Fig. 153.—Sancha de Roxas, who died in 1437, wearing the scarf which was the insignia of the military order bearing his name (Fifteenth Century).—From the “Iconografia Española” of M. Carderera.
Fig. 153.—Sancha de Roxas, who died in 1437, wearing the scarf which was the insignia of the military order bearing his name (Fifteenth Century).—From the “Iconografia Española” of M. Carderera.
Dragged into endless conflicts with Lithuania and Poland, the order lost its banners, its treasure, and its principal defenders in the disastrous battle of Grümwald, in the year 1410, and would have been utterly ruined but for Henry von Plauen. After the death of this illustrious grand master, the knights, to whom the treaty of Thorn had restored their territorial possessions, lost them one after the other in the few years that elapsed between 1422 and 1436. For thirteen years Casimir IV., King of Poland, summoned into Prussia by the inhabitants, who had rebelled against the despotic sway of the knights, laid waste the country that he had undertaken to protect. The order, driven out of Marienburg and Konitz, only retained possession of Eastern Prussia, and held even that under Polish rule; its grand master, whose head-quarters were now at Königsberg, was, in fact, a prince and a councillor of Poland. As Prussia was a fief of the Church, the grand master of the Teutonic Order was bound by vow to preserve it to the Church and tohis own order. Albert of Brandenburg, its last grand master, was bound by this oath, and by the triple vow of poverty, obedience, and chastity, which he had taken on entering the order. To rid himself of the fetters of these oaths he joined the Lutheran Church, and divided the possessions of his order with his uncle, the aged Sigismund, King of Poland, who for these considerations bestowed on him the title of hereditary Duke of Prussia. This was the origin of the royal family of Prussia. After this easy acquisition of title and territory, Albert of Brandenburg married the daughter of the King of Denmark. As a matter of course, the Order of the Teutonic Knights became extinct.
Fig. 154.—Teutonic Knight.—Fac-simile of a Woodcut by Jost Amman, in his work entitled “Cleri totius Romanæ ecclesiæ ... habitus:” 4to, Frankfort, 1585.
Fig. 154.—Teutonic Knight.—Fac-simile of a Woodcut by Jost Amman, in his work entitled “Cleri totius Romanæ ecclesiæ ... habitus:” 4to, Frankfort, 1585.
Fig. 155.—Chapter of the Golden Fleece, held by Charles the Bold.—Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the Burgundian Library, Brussels.
Fig. 155.—Chapter of the Golden Fleece, held by Charles the Bold.—Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in the Burgundian Library, Brussels.
The Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece was not founded till 1449. It was then instituted by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, in order to induce the nobles of his court to join him in making war against the Turks, and to attach his subjects by closer ties to the service of the state. The crusade never took place, but the order survived, and still exists as an heraldic distinction.
This order, which was placed under the protection of St. Andrew, was originally composed of twenty-four knights of high rank and stainlesscharacter; their number was increased by the Duke of Burgundy to thirty-one, and afterwards by Charles V. to fifty-one. The election of the knights took place in the chapters of the order, and were decided by a majority of votes. The distinguishing sign of the order was a necklet of gold, enamelled with the duke’s device, which was composed of two steels and two flints interlaced, with the motto,Ante ferit quam micat(It strikes before it lights). From the collar was suspended a golden sheep, or sheep’s fleece, with the inscription,Pretium non vile laborum(Labour’s just reward) (Fig. 155). Since the marriage of Philippe le Beau, son of the Emperor Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy, withJane of Aragon, in 1496, the King of Spain and the Emperor of Austria are, in their own countries, the sovereign chiefs of the order of the Golden Fleece.
Savoy also possessed an order of military knighthood which has survived till our time. When Amadeus VIII., in whose person Savoy had been raised to the rank of a duchy by the Emperor Sigismund, determined to live as a recluse, he desired to create an order of secular knighthood, with himself as its chief. He accordingly built a retreat at Ripailles, near the Lake of Geneva, as a residence for the new order, and placed it under the protection of St. Maurice, the patron saint of Savoy. The first knights, only six in number, were distinguished by a cross of white taffeta sewn on their dress. The successors of Amadeus VIII., however, so neglected the order that it was on the point of becoming extinct, when Duke Emanuel Philibert, in 1572, obtained from Gregory XIII. a bull to reconstitute it; and shortly afterwards, by a second bull, the knights of St. Lazarus and those of St. Maurice were united.
