GEORGE. 



and all the countries which adhere to the Greek rite : from 

 the Greek, his worfliip has long a;To been received into tlie 

 Latin church ; and England and Portugal have both chofen 

 bim for their patron faint. See Geokc.k of Capparlocla. 



Georgk, St. is particularly ufcd {or a* Englifli order of 

 knights, mc)re commonly now called the onkr of the Carter. 

 See Garter. 



GsoRGK, knights of St. There have been various orders 

 tinder this denomination, moft of which are now extinft. 



Tlie order of St. George, at firft called the order of the 

 «' Golden Angel," is faid to have been iiifcituted by Con- 

 ftantine the Great, in the year 312. The collar is compof- 

 ed of fifteen oval plates of gold, richly chafed on their edges, 

 and enauielh-d blue. On 14 of thcfe plates is the cypher of 

 tl»e name of Chrift, compofed of the Greek capital letters 



George on horfeback, flaying a dragon ; the crofs is ena- 

 melled blue, and edged with white, and cantoned witha fmalier 

 crois, enamelled blue and white; which, pendent to a Iky-blue 

 Avatered ribband, edg^d with white, is worn fcarfwife. On 

 the left breaft. the knights alfo wear the fame ftar embroi- 

 dered, having on the centre a red crofs. On fcllivals they 

 wear a collar compofed of oblong plates with crowns at each 

 end, and columns furmounted with globes ; each column 

 fupportcd by two lions, holding in their anterior paws fey- 

 mitars, joined together with lozenge-chains enamelled blue 

 and white : on the oblong plates is the following motto :— 

 " In fide, juflitia, et fortitudine." 



The military order of St. George in Ruflla, called alfo the 

 order of " Merit,"' was inilituted by the emprefs Catha- 

 rine II. in 1769, has the precedence over that of St. 



X and I' between the two capitals A and H, fignifying that Anne of Holftein, and was divided into four clalTes. — 



Jefus Chrili; is the beginning and end ; but on the centre oval. The badge is a crofs of gold, enamelled white, on the cen- 



which is edged with laurel leaves, the cypher X P is placed on tre of which is a medalhon, with the figure of St. George 



a. crofs patence gules, edged or, and having on- its points the flaying a dragon. This is worn pendent to a black ribband 



letters I. H. S. V. ; and pendent from the bottom was the edged with orange colour, and two ftripes of orange on the 



figure of St. George killing the dragon. The habit of the black. Thofe of the firft clafs weai' it under their coat, 



knights was a long cloak of (ky blue velvet, lined with white pafling from right to left ; and on the left breaft of their coat 



filk, tied at the neck with a cord of crinifon filk and gold inter- is a ftar wrought in gold, in the ftiape of a lozenge : on the 



mixed, terminating at each extremity in a large taftel ; on the centre of the ftar are embroidered the figure of St. George 



left breaft of the cloak was embroidered the crofs of the order, and the dragon. Thofe of the fecond clafs wear the badge 



The order of St. George in Aufiria and Carinthia was infti- 

 tuted, as fome fay, by Rodolph, count of Habfourg, the 

 firft emperor of the hoafe of Auftria, about the year 1273 

 or T2^o ; or, as others fay, by the emperor Frederic III. in 

 order to guard the frontiers of Germa y, Hungary, Auftria, 

 Carinthia, and Styria, from the inroads of the Turks. The 



pendent to a ribband palTuig round their neck, and a ftar 

 on their left breaft. Thofe of the third clafs wear tl;e badge 

 pendent to a narrow ribband which pafft;s round their neck; 

 but they have no ftar. Thofe of the fourth clafs wear the 

 badge pendent at the button-hole of their coats. Each 

 knight of the firft clafs receives an annual falary of 700 



badge of the order was a plain purple crofs edged with green, roubles =: 140/ : each of the fecond clafs has 4C0 roubles 



