Saint Peter Nolasco. Saint Peter Nolasco, Pere Nolasc in Catalan, Pierre Nolasque in French and Pedro Nolasco in Spanish, is a Catholic saint, born at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, Languedoc, today's France, although some historians claim he was born in Barcelona.
It is clear that Nolasco was in Barcelona when he was a teenager, became part of an army fighting the Moors in the Iberian peninsula, and was appointed tutor to the young king, James I of Aragon. In 1218 he formed a congregation of men that became the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1230.
Between the eighth and the fifteenth centuries, medieval Europe was in a state of intermittent warfare between the Christian kingdoms of southern Europe and the Muslim polities of North Africa, Southern France, Sicily and portions of Spain. According to James W. Brodman, the threat of capture, whether by pirates or coastal raiders, or during one of the region's intermittent wars, was a continuous threat to residents of Catalonia, Languedoc, and the other coastal provinces of medieval Christian Europe.
Raids by militias, bands, and armies from both sides was an almost annual occurrence. Alfonso VIII's incursions into Andalusia in 1182 are said to have brought him over 2,000 captives and thousands in ransom, while in 1191 the governor of Cordoba, took 3,000 prisoners and 15,000
It is clear that Nolasco was in Barcelona when he was a teenager, became part of an army fighting the Moors in the Iberian peninsula, and was appointed tutor to the young king, James I of Aragon. In 1218 he formed a congregation of men that became the Royal and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy of the Redemption of the Captives with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1230.
Between the eighth and the fifteenth centuries, medieval Europe was in a state of intermittent warfare between the Christian kingdoms of southern Europe and the Muslim polities of North Africa, Southern France, Sicily and portions of Spain. According to James W. Brodman, the threat of capture, whether by pirates or coastal raiders, or during one of the region's intermittent wars, was a continuous threat to residents of Catalonia, Languedoc, and the other coastal provinces of medieval Christian Europe.
Raids by militias, bands, and armies from both sides was an almost annual occurrence. Alfonso VIII's incursions into Andalusia in 1182 are said to have brought him over 2,000 captives and thousands in ransom, while in 1191 the governor of Cordoba, took 3,000 prisoners and 15,000
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