The knights took the same triple vow as the Templars; they swore fidelity to the Dukes of Savoy, and undertook to wage war against the heretics who from Geneva were continually threatening the frontiers of the duchy. The order possessed considerable property, and its head-quarters were at Nice and Turin.
The sign of the order was a white cross with flowered points, beneath which was a second cross surrounded with green, with the image of the two patron saints.
The Knights of St. Stephen, an order founded in 1562 by Cosmo de Medicis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, played an active part in the sea-fights of the Mediterranean, where they were constantly chasing the Ottoman galleys or effecting landings on the shores of the surrounding barbarian states. In the middle of the seventeenth century they boasted that they had released, since the creation of the order, upwards of five thousand six hundred Christian captives and fifteen thousand slaves.
This order, in its customs and ceremonies, was strikingly like the order of Malta; and, like it, was divided into military and ecclesiastical knights.
Fig. 156.—Reception of a Knight of the Order of St. Michael, which was created on August 1, 1469, by Louis XI., at the Castle of Amboise.—Fac-simile of a Miniature in the “Statuts de l’Ordre,” dated from Plessis-les-Tours. Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century, in the Library of M. Ambr. Firmin-Didot.
Fig. 156.—Reception of a Knight of the Order of St. Michael, which was created on August 1, 1469, by Louis XI., at the Castle of Amboise.—Fac-simile of a Miniature in the “Statuts de l’Ordre,” dated from Plessis-les-Tours. Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century, in the Library of M. Ambr. Firmin-Didot.
Several orders of military knighthood existed in France, created by its sovereigns; but their honorary character caused them to be looked upon as rewards bestowed for good service rendered to the monarchy, rather than as solemn engagements to take up arms in any definite cause. Itis hardly worth while to mention the Order of the Star, which it has been attempted to trace back to King Robert and to the year 1022, but the real origin of which only dates from King John. The oldest royal military orders of knighthood are those that Louis IX.founded to encourage his nobles to join him in his expeditions beyond the seas, and to take part in the Crusades. The Order of the Cosse de Geneste, instituted in 1254, was bestowed at a later period on the sergeants of the king, a body-guard of a hundred gentlemen specially entrusted with the duty of protecting the sovereign’s person against the assassins sent by the Old Man of the Mountains. The Order of the Ship, instituted in 1269, became extinct shortly after the second crusade of St. Louis, who had conferred it, before his departure, on some of his most illustrious followers.
The Order of St. Michael was founded in 1469 by Louis XI. to fulfil a vow made by his father, who had a particular veneration for that saint, the tutelar angel and patron of France (Fig. 156). The image of St. Michael was already embroidered in gold upon the banner of the king, who created a new order of military knighthood “in honour,” say the statutes, “of the first knight who in God’s quarrel fought the ancient enemy of the human race and made him fall from heaven.” The order was composed of thirty-six knights of stainless name and arms, with the sovereign who had appointed them at their head. The collar of the order was composed of golden shells inlaid with the figure of St. Michael overthrowing Satan. The knights, besides this collar, wore on occasions of ceremony a white mantle with a hood of crimson velvet.
A, the door from which the knights issued, and then went along the terrace marked B, out at the door marked C, and so to the place where the new knights were initiated.D, trumpets.E, drums.F, fifes and hautboys.G, four heralds, walking two and two.H, king-at-arms of France, walking by himself.I, the Sieur de Bourgneuf, usher of the order, walking by himself.K, the Sieur du Pont, herald of the order, walking by himself.L, three officers of the order walking abreast—viz., MM. d’Achères, provost and master of the ceremonies; Bouthillier, grand treasurer; and Duret-Chevry, secretary.M, M. de Bullion, keeper of the seals of the order, walking by himself.N, the knights novices, walking two and two, each according to his rank.O, the commanders, walking also two and two, each according to his rank.P, the king, walking by himself, his train carried by M. le Marquis de Gesvres; behind his majesty walks M. le Cardinal Duc de Richelieu, by himself, an almoner carrying his train.Fig. 157. Procession of the Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost crossing the courtyard of the Palace of Fontainebleau on their way to the chapel, for the ceremony of the initiation of new knights.
