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. These noble institutions created a dedicated cavalry corps that was directly funded by its members. The participating nobles, or maestrantes, organized themselves under the advocacy of a holy patron and took the internal form of a confraternity. Traditional maestranzas Philip II of Spain issued a Royal Decree on September 6, in which he encouraged the distinct local nobilities to organize themselves into noble brotherhoods. On August 3, 1573, the nobility of Ronda created the Hermandad del Santo Espíritu under the advocacy of Nuestra Señora de Gracia ('Our Lady of Grace'), which would later become the . Seville created a fraternity in the name of its patron saint, Saint Hermengild, soon thereafter, though it dissolved rapidly. By 1670, a group of nobles took Nuestra Señora del Rosario ('Our Lady of the Rosary') as its patron saint and the following year drew up orders which would give rise to the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla from that time forward. Nuestra Señora del Triunfo ('Our Lady of the Triumph') became the patroness of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Granada, created in 1686 to imitate its Sevillian counterpart. Eleven years later, another of the modern-era maestranzas was formed – the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Valencia. Other traditional maestranzas of cavalry include the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Zaragoza, created in 1819 from the old Cofradía de Caballeros Hijosdalgo de San Jorge, and the Maestranza de Caballería de Segovia (Castilla) that was established around 1808 and reorganized between 1990 and 1992 under the auspices and protection of the Count of Barcelona, Don Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, father of King Juan Carlos I. In 2016, King Felipe VI awarded the Corbata of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica to the Maestranza de Caballería de Castilla. Disbanded maestranzas Historians are certain of the existence of several maestranzas in different Spanish cities. Their decay and disappearance were due to a range of factors, including the prohibition of the use