Part 12

_Sweden._--The _Order of the Seraphim_ (the "Blue Ribbon"). Tradition attributes the foundation of this most illustrious order of knighthood to Magnus I. in 1280, more certainty attaches to the fact that the order was in existence in 1336. In its modern form the order dates from its reconstitution in 1748 by Frederick I., modified by statutes of 1798 and 1814. Exclusive of the sovereign and the princes of the blood, the order is limited to 23 Swedish and 8 foreign members. The native members must be already members of the _Order of the Sword_ or the _Pole Star_. There is a prelate of the order which is administered by a chapter; the chapel of the knights is in the Riddar Holmskyrka at Stockholm. The badge and ribbon of the grand cross is illustrated on Plate V. fig. 6. The collar is formed of alternate gold seraphim and blue enamelled patriarchal crosses. The motto is _Iesus Hominum Salvator_. The _Order of the Sword_ (the "Yellow Ribbon"), the principal Swedish military order, was founded, it is said, by Gustavus I. Vasa in 1522, and was re-established by Frederick I., with the _Seraphim_ and the _Pole Star_ in 1748; modifications have been made in 1798, 1814 and 1889. There are five classes, with subdivisions. The badge is a white cross, in the angles gold crowns, the points of the cross joined by gold swords entwined with gold and blue belts, in the blue centre an upright sword with the three crowns in gold, the whole surmounted by the royal crown. The ribbon is yellow with blue edging. The _Order of the Pole Star_ (_Polar Star_, _North Star_, the "Black Ribbon"), founded in 1748 for civil merit, has since 1844 three classes. The white cross bears a five-pointed silver star on a blue medallion. The ribbon is black. The _Order of Vasa_ (the "Green Ribbon"), founded by Gustavus III. in 1772 as an order of merit for services rendered to the national industries and manufactures, has three classes, with subdivisions. The white cross badge bears on a blue centre the charge of the house of Vasa, a gold sheaf shaped like a vase with two handles. The ribbon is green. The _Order of Charles XIII._, founded in 1811, is granted to Freemasons of high degree. It is thus quite unique.

_Turkey._--The _Nischan-i-Imtiaz_, or _Order of Privilege_, was founded by Abdul Hamid II. in 1879 as a general order of merit in one class; the _Nischan-el-Iftikhar_, or _Order of Glory_, also one class, founded 1831 by Mahmoud II.; the _Nischan-i-Mejidi_, the _Mejidieh_, was founded as a civil and military order of merit in 1851 by Abdul Medjid. There are five classes; the badge is a silver sun of seven clustered rays, with crescent and star between each cluster; on a gold centre is the sultan's name in black Turkish lettering, surrounded by a red fillet inscribed with the words _Zeal_, _Devotion_, _Loyalty_; it is suspended from a red crescent and star; the ribbon is red with green borders. The khedive of Egypt has authority, delegated by the sultan, to grant this order. The _Nischan-i-Osmanie_, the _Osmanieh_, for civil and military merit, was founded by Abdul Aziz in 1862; it has four classes. The badge is a gold sun with seven gold-bordered green rays; the red centre bears the crescent, and it is also suspended from a gold crescent and star; the ribbon is green bordered with red. The _Nischan-i-Schefakat of Compassion or Benevolence_, was instituted for ladies, in three classes, in 1878 by the sultan in honour of the work done for the non-combatant victims of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 in connexion with the Turkish Compassionate Fund started by the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts. She was one of the first to receive the order. There are also the family order, for Turkish princes, the _Hanédani-Ali-Osman_, founded in 1893, and the _Ertogroul_, in 1903.

_Non-European Orders._--Of the various states of Central and South America, Nicaragua has the _American Order of San Juan_ or _Grey Town_, founded in 1857, in three classes; and Venezuela that of the _Bust of Bolivar_, 1854, five classes; the ribbon is yellow, blue and red. Mexico has abolished its former orders, the _Mexican Eagle_, 1865, and _Our Lady of Guadalupe_, 1853; as has Brazil those of the _Southern Cross_, 1822, _Dom Pedro I._, 1826, _the Rose_, 1829, and the Brazilian branches of the Portuguese orders of _Christ_, _St Benedict of Aviz_ and _St James_. The republican _Order of Columbus_, founded in 1890, was abolished in 1891.

_China._--There are no orders for natives, and such distinctions as are conferred by the different coloured buttons of the mandarins, the grades indicated by the number of peacocks' feathers, the gift of the yellow jacket and the like, are rather insignia of rank or personal marks of honour than orders, whether of knighthood or merit, in the European sense. For foreigners, however, the emperor in 1882 established the sole order, that of the _Imperial Double Dragon_, in five classes, the first three of which are further divided into three grades each, making eleven grades in all. The recipients eligible for the various classes are graded, from the first grade of the first class for reigning sovereigns down to the fifth class for merchants and manufacturers. The insignia of the order are unique in shape and decoration. Of the three grades of the first class the badge is a rectangular gold and yellow enamel plaque, decorated with two upright blue dragons, with details in green and white, between the heads for the first grade a pearl, for the second a ruby, for the third a coral, set in green, white and gold circles. The size of the plaque varies for the different classes. The badges of the other four classes are round plaques, the first three with indented edges, the last plain; in the second class the dragons are in silver on a yellow and gold ground, the jewel is a cut coral; the grades differ in the colour, shape, &c., of the borders and indentations; in the third class the dragons are gold, the ground green, the jewel a sapphire; in the fourth the silver dragons are on a blue ground, the jewel a lapis lazuli; in the fifth green dragons on a silver ground, the jewel a pearl. The ribbons, decorated with embroidered dragons, differ for the various grades and classes.

