802 
KNIGHTHOOD, 
our happinefs than the Albigenfes ever were then to the 
ellablilhed religion. This order was then in fuch repute 
that feveral ladies, widows and virgins, joined it; and 
afterwards the combined afl'ociation was ftyled Fratres 
feu Sorores Militia St. Dominici ; and the rule was approved 
by pope Innocent VI. anno 1360. As to the badge, fome 
authors pretend that the crofs was furmounted in the cen¬ 
tre with the letters of the Labarum, that is, X P, the ini¬ 
tials of the Greek word XPiro?. 
XL. The Order of the Knights of the Mo¬ 
ther of God, was inftituted by Bartholomew, biihop of 
Vicenza, in the year 1233. At laft we have no longer to 
repeat, over and over again, the fame intention for the ori¬ 
gin of orders of knighthood : it is no more to fight the 
enemies of Chriftianity that they are created, but for the 
charitable purpofesof keeping in harmony all members of 
fociety, and gaining victories without fpilling blood. We 
are told that the Order of the Mother of God was efpeci- 
ally founded for the fupport of widows and orphans, and 
for accommodating differences between men and their 
•wives. This fecond part of the duty, we are afraid, was 
more troublefome than glorious for the knights, who 
would much more cheerfully have plucked laurels in 
the field of battle againll the Saracens or Moors, than have 
entered into the minutiae of domeftic affairs and conjugal 
interelis. The badge of this order was a crofs patee 
fomewhat longer than wide, furmounted with two liars 
gules. See Plat$ II. 
XLI. The Order of the Broom-flower in the 
Husk, in France, was inftituted by St. Louis, the ninth 
king of that name, in 1234, on the coronation of his 
queen Margaret, eldeft daughter of Raymond Berenger 
count of Provence. We are not informed why that plant 
was particularly felefted to give name to the order, as 
hiltorians are lilent about it. It mull be obferved, how¬ 
ever, that it is called Genet in French : whether this bore 
any allufion to the order of that name mentioned above, 
we cannot tell. The habit was a cloak of white damafk, 
with a violet-coloured hood ; the collar was compoled of 
broom-flower hulks enamelled proper, and intermixed 
with lozenges voided, or mafcles, each of them containing 
a fleur-de-lis or; and pendent thereunto, for the badge, a 
crofs flory gold. The motto, Exaltat humi/es. See Plate II. 
The number of the knights was not limited by any ar¬ 
ticle of the ftatutes, but left at the entire pleafure and 
will of the fovereign. The order did not furvive Charles V. 
king of France. Several authors differ upon its origin, and 
indeed fome are of opinion that it never exifted as a con- 
itituted order, but merely as a company of fons of no¬ 
blemen and elquires, affociating for fome good and lau¬ 
dable purpofe. 
XLII. The Order of St. John of Acon, or 
Acre. The date of the origin of this order it is not eafy 
to afcertain. The duties of the knights confifted in re¬ 
ceiving pilgrims, or providing accommodations and places 
of retirement for them ; and they were armed to perform 
thefe duties. They were ordered to wear a black habit, 
with a crofs patee white embroidered upon the breaft. 
When the city of Aeon was taken, they removed from 
Paldtine. They retired into Spain when the affairs of 
the Chriftians became hopelefs in the eaft, and flourifhed 
there under the reign of Alphonfo the Aftrologer, king of 
Caflile. Pope Alexander IV. approved the order under 
the compound title of St. Thomas and St. John of Acre. 
This king, by his laft will, bequeathed to the mailer and 
knights all his houfe and furnitu're, befides very large 
fums of money. After having diftinguifhed themfelves by 
their military valour and pious deeds, they were united 
to the Knights Templars, to whofe rules their ftatutes 
bore great fimilarity. The Order of St. Thomas is laid to 
have been inftituted by Richard I. after the fiirprifal of 
Acon; and that the knights were all Englilhmen. They wore 
a white habit, and a red crofs embroidered on it, and fur¬ 
mounted with an efcallop argent; and had for their pa¬ 
tron St. Thomas a Becket. The badge of the knights of 
St. John of Acon, was a crofs potent gules, furmounted 
in the centre with a medal gold, and on it the image of 
St. John and St. Thomas proper. 