A, the door from which the knights issued, and then went along the terrace marked B, out at the door marked C, and so to the place where the new knights were initiated.
D, trumpets.
E, drums.
F, fifes and hautboys.
G, four heralds, walking two and two.
H, king-at-arms of France, walking by himself.
I, the Sieur de Bourgneuf, usher of the order, walking by himself.
K, the Sieur du Pont, herald of the order, walking by himself.
L, three officers of the order walking abreast—viz., MM. d’Achères, provost and master of the ceremonies; Bouthillier, grand treasurer; and Duret-Chevry, secretary.
M, M. de Bullion, keeper of the seals of the order, walking by himself.
N, the knights novices, walking two and two, each according to his rank.
O, the commanders, walking also two and two, each according to his rank.
P, the king, walking by himself, his train carried by M. le Marquis de Gesvres; behind his majesty walks M. le Cardinal Duc de Richelieu, by himself, an almoner carrying his train.
Fig. 157. Procession of the Knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost crossing the courtyard of the Palace of Fontainebleau on their way to the chapel, for the ceremony of the initiation of new knights.
Fig. 158.—State Gloves of embroidered silk, gold, and silver, with the Monogram of Christ, formerly belonging to Louis XIII.—From the originals in the Collection of M. Jubinal.
Fig. 158.—State Gloves of embroidered silk, gold, and silver, with the Monogram of Christ, formerly belonging to Louis XIII.—From the originals in the Collection of M. Jubinal.
The Order of the Holy Ghost was the last military order that the sovereigns of France themselves conferred towards the close of the sixteenth century. Both this and the Order of St. Michael were termed orders of the king. Henry III., in 1579, created the order in honour of God, and particularly in that of the Holy Ghost, under whose inspiration he had accomplished “his best and most fortunate exploits,” to use the exact words of the statutes of the order. From the day of his ascending the throne he had always intended to found this order, which had been suggested to him in his childhood by the perusal of the statutes of the first Order of the Holy Ghost, instituted at Naples, in 1352, by one of his ancestors, Louis of Anjou, King of Jerusalem and Sicily. These statutes were carefully preserved in a precious manuscript, the miniature of which represented with marvellous art all the ceremonies of the order. The manuscript was a present from the nobility of Venice to Henry III. on his return from Poland. This prince, however, borrowed but little from these ancient statutes, which had been drawn up in view of the military services which the knights of the order, threehundred in number, might be able to render towards the Crusades in Palestine. The new order of the Holy Ghost, although a military one, was destined to gather round the king, who was its supreme head, a body of a hundred knights, selected from among the most eminent and the most illustrious personages of the court, the Church, and the nobility. The insignia of the order were a collar composed of golden fleurs-de-lis, surmounted with enamelled flames, forming the initials of the king and his wife Louise of Lorraine, with a cross bearing a silver dove, emblem of the Holy Ghost. At the meetings of their order, the knights were clad in costly round-caped mantles of blue velvet spangled with fleurs-de-lis in gold (Fig. 157). These meetings, which at first were held in the Church of the Augustines at Paris, where the solemn receptions of the new members took place, were afterwards transferred to the Louvre, where they were celebrated with extraordinary pomp. It is true that the statutes enjoined on each lay knight the duty of taking arms for his sovereign whenever the latter was preparing to go towar for the defence of his dominions, or in the interest of his crown; but they were never scrupulously obeyed on this point, and the Order of the Holy Ghost, while preserving its military and religious character on all ceremonial occasions, never played any other part than one of display and heraldic pretension. The sovereigns, however, at all times showed themselves extremely jealous of the privilege of appointing its knights, and the latter for more than three centuries composed the actual guard of honour of the royal house of France.
Fig. 159.—St. George, the patron of warriors, vanquishing the Dragon.—From the Tomb of Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, at Rouen (Sixteenth Century).
Fig. 159.—St. George, the patron of warriors, vanquishing the Dragon.—From the Tomb of Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, at Rouen (Sixteenth Century).