800 
KNIGH 
ball twilled and wreathed round white and black ; this 
badge is worn fufpended to a watered-ribbon ; the fame 
crofs is embroidered on the left breafl of the upper gar¬ 
ment. See Plate II. 
XXXII. The Order of St. Gereon, or Gf.rion. The 
patron of this order is reported to have fuffered martyr¬ 
dom at Cologne with three hundred of his companions ; 
on account of this, the emperor Frederic BarbarofTa, or, 
as others will have it, Frederic II. named him patron of 
the order he inftituted on or about the year 1228. They 
accepted and followed (he rule of St. Auguliine ; and their 
inftitutes bore, that no one but a German fhould be ad¬ 
mitted as a knight of the order; an exclufion fimilar to, 
and in imitation of, the Teutonic order before mentioned. 
The knights wore on the right breafl; of their upper gar¬ 
ment, which was white, the badge of the order, which 
confided of a patriarchal or double crofs gules on a mount 
vert. See Plate II. 
XXXIII. The Order of the Sword, or of Christ, 
or of Silence. Guy of Luiignan, king of Jerufalem, in 
right of his wife Sybilla, filler to Baldwin the Leper, Ihortly 
after his fettlement in the illand of Cyprus, which he had 
bought of our brave king Richard I. for the fum of one 
hundred thoufand crowns.of gold, inflituted, according 
to Favin and fome others, the Older of the'Sword or of 
Silence, in order to commemorate his eftablifhirig there 
15,000 people whom he had brought thither from Palef- 
tine, then fallen in the hands of the Saracens. We mull 
confefs that authors are at great variance upon the name 
of the founder, as well as concerning the date of creation 
of this order'; hut, however, they leave us a fmall glim¬ 
mering of comfort in hiltorical refearch, by agreeing in this 
point, that the founder was indifputably one of the illuf- 
trious houfe of Luiignan. The name of this family, ori¬ 
ginally fettled, and holding their ellates down to our time, 
in one of the fouthern countries of France, excites in our 
minds ideas fo romantic, fo chivalrefque, that it is always 
with pleafure, or with concern, that we find it mentioned 
in hiftorians and romancers, in profe or poetic lore. The 
caftle of that name was conligned, for ages pad, in the 
pages of romance writers; and, indeed, through an unin¬ 
terrupted tradition on the very fpot, is faid to have been 
the refidence of the Fay Mellufina, or, as the French call 
lier, la Merlujine, (a corruption of Dame or Mother Lufignan,) 
who ufed to appear on the ivy-clad battlements of the 
turrets, accompanied with a wivern, a fabulous animal, 
fomething refembling a dragon, and whole exiftence has 
no other reality than what heralds have chofen to allow. 
Belides, moll of our readers know that the beautiful tra¬ 
gedy of Voltaire, called “ Zaire,” is founded upon a tra¬ 
ditional anecdote concerning this noble family. 
The enfigji was a collar, interwoven in a manner re¬ 
fembling what is called the true-lover’s knot, garniflied 
with precious Hones and intermixed with the letters R 
and S at equal diftance, alluding to the initials of the 
motto of the order, Regni Securitas, in commemoration of 
the afliftance which the ifland had received from this equef- 
trian eftablifhrnent. Pendent to the collar was a medal 
of gold, enamelled with a fword, the blade entwined with 
the initial of Securitas, the letterS, and the whole encom- 
paffed with the motto as above. They ufed al'fo at times 
Ibrne other epigraphs ; as Pro Jide Jcrvanda ; Pro iutegri- 
tate tucnda. 
The day appointed for holding the chapter, and for 
performing the folemn ceremonies of inveftiture, was Af- 
cenfion-day ; as it was on that day that the founder be¬ 
llowed the honour of knighthood upon his brother Am- 
aury, conflable of Jerufalem and Cyprus, and upon three 
hundred barons whom he had invited to and eftablifbed 
in his new kingdom. This fplendid inftallation was per¬ 
formed in the church of St. Sophia, the cathedral of Ni- 
cofia in Cyprus. There were eight kings of Cyprus of 
the illuftrious houfe of Lufignan, and grand rnafters of 
the order; but, when the ifland fell into the power of 
the Turks, this noble inftitution ceafed. 
r H O O D. 
