Knighthood

Among the orders swept away at the French Revolution, re stored in part at the Restoration, and finally abolished at the revolution of July 1830 were the following: The Order of St. Michael was founded by Louis XI. in 1469 for a limited number of knights of noble birth. Later the numbers were so much in creased under Charles IX. that it became known as Le Collier a toutes betes. In 1816 the order was granted for services in art and science. In view of the low esteem into which the Order of St. Michael had fallen, Henry III. founded in 1578 the Order of the Holy Ghost (St. Esprit). The badge of the order was a white Maltese cross decorated in gold, with the gold lilies of France at the angles, in the centre a white dove with wings outstretched, the ribbon was sky blue (cordon bleu). The Order of St. Louis was founded by Louis XIV. in 1693 for military merit, and the Order of Military Merit by Louis XV. in 1759, originally for Protestant officers.

Germany.—Officially, the old orders of the German empire have now ceased to exist, although the decorations are often worn.

i. Anhalt.—The Order of Albert the Bear, a family order or Hausorden, was founded in 1836 by the dukes Henry of Anhalt Kothen, Leopold Frederick of Anhalt-Dessau and Alexander Charles of Anhalt-Bernburg.

ii. Baden.—The Order of Fidelity or Loyalty (Hausorden der Treue) was instituted by William, margrave of Baden-Durlach in 1715, and reconstituted in 1803 by the elector Charles Frederick. There was, in the end, only one class, for princes of the reigning house, foreign sovereigns and eminent men of the State. The military Order of Charles Frederick was founded in 1807. The order was conferred for long and meritorious military service. The Order of the Zeihringen Lion was founded in 1812 in com memoration of the descent of the reigning house of Baden from the dukes of Zahringen. After 1896 the Order of Berthold I. was a distinct order; it was founded in 1877 as a higher class of the Zeihringen Lion.

iii. Bavaria.

The Order of St. Hubert, one of the oldest and most distinguished knightly orders, was founded in 1444 by Duke Gerhard V. of Julich-Berg in honour of a victory over Count Arnold of Egmont at Ravensberg on St. Hubert's day. The knights wore a collar of golden hunting horns, whence the order was also known as the Order of the Horn; the order fell into abeyance at the extinction of the dynasty in 1609. It was revived in 1708, and its constitution was altered at various times, its final form being given in 1808. The Order of St. George, said to have been founded in the 12th century as a crusading order and re vived by the emperor Maximilian I. in 1494, dated historically from its institution in 1729 by the elector Charles Albert, after wards the emperor Charles VII. It was confirmed by the elector Charles Theodore in 1778 and by the elector Maximilian Joseph IV. as the second Bavarian order. Besides the above Bavaria possessed the Military Order of Maximilian Joseph, 1806, and the Civil Orders of Merit of St. Michael, 1693, and of the Bava

rian Crown, 1808. There were also the two illustrious orders for ladies, the Order of Elizabeth, founded in 1766, and the Order of Theresa, in 1827.

iv. Brunswick.—The Order of Henry the Lion, for military and civil merit, was founded by Duke William in v. Hanover.—The Order of St. George was instituted by King Ernest Augustus I. in 1839 as the family order of the house of Hanover; the Royal Guelphic Order by George, prince regent, afterwards George IV. of Great Britain, in 1815; and the Order of Ernest Augustus by George V. of Hanover in 1865. These orders have not been conferred since 1866, when Hanover ceased to be a kingdom, and the Royal Guelphic Order, which from its institution was more British than Hanoverian, not since the death of William IV. in 1837. The last British grand cross was the late duke of Cambridge.

vi. Hesse.—Of the various orders founded by the houses of Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt the following survived in the grand duchy of Hesse. The Order of Louis, founded by the grand duke Louis I. of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1807; the Order of Philip the Magnanimous, founded by the grand duke Louis II. in 1840. The Order of the Golden Lion was founded in 1770 by the landgrave Frederick II. of Hesse-Cassel.

vii. Mecklenburg.

The grand duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz possessed jointly the Order of the Wendish Crown, founded in 1864 by the grand dukes Frederick Francis II. of Schwerin and Frederick William of Strelitz. The Order of the Griffin, founded in 1884 by Frederick Francis III.

of Schwerin, was made common to the duchies in 1904.

viii. Oldenberg.—The Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis, a family order and order of merit, was founded by the grand duke Paul Frederick Augustus in 1838.

ix. Prussia.—The Order of the Black Eagle was founded in i7oi by the elector of Brandenburg, Frederick I., in memory of his coronation as king of Prussia. The order consisted of one class only and the original statutes limited the number, exclusive of the princes of the royal house and foreign members, to 30, but the number has been exceeded. It was only conferred on those of royal lineage and upon high officers of State. Only those who had received the Order of the Red Eagle were eligible. The Order of the Red Eagle, the second of the Prussian orders, was founded originally as the Order of Sincerity in 1705 by George William, hereditary prince of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. The original con stitution and insignia were afterwards changed, with the exception of the red eagle which formed the centre of the cross of the badge. The order had almost fallen into oblivion when it was revived in 1734 by the margrave George Frederick Charles as the Order of the Brandenburg Red Eagle. On the cession of the principality to Prussia in 1791 the order was transferred and King Frederick William raised it to its high place in Prussian orders.