XLIII. The Order of the Crescent was inftituted 
by Charles king of Naples and Sicily, who gave to the 
knights a collar of fleurs-de-lis and ftars intermixed, and 
pendent therefrom a crefcent, with th£ motto, Donee to- 
tum imp/eat orbem. Pope Clement IV. granted many privi¬ 
leges to the order ; but, after a certain lapfe of time, as 
it was apparently falling to decay, it was revived, in 1464, 
by Rene duke of Anjou, who was defeended from the il- 
lultrious houfe of that name. He choie St. Maurice, of 
the Thebaic legion, a knight as it is fuppofed, and a mar¬ 
tyr, for the patron-faint of the order, and held the firft: 
ceremonies of inveftiture in the cathedral-church of An¬ 
gers, dedicated to this faint. The fymbol which the 
knights wore on their mantle was a golden crefcent, and 
in red enamel upon it the word LOZ, in allufion or ac¬ 
cording to the motto, fignifying that they ought to look 
for the complement of their duties, as when the moon, from 
the form of the letter C in the firft of her phafes, com¬ 
pletes the figure of O when the is in her full. See Plate II. 
None could be admitted into this order, unlefs he had 
previoufly been prefent in battles, at fieges of cities, or 
ltormings of caftles and fortrefies. The habit of cere¬ 
mony confifted of a mantle of red or crimfon velvet, and a 
mantlet or fliort cloak of white, with lining and furcoat of 
the fame. The number of the knights confifted of thirty- 
fix only. 
XL 1 V. The Order of the Ship and ErcALLOp- 
Shell ; or, as it is fometimes called, the Order of the 
Ship and double Crescent. The Chriftians in Palef- 
tine had experienced feveral reveries of fortune, when 
Louis IX. king of France, called afterwards Saint Louis, 
leaving his kingdom, embarked at Aigues Mortes, crofted 
the Mediterranean, and haltened to the afliftance of the 
faithful againft the Saracens in the eaft. He was accom¬ 
panied by his three fons, Philip, John, and Peter; and, in 
commemoration of that hazardous naval expedition, 
founded the order, as it is reported by Favin, in 1269. 
Moll writers agree that it did not continue longer than 
the lives of the knights. The collar was compofed of 
gold efcallop-lhells intermixed with double crefcents, to 
which was pendent a (hip rigged argent, floating upon 
waves of the fame. The (hells alluded to the pilgrimage 
beyond the feas; others fay to the port of Aigues-Mortes, 
where thefe lliells are very common, and wherefrom the 
king embarked. The Ihip reprefented the voyage; and 
the crefcent pointed to its motive, which was to wage war 
againll the Turks. See Plate II. 
XLV. The Order of St. George, in Auftria and 
Carinthia, was inftituted by Rodolph count of Haplburg, 
the firft emperor of the houfe of Auftria, about the year 
1273 or 1290. Some authors are of opinion that Frederic 
III. was thg founder of it in 1470, in order to guard the 
frontiers of Germany, Hungary, Auftria, Stiria, and Ca¬ 
rinthia, againll the frequent inroads of the Turks. Cer¬ 
tain it is, however, that the emperor granted the knights 
the rich Benedifline abbey of Mileftead, in Carinthia, for 
their place of relidence. The badge was a plain crofs pur- 
pure, edged vert; and the order was held in fuch high 
and honourable repute, that the grand mailer was ad¬ 
vanced to the title and privileges of a prince of the em¬ 
pire. The knights vowed, in imitation of many others, 
conjugal chaltity and obedience. 
Several writers, who have employed their time in re- 
fearches for ancient orders of knighthood, and their pens 
in coniigning the hillory of them to pofterity, mention 
another order of St. George in Germany, erefted by the 
emperor Maximilian in 494, in which the knights, after 
they had ferv.ed the prince for one year, were allowed to 
enjoy the peculiar right, which palled to their heirs, of 
adorning the badge of the order, their Ihields, and hel¬ 
mets, with a crown; whence they are lometimes ftyled 
Crowned Knights . 
' Jofeph 
3 