The order of St. George in Burgundy was founded, in the = 80/. per annum : each of the third clafs 200 roubles or 



year 1400, by Philbert de Miolans, a gentleman of Bur- 40/. per annum; and each of the fourth clafs 100 roubles or 



gundy, on account of his having brought from the Eaft fome 20L per annum. The fund of this order, afiigned by the 



relics of St. George, which he depofited in a chapel erefted empreis for the payment of their falaries, and other expences. 



for the purpofe, near to the parilh church of Rougamont 

 The badge of the order is a St. George on horfeback, 

 o-werthrowing a dragon, fimilar to that on the collar of the 

 order of the garter. It was worn pendent to a blue rib- 

 band tied to a button-hole. Women were admitted into 

 this order. 



The order of -Sf: George in Auftria was refounded by the 

 laft emperor Maxi 

 the order (hould be 



on the upper part with a ducal coronet or, and worn pendent 

 from three chains of gold. 



The order of St. George at Genoa was inftituted in 1472. 

 The doge of Venice is perpetual grand mailer of the order. 

 The enlign of the order is a plain red crofs, worn round the 

 neck, pendent to a ribband 



is 40,000 roubles = 8000/. per annum. Of this 1,680 is de- 

 ftiiied for the firft clafs ; and 20CO for each of the rem.ainin? 

 three. Tlie number of knights is unhmited. In 1778, the firll 

 clafs, which is confined to commanders in chief, contained 

 only four ; the fecond clafs comprized only eight knights ; 

 the third, forty-eight ; and the fourth two hundred and thirty, 

 four. No perfon can obtain this order without having 

 miUan, who direcled that the badge of performed fome gallant exploit, or having fcrved in the raak 

 e a crois croflet botonnee gules, encircled of an officer 25 years by land, or iS by fea. 



The order of St. George of Alfama, or the order of Mcr- 

 ie/h, an order of knighthood in Spain. When tl:;; order of 

 knights-templars became extinct in Spain, an order was inili- 

 tuted, about the year 1317, to fupply their places, in confe- 

 quence of a permiftioii for that purpofe obtained from pope 

 'John XXII. at which time Montefa in Valencia was felec\ed 



The order of St. George in Rome was founded by pope as a proper place for the refidence of the knights. In the fol. 



Alexander VI. in the year 1492. The collar of the order lowing year, James, king of Arragon and Valencia, built at 



was a gold chain, to which was pendent, in enamel, the figure Montefa a noble college for their habitation, and dedicated it 



of St. George on horfeback, throwing down a dragon, and to St. George : and hence the order alTumed its appellation of 



piercing it with a lance. The badge was a gold crofs within the order of St. George of Montefa. The habit of this order 



a circle of gold, like an open crown. is a white mantle, on the left breaft of which is embroidered 



The order of St. George at Ravenna is fuppofed to have a plain red crofs. The badge of the order is a plain red 



been inftituted by pope Paul III in 1534. It was abolifhed crois, enamelled on gold, which is worn fcarfwife, pendent to 



by pope Gregory in 1572. a broad red watered ribband. Tlie order of St. George 



'the order ot St. George, defender of the immaculate con- of Alfama, was inftituted about the year I20l, at a town 



caption of the blefted Virgin Mar)', was inftituted at Mu- of that name in the diocefe of Tortofa. In 1 399 tiiis order 



nich by Albert, eledlor of Bavaria, in the year 1729, and con- was united to that of Montefa, by pope Benedidl XIII. and 



firmed by the pope. The perfon admitted into this order that union was confirmed in the council of Conftance. 



muft prove his gentility for five generations both on his mo- Geokoe, Religious of the order of St. Of thefe there are 



ther's and father's fide. The badge of the order is a ftar of divers orders and congregations ; particularly canons regular 



«ight points ; oa the centre is enaaielled the image of St, of St. George in Alga, at Venice, eftablilhcd bv authority 



R 2 of 



