Alcan'tara (Arabic, 'the bridge'), an old Spanish town in Estremadura, on a rocky height above the Tagus, near the Portuguese frontier. The bridge from which it takes its name was built under Trajan, 105 A.D. It consists of six arches; the whole length is 670, and the height 210 feet. It has twice been partially blown up in time of war, but the larger part is still intact. Pop. 3527.
THE ORDER OF ALCANTARA, one of the religious orders of Spanish knighthood, was founded in 1156 as a military fraternity for the defence of Estremadura against the Moors. In 1177, Pope Alexander III. raised it to the rank of a religious order of knighthood; and the grand-mastership of the order was by Pope Alexander VI. united to the Spanish crown in 1494. The order came to be richly endowed. The knights, who follow the rule of St Benedict, take the usual vows of obedience and poverty, a special vow also binding them to defend the immaculate conception of the Virgin. In the present century the order has been several times suppressed, and as often restored. Thus it was suppressed in 1872, and restored again in 1874.