The infante Martin founded the Valldecrist priory as part of his personal possessions in the town of Altura, near the village of Segorbe, on 18th March 1385, with the blessing of his father, King Peter VI the Ceremonious. The priory was always under the protection of the monarchy; it was declared a royal foundation on 7th January 1386 by Peter IV and later by his successors to the throne, John I, Martin I and the young Martin, King of Sicily. Tradition has it that the origin of the monastery was a dream the infante Martin had in 1383, while its location was chosen with the help of a pilgrim from the Holy Land because of the resemblance it bore to the Josafat Valley.1
Founding a monastery was one of the most important charitable acts that a member of the royal family could perform, given that it ensured both prayer in the community and eternal salvation, and prestige and social and religious recognition by the society at the time. Moreover, by founding this chapel in a priory, the infante Martin secured a burial ground for him and his family. The Valldecrist charterhouse can be compared to several similar sites founded by other princes at around the same time: in 1314 Frederick the Handsome founded the Mauerbach priory; in 1385 Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and brother of Charles V, instituted the Champmol (Dijon) carthusian priory on their lands; and in 1390 the Visconti family erected the priory in Pavia. They were all regarded as charitable works as well as burial grounds for prominent members of the European royalty and nobility.2 On Spanish soil, we can cite the 1163 founding of the Scala Dei by Alphonse II of Aragon; the El Paular in Rascafría by John I of Castile in 1390; the Valldemossa in Majorca by Martin I of Aragon in 1399; Our Lady of Aniago (Valladolid) in 1441 by María of Aragón, wife of John II of Castile; and one year later the Miraflores carthusian priory founded by the same monarch in Burgos.
The complex is a ten-minute car ride from the town of Altura along the service road. Guided tours are conducted on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 11:00 to 12:30 with prior reservations with the Asociación Cultural Cartuja de Valldecrist (tel. 675 95 35 77 or 690 21 54 64), or visitors can come during the week by going to the police station in Altura.
Two different stages can be distinguished in the mediaeval building process of the Valldecrist monastery, each of which centres on specific buildings with different purposes. The first corresponds to the work undertaken between June 1385 and March 1386 until 1401, when the infante Martin strove to shape the complex into a monastery with somewhat austere palatial quarters. This included the two-floored Saint Martin chapel, the small cloister and the prince’s personal quarters around the chapel. The second phase began after Martin ascended to the throne, upon his arrival in the city of Valencia between June and December 1401, when he embarked on works for a larger scale project. This included the large cloister, the main church, the sacristy, the chapter house and the refectory. His purpose was to make Valldecrist one of the most important charterhouse on the peninsula, and this is confirmed merely by the dimensions of the site, as well as the priors that ran it (Friar Bonifacio Ferrer, brother of Saint Vincent Ferrer and prior of the Carthusian order in the Mediterranean area, and Francesc Maresme). The main church was finished in 1428 but blessed much later, on 13th October 1549, before the Duke of Calabria, Ferdinand of Aragon.3
Map of the priory complex, rendered by Enrique Martín
Chalcographic engraving of the Valldecrist priory. Perspective in the late 18th century. Maisons de l´ordre des chartreux
