Santas Creus, Abbey of
SANTAS CREUS, ABBEY OF
Cistercian monastery in Tarragona province, Spain—with Poblet, the Escorial of Catalonia. Several Catalan families, including the Moncada, contributed to its foundation in 1158 with monks from Valldaura. In 1160, while it was being built, Alexander III placed it under papal jurisdiction. The severe and elegant ogival church (1174–1211), completed under Abbot Bernard de Ager and his 45 monks, still remains, as do the old and new (1313–41) cloister and the royal palaces of peter ii and James II of Aragon, both buried in the abbey. Abbot Bernard Calvó (1226–33) was bishop of Vich and councilor of James I of Aragon. In 1296, under James II, the abbots became chaplains-in-chief of the kings of Aragon. The first prior of the knights of montesa, founded in 1317, was named by the Abbot of Santas Creus. The abbey's prosperity came to an end with the sacking and looting during the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolution of 1820. It was suppressed in 1834. After more lootings, restoration began in 1884, and the Cistercians have returned.
Bibliography: b. hernÁndez sanahuja, El monasterio de Santa Creus (Tarragona 1886). Enciclopedia universal illustrada Europeo–Americana, 70 v. (Barcelona 1908–30; suppl. 1934–) 54:227–240.
[j. pÉrez de urbel]