XXXIV. The Order of the Holy Ghost in Saxia, 
at Rome. It appears that the origin of this affociation 
was at Montpellier in France, from whence it was united 
to a fimilar order, then inftituted at Rome by pope Inno¬ 
cent III. in the year 1198 or 1201. The chief feat was 
the fumptuous Hofpital of the Holy Ghoft, founded by 
the fame pope near the church of St. Maria in Saxia, on 
the banks of the Tyber.. 
This fraternity profefied chaftity, poverty, and obedi¬ 
ence, and aifo the fervice of the poor; and, what is woYth 
remarking, they received in their hofpital thofe unfortu¬ 
nate children whom poverty or ftiame, overcoming the 
feelings of mothers, had expofed. They were taken care 
of, nurfed kindly, and liberally educated. Befides, thefe 
brothers, applying themfeives to furgery and phyfic, were 
in the habit of attending the lick, and curing all forts of 
infirmities. They received into their hofpital every ltran- 
ger for the fpace of three days, and entertained them dur¬ 
ing that time with uncommon hofpitality. The badge 
of the order was a patriarchal crofs, white, with twelve 
points, embroidered on their breafl and on the left fide of 
their black mantle. 
XXXV. The Order of Knights Sword-bearers, or 
of the Two Swords, in Livonia. It was called alfo the 
Order of Christ. The origin of this order is interefting. 
Jt is reported, that, in 1186, Mefnardus, a man, of devout 
habits, and warmed with a true zeal for propagating 
the faith of Chrift, went to Livonia for the direct purpofe 
of planting the crofs there, and preaching the gofpel of 
our Lord ; that he founded the bifhopric of Riga, and 
made great progrefsin his religious undertaking; but that 
he found great oppofition, till the year 1200, when, at the 
intimation, and with the help, of the Teutonic knights, 
he achieved the great work of converting the whole coun¬ 
try. The knights were bound to the Cillertian rule, and 
wore a white habit with a black hood, and a red fword. 
or rather two (Words, embroidered on the breafl. Hence 
the knights were llyled Sword-bearers, Enfiferi or Gladiferi 
Fratres. See Plate II. In 1203, when the order was con¬ 
firmed, they vowed, like the Templars, obedience and 
chaftity. 
In 1239 they were united to the Teutonic order, and 
remained under this new accommodation until Walter de 
Pletemberg the grand mailer, and the knights, feparated 
themfeives from the Teutonic knights ; and in 1561 Go- 
thard de Ketler, then grand mailer, furrendered all lands 
and eflates, charters, deeds, badge, See. with the keys of the 
city and caflle of Riga, to Sigilinund II. king of Poland, 
and received in return the dukedom of Courland for 
him and his heirs for ever. 
XXXVI. The Order of our Lady of the Rosary. 
Moll of the Spaniih orders owe their origin to the perf'e- 
cutions they experienced from the Moors, as we have had 
feveral occafions to remark before. Roderic archbifliop of 
Toledo, feeing the country fo oppreffed by them, called 
the nobles together, and laid before them the great necef- 
fity of their union for the defence of their property, and 
the extirpation of the Muflulmans. On that occafion, 
and to bind them together and to himfeif, he, in' the year 
1212, inftituted this order, one of the articles of which 
was, that each knight fliould repeat every day, and indeed 
whenever unemployed, the rofary of the Virgin Mary ; 
hence the peculiar denomination of this order. We do 
not find that it ever received the f'anftion of any pope; but, 
being confirmed by the archbifliop of Toledo, who is the 
primate of Spain, this approbation was moil likely thought 
fufiicient. St. Dominic was the inventor of the rofary. 
See Rosary. It was, therefore, natural for the knights to 
place themfeives under the rules and inftitutes of that faint. 
The badge confifted of a crofs patorice quarterly argent 
and fable, furmounted in the middle with a medal of gold, 
enamelled with the image of the blelled Virgin, fupporting 
the Infant in one hand and a rofary in the other. 
XXXVII. The Order of the Bear, or of St. Gall, 
in SwifTejrland. Frederic. of Swabia, king of Sicily, being 
elected 
