (cavalry) was the typical military branch for nobles to follow, but the aforementioned skills had become less common as the Spanish aristocracy converted into a class of courtiers.

Their decay and disappearance were due to a range of factors, including the prohibition of the use of small firearms, abandonment of old customs and accoutrements consistent with the jineta riding style and the decline of the equine trade in the south of Spain, etc.

Also in 1728, Philip V of Spain responded affirmatively to a memorial presented by the horsemen Diego Chacón y Rojas and his son Juan with the intention of reorganizing the Maestranza de Antequera.

Three years later, a series of horsemen asked the Crown to form the Maestranza de Jaén, but the Council of the Kingdom's Cavalry declined the request.

Although it is a little known matter, the monarch approved the Real Maestranza in order to help the always difficult defense of Cuba and the Spanish Antilles from the continuous corsair attacks, in a period of turbulence caused by the War of the Peninsular Succession and the threats of English invasion.