As the most southerly of the four Portuguese military orders, the Santiago knights were the first frontline against incursions from the Moorish Algarve in the 13th century. These domains were partitioned into "comendas", and granted by the Order in commendam to a Santiago knight ("comendador") entrusted with the obligation of defending them. After the completion of the conquest of the Algarve, the comendas continued to be a source of revenue for the Order, granted to distinguished individual knights of the Order, still contingent on military service, and run according to the Order's regulations.