. KNI.GHTHOO D. 
of Calatrava In Spain, they fubmitted themfelves to the 
rules, ftatutes, vifitation, and correction, of that order; 
but they did not appear to be long fatisfied with this new 
arrangement; for, in the time of Don John of Portugal, 
the feventh grand mailer d’Avis, they, by his fpecial com¬ 
mand, call off their acknowledgments to the order of 
Calatrava, and remained feparated, in fpite of the folemn 
decifion of the council of Bal'd, and a pontifical bull blu¬ 
ed for the very purpofe of confirming the union. They 
were fo ftaunchly attached to their own rules, and felt fo 
Itrongly the noble pride of handing as an independent af- 
fociation, that, even when the crown of Portugal fell into 
the hands of Philip II. of Spain, they Hill kept aloof, and 
were a body completely feparate from the order that claimed 
rights of vifitation over them. 
This order was to admit none but men of rank; and 
the royal council of Portugal ufed to make a drift exami¬ 
nation of every candidate, requiring that the father and 
the grandfather on the father and mother's lide mould be 
of a noble lineage. It has been lately revived ; but, from 
the troubles which have defolated that country fince the 
French attempted to enflave it, we do not expeft to hear 
any thing concerning its actual fituation, and the number 
of its exil'dng members. The high elteetn in which it lias 
been held for many centuries has induced us,-by the ex¬ 
ample of others who have written before us upon knight¬ 
hood, to colleft as many particulars as we could concern¬ 
ing it. The badge is a crofs flory vert, fuch as the 
knights of Alcantara wear; but, before their union to Ca¬ 
latrava, they ufed two birds added -at the foot of the 
crofs, in allufion to the name of the order, Avis, which in 
Latin fignifies a bird. Between each angle of the crofs, 
there is a fmail fleur-de-lis gold ; and the badge is worn 
pendent to a green ribbon round the neck. The fame is 
embroidered on the left (boulder of the robe of ltate, which 
is of white fatin. See Plate I. 
XXV. The Order of St. James of the Sword. 
When the hiltorian, looking back upon ancient records, 
finds them fo obfcured by the duft of the archives in 
which they have been kept, that clouds of doubt arife 
between his eyes and the objefts of his fearch, lie. lays 
clown his pen in defpair, confcious that there is no way of 
•introducing, in the midlt of that darknefs, the comfort¬ 
ing lamp of truth and certainty. However, although the 
origin of the order now under our confideration is in¬ 
volved in great difficulties, we fliall Hate what we have 
been able to colleft, following HedfaHly the lealt glimmer¬ 
ing of light which is likely to lead us to fubflantial evi¬ 
dence. Some authors are of opinion that this order was 
inHituted in 837, by Ramiro king of Leon, in memory 
of a victory he had gained over Abderam king of Cor¬ 
dova. But here they feem to confound this ailociation 
with the order of St. James in Gallicia. Some attribute 
its origin to Ferdinand I. king'of CaHile; and theSpanilh 
writers to Alpbonfo IX. who reigned in CaHile from 1158 
to 1224. Others give a very different account. They 
tell 11s that fome monks of St. Eloy in Gallicia, in order 
to accommodate the travellers and numerous pilgrims who 
from all parts of the ChriHian world retorted to the Jhrine 
of St. James in CompoHelia, had erefted fome Xenodoc/iia, 
or hofpitals, for that purpofe; and that thirteen gentle¬ 
men, (truck with the zeal of the monks and the real good 
refulting from their effablifhmerits, united themfelves to 
thofe pious men, and alfo built an hofpital. The fame 
fpirit which had given rife to the orders in the levant, was 
.afting upon the lame principle in the weH; and the cru¬ 
elty of the Moors was counterafted in Spain by that fame 
religious humanity which healed the wounds inflicted by 
the Saracens of Pnleffine. The union of thofe charitable 
men fubfifled until the reign of Denys the Liberal, king 
of Portugal, who in 1288 (Afltmole fays 1310) obtained 
a bull from pope Nicholas IV. for their reparation. 
This order began then to Hand by itfelf; and king John 
II. folicited pope Alexander IV. to relieve them of their 
vows of celibacy; and from that time they only promifed 
conjugal chaflity and obedience. The king of Portugal 
Vo 1.. XI. No. 756. 
