Knighthood

The badge is a cross paty, bearing in the centre the medallion and circlet as in the star. An imperial crown in gold surmounts the cross. For the first three classes the cross is enamelled in pearl grey, bordered with gold, while the circlet is of red enamel with the motto in gold. The commander's badge is smaller than that for the other two classes. The badge of the fourth class is entirely silver gilt, while that of the lowest class is entirely silver. The ribbon of the Order is purple for the civil division, and purple with a narrow red central stripe for the military division.

There are also two medals belonging to the Order: The gallantry medal, which is rare, and is only awarded for conspicuous bravery, where the recipient knew, when he performed the deed of gal lantry, that his life was in danger, and the meritorious service medal, given for meritorious service.

The order of Companions of Honour was instituted in June 1917, at the same time as the Order of the British Empire. It may be conferred upon either men or women who have rendered conspicuous national service; it confers no title or precedence.

It consists of the Sovereign and 5o members, and there is only one class. This order ranks next after the first class of the Order of the British Empire.

The sovereign's permission by royal warrant is necessary before a British subject can receive a foreign order of knighthood. For other decorations, see under MEDALS.

The Golden Fleece (La Toison d'Or)

ranks historically and in distinction as one of the great knightly orders of Europe. It became divided into two branches, Austria and Spain. It was founded on Jan. 1o, 1429-30, by Philip the Good, duke of Bur gundy, on the day of his marriage with Isabella of Portugal at Bruges, in her honour and dedicated to the Virgin and St. Andrew. No certain origin can be given for the name. It seems to have been in dispute even in the early history of the order. At its con stitution the number of the knights was limited to 24, exclusive of the grand master, the sovereign. The sovereign undertook to consult the knights before embarking on a war, all disputes be tween the knights were to be settled by the order, at each chapter the deeds of each knights were held in review, and punishments and admonitions were dealt out to offenders; to this the sovereign was expressly subject. Thus we find that the emperor Charles V. accepted humbly the criticism of the knights of the Fleece on his over-centralization of the government and the wasteful personal attention to details. The knights could claim as of right to be tried by their fellows on charges of rebellion, heresy and treason, and Charles V. conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes committed by the knights. It was in defiance of this right that Alva refused the claim of Counts Egmont and Horn to be tried by the knights of the Fleece in 1568. By the marriage

of Mary, only daughter of Charles the Bold of Burgundy to Maximilian, archduke of Austria, the grand mastership of the order came to the house of Habsburg and, with the Nether lands provinces, to Spain in 1504 on the accession of Philip, Maximilian's son, to Castile. On the extinction of the Habsburg dynasty in Spain by the death of Charles II. in 1700 the grand mastership, which had been filled by the kings of Spain after the loss of the Netherlands, was claimed by the emperor Charles VI., and he instituted the order in Vienna in 1713. Protests were made at various times by Philip V., but the question was never decided by treaty, and the Austrian and Spanish branches continued as independent orders as the principal order of knighthood in the respective States. While the Austrian branch excludes any other than Roman Catholics from the order, the Spanish Fleece may be granted to Protestants. The badges of the two branches vary slightly in detail, more particularly in the attachment of fire stones and steels by which the fleece is attached to the ribbon of the collar. The collar is composed of alternate links of furisons and double steels interlaced to form the letter B for Burgundy.

Austria-Hungary.

The following were the principal orders other than that of the Golden Fleece. The Order of t. Stephen of Hungary, the royal Hungarian order, founded in 1764 by the empress Maria Theresa. The Order of Leopold, for civil and military service, was founded in i8o8 by the emperor Francis I. in memory of his father Leopold II. The Order of the Iron Crown, i.e., of Lombardy, was founded by Napoleon as king of Italy in 1809, and refounded as an Austrian order of civil and military merit in 1816 by the emperor Francis I. The Order of Francis Joseph, for personal merit of every kind, was founded in by the emperor Francis Joseph I. The Order of Maria Theresa was founded by the empress Maria Theresa in 1757. A purely military order, it was given to officers for personal distinguished conduct in the field. The Order of Elizabeth Theresa, also a mili tary order for officers, was founded in 175o by the will of Eliza beth Christina, widow of the emperor Charles VI. It was renovated in 1771 by her daughter, the empress Maria Theresa. The Order of the Starry Cross, for high-born ladies of the Roman Catholic faith who devoted themselves to good works, was founded in 1668 by the empress Eleanor, mother of Leopold I., to com memorate the recovery of a relic of the true cross from a fire in the palace at Vienna. The relic was supposed to have been peculiarly treasured by the emperor Maximilian I. and the em peror Frederick III. The Order of Elizabeth, also for ladies, was founded in 1898.