_Japan._--The Japanese orders have all been instituted by the emperor Mutsu Hito. In design and workmanship the insignia of the orders are beautiful examples of the art of the native enamellers. The _Order of the Chrysanthemum_ (_Kikkwa Daijasho_), founded in 1877, has only one class. It is but rarely conferred on others than members of the royal house or foreign rulers or princes. The badge of the order may be described as follows: From a centre of red enamel representing the sun issue 32 white gold-bordered rays in four sharply projecting groups, between the angles of which are four yellow conventional chrysanthemum flowers with green leaves forming a circle on which the rays rest; the whole is suspended from a larger yellow chrysanthemum. The ribbon is deep red bordered with purple. The collar, which may be granted with the order or later, is composed of four members repeated, two gold chrysanthemums, one with green leaves, the other surrounded by a wreath of palm, and two elaborate arabesque designs. The _Order of the Paulownia Sun_ (_Tokwa Daijasho_), founded in 1888, in one class, may be in a sense regarded as the highest class of the _Rising Sun_ (_Kiokujitsasho_) founded in eight classes, in 1875. The badge of both orders is essentially the same, viz. the red sun with white and gold rays; in the former the lilac flowers of the Paulownia tree, the flower of the Tycoon's arms, take a prominent part. The ribbon of the first order is deep red with white edging, of the second scarlet with white central stripe. The last two classes of the _Rising Sun_ wear a decoration formed of the Paulownia flower and leaves. The _Order of the Mirror_ or _Happy Sacred Treasure_ (_Zaihosho_) was founded in 1888, with eight classes. The cross of white and gold clustered rays bears in a blue centre a silver star-shaped mirror. The ribbon is pale blue with orange stripes. There is also an order for ladies, that of the _Crown_, founded in five classes in 1888. The military order of Japan is the _Order of the Golden Kite_, founded in 1890, in seven classes. The badge has an elaborate design; it consists of a star of purple, red, yellow, gold and silver rays, on which are displayed old Japanese weapons, banners and shields in various coloured enamels, the whole surmounted by a golden kite with outstretched wings. The ribbon is green with white stripes.

_Persia._--The _Order of the Sun and Lion_, founded by Fath 'Ali Shah in 1808, has five classes. There is also the _Nischan-i-Aftab_, for ladies, founded in 1873.

_Siam._--The _Sacred Order_, or the _Nine Precious Stones_, was founded in 1869, in one class only, for the Buddhist princes of the royal house. The _Order of the White Elephant_, founded in 1861, is in five classes. This is the principal general order. The badge is a striking example of Oriental design adapted to a European conventional form. The circular plaque is formed of a triple circle of lotus leaves in gold, red and green, within a blue circlet with pearls a richly caparisoned white elephant on a gold ground, the whole surmounted by the jewelled gold pagoda crown of Siam; the collar is formed of alternate white elephants, red, blue and white royal monograms and gold pagoda crowns. The ribbon is red with green borders and small blue and white stripes. Other orders are the _Siamese Crown_ (_Mongkut Siam_), five classes, founded 1869; the family _Order of Chulah-Chon-Clao_, three classes, 1873; and the _Maha Charkrkri_, 1884, only for princes and princesses of the reigning family. (C. We.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Feudal England_, pp. 225 sqq.

[2] Du Cange, _Gloss._, _s.v._ "Miles."

[3] _History of England_, iii. 12.

[4] Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, i. 156.

[5] _Ibid._ i. 156, 366; Turner, iii. 125-129.

[6] Ingram's edition, p. 290.

[7] _Comparative Politics_, p. 74.

[8] Baluze, _Capitularia Regum Francorum_, ii. 794, 1069.

[9] Du Cange, _Gloss._, _s.v._ "Arma."

[10] Freeman, _Comparative Politics_, p. 73.

[11] Hallam, _Middle Ages_, iii. 392.

[12] Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ ii. 278; also compare Grosse, _Military Antiquities_, i. 65 seq.

[13] There has been a general tendency to ignore the extent to which the armies of Edward III. were raised by compulsory levies even after the system of raising troops by free contract had begun. Luce (ch. vi.) points out how much England relied at this time on what would now be called conscription: and his remarks are entirely borne out by the Norwich documents published by Mr W. Hudson (Norf, and Norwich Archaeological Soc. xiv. 263 sqq.), by a Lynn corporation document of 18th Edw. III. (Hist. MSS. Commission Report XI. Appendix pt. iii. p. 189), and by Smyth's _Lives of the Berkeleys_, i. 312, 319, 320.