797 
was by right of the crown grand maflev of the order. 
The badge, fays Afhmole and before him Segar, conlifls 
in k fvvord gules, like that of St. James in Gallicia, with 
this little difference, that the Portuguefe draw round a 
1 'mall twill of gold. Edmondfon, in his defeription of 
the badge, is egregioufly miflaken, as he calls it a crofs 
gold enamelled crimfon, taking the guard and pommel of 
the lword fora crofs. See Plate I. This badge was worn 
at the neck, pendent from a green ribbon. 
XXVI. The Order of St. James of the Sword, or 
Sanctjago de laEspada, in Gallicia. The origin of 
this religious and military fociety leems to have been con¬ 
founded with that of the preceding order. It cannot be de¬ 
nied that the inllitutions of mofl of thofe ancient orders are 
connected with fome legendary anecdotes. We read that 
in the year 826 or 837, Don Ramiro king of Leon, being 
on the point of giving battle to the Moors, who infefled 
the greatefl part of Spain, law before him St. James the 
Apottle, mounted on a white horfe, bearing a banner with 
a red crofs; and that, replete with ardour and confidence 
at the miraculous light, he gained a complete victory. 
We have feveral other reports of the favours which the 
Spaniards pretend to have received at die hands of their 
patron; and thefe have been naturally the caufe of the 
great credit which the apollle has obtained in the penin- 
fula, However it is not to be denied that this order can 
boall of great antiquity, as it certainly exifled in the year 
1030. At this time a privilege was granted to the nuns 
of St. Efprit in Salamanca, in the inflrumgnt of w hich an 
order of knights or comendadores, then exifling in great 
repute, is recorded. 
Subjeft to corruption and decay, as well as the works 
of nature, the inflitutiojis of men feldom continue far 
a long lapfe of years in their original purity and flrength. 
This was the cafe with the order of St. Jago. The 
knights, abandoned to all forts of vices, had forgotten the 
object of their affociation, and rendered themfelves un¬ 
worthy of the name they bore. But again, as it happens 
in natural economy, they rofe from their corruption 
brighter than ever ; for in the year 1170 they abjured their 
former lives, and begged to be placed under the rule of 
St. Augufline. The order then received inflitutes and 
laws ; and this confirmation of it has been miflaken by 
feveral authors for an original creation. 
The order was compofed of the grand mafler and thir¬ 
teen knights, and they formed a council or chapter invell- 
ed with authority to choofe or remove any knight at their 
diferetion. The chapter was generally held upon the 
feafl of All Saints, the ifl of November ; and the purpofe 
of it was to confult and advife for the bettering the 
ellates of the order, and to examine the individuals who 
compofeit; to fell or buy lands, toallow alms to the neigh¬ 
bouring poor, and other afts appertaining to the afl'oeia- 
tion. Their revenues were immenfe ; but it is reported, 
much to their honour, that they never allowed to them¬ 
felves but a fpecial portion of it, the relt being conftantly 
employed in pious devifes. 
The'order having been, undoubtedly, inHituted for the 
purpofe of oppofing the Moors, the enlign was like that 
of the order above mentioned, a fword gules, the hilt 
and pommel croffeleted and falhioned in the ancient man¬ 
ner, which gave to the whole the appearance; of a crofs. 
The order was called in Spanilh, La Order de Santiago de 
la EJ'pada ; and in Latin, Ordo MilitarisSanBi Jacobi Enjigeri. 
Their motto, which was given by Ximenes archbilhop of 
Toledo, was compofed of the following words, appro¬ 
priate to the original intention of the founders : Enjis ru~ 
bet /anguine Arabum-, “ Our fword reddens with the blood 
of the Moors.” In later times, an efcallop-ihell was ad¬ 
ded to the fword, and placed under the hilt. It is well 
known, that the efcallop-ihell is a fymbolical attribute of 
St. James ; as ancient pilgrims who ufed to repair to the 
flirine of the apoflle in CompoHelia, or to the rock of St. 
Michael, or to the Holy Land, ufed to wear that fort of 
fhell on their chaperons and hats, as a token and proof 
that they had croffed the fea to perform the pilgrimage. 
9 R Even: 
