TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP

BALLESTERO DE PLAZA

This class is reserved for residents of Rioja and its environs while the latter is for all others.

As noted in the 14th century statutes and indicated on the contemporary petition for admission, all members must be Catholic men who are:

(a) armigerous (with their arms duly registered in Spain),
(b) validly married (according to the Catholic Church) to women of good breeding,
(c) possess nobility in the male line.

BALLESTERO DE HERMANDAD

As noted in the 14th century statutes and indicated on the contemporary petition for admission, all members must be Catholic men who are:

(a) armigerous (with their arms duly registered in Spain),
(b) validly married (according to the Catholic Church) to women of good breeding,
(c) possess nobility in the male line.

By virtue of their admission, members of the Noble Company receive the honorific Don for themselves and their male descendants (who will inherit and transmit the member's armorial bearings). The members' wives and female descendants are referred to as Doña. Economic life of the Noble Company depends on the members’ passage fees and field rents.

Hidalgos de Privilegio (by virtue of royal privilege) and Hidalgos de Real Provision (by virtue of meritorious acts) entail a grant of nobility from His Majesty the King of Spain in his position as monarch, or from his position as protector of a military confraternity or hermandad such as the Noble Company of Knights Crossbowmen of Saint Philip and Saint James.