[14] J. B. de Lacurne de Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires sur l'Ancienne Chevalerie_, i. 363, 364 (ed. 1781).

[15] Du Cange, _Dissertation sur Joinville_, xxi.; Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires_, i. 272; G. F. Beltz, _Memorials of the Order of the Garter_ (1841,) p. xxvii.

[16] Du Cange, _Dissertation_, xxi., and _Lancelot du Lac_, among other romances.

[17] Anstis, _Register of the Order of the Garter_, i. 63.

[18] Grose, _Military Antiq._ i. 207 seq.; Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ ii. 276 seq., and iii. 278 seq.

[19] Grose's _Military Antiquities_, ii. 256.

[20] Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires_, i. 36; Froissart, bk. iii. ch. 9.

[21] Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires_, pt. i. and Mills, _History of Chivalry_, vol. i. ch. 2.

[22] See the long sermon in the romance of _Petit Jehan de Saintré_, pt. i. ch. v., and compare the theory there set forth with the actual behaviour of the chief personages. Even Gautier, while he contends that chivalry did much to refine morality, is compelled to admit the prevailing immorality to which medieval romances testify, and the extraordinary free behaviour of the unmarried ladies. No doubt these romances, taken alone, might give as unfair an idea as modern French novels give of Parisian morals, but we have abundant other evidence for placing the moral standard of the age of chivalry definitely below that of educated society in the present day.

[23] Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires_, i. 11 seq.: "C'est peut-être à cette cérémonie et non à celles de la chevalerie qu'on doit rapporter ce qui se lit dans nos historiens de la première et de la seconde race au sujet des premières armes que les Rois et les Princes remettoient avec solemnité au ieunes Princes leurs enfans."

[24] There are several obscure points as to the relation of the longer and shorter ceremonies, as well as the origin and original relation of their several parts. There is nothing to show whence came "dubbing" or the "accolade." It seems certain that the word "dub" means to strike, and the usage is as old as the knighting of Henry by William the Conqueror (_supra_, pp. 851, 852). So, too, in the Empire a dubbed knight is "ritter geschlagen." The "accolade" may etymologically refer to the embrace, accompanied by a blow with the hand, characteristic of the longer form of knighting. The derivation of "adouber," corresponding to "dub," from "adoptare," which is given by Du Cange, and would connect the ceremony with "adoptio per arma," is certainly inaccurate. The investiture with arms, which formed a part of the longer form of knighting, and which we have seen to rest on very ancient usage, may originally have had a distinct meaning. We have observed that Lanfranc invested Henry I. with arms, while William "dubbed him to rider." If there was a difference in the meaning of the two ceremonies, the difficulty as to the knighting of Earl Harold (_supra_, p. 852) is at least partly removed.

[25] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, 639.

[26] Daniel, _Histoire de la Milice Françoise_, i. 99-104; Byshe's Upton, _De Studio Militari_, pp. 21-24; Dugdale, _Warwickshire_, ii. 708-710; Segar, Honor _Civil and Military_, pp. 69 seq. and Nicolas, _Orders of Knighthood_, vol. ii. (_Order of the Bath_) pp. 19 seq.... It is given as "the order and manner of creating Knights of the Bath in time of peace according to the custom of England," and consequently dates from a period when the full ceremony of creating knights bachelors generally had gone out of fashion. But as Ashmole, speaking of Knights of the Bath, says, "if the ceremonies and circumstances of their creation be well considered, it will appear that this king [Henry IV.] did not institute but rather restore the ancient manner of making knights, and consequently that the Knights of the Bath are in truth no other than knights bachelors, that is to say, such as are created with those ceremonies wherewith knights bachelors were formerly created." (Ashmole, _Order of the Garter_, p. 15). See also Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 678, and the _Archæological Journal_, v. 258 seq.

[27] As may be gathered from Selden, Favyn, La Colombiers, Menestrier and Sainte Palaye, there were several differences of detail in the ceremony at different times and in different places. But in the main it was everywhere the same both in its military and its ecclesiastical elements. In the _Pontificale Romanum_, the old _Ordo Romanus_ and the manual or Common Prayer Book in use in England before the Reformation forms for the blessing or consecration of new knights are included, and of these the first and the last are quoted by Selden.

[28] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 678; Ashmole, _Order of the Garter_, p. 15; Favyn, _Théâtre d'Honneur_, ii. 1035.

[29] "If we sum up the principal ensigns of knighthood, ancient and modern, we shall find they have been or are a horse, gold ring, shield and lance, a belt and sword, gilt spurs and a gold chain or collar."--Ashmole, _Order of the Garter_, pp. 12, 13.

[30] On the banner see Grose, _Military Antiquities_, ii. 257; and Nicolas, _British Orders of Knighthood_, vol. i. p. xxxvii.

[31] _Titles of Honor_, pp. 356 and 608. See also Hallam, _Middle Ages_, iii. 126 seq. and Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ iii. 440 seq.

[32] Riddell's _Law and Practice in Scottish Peerages_, p. 578; also Nisbet's _System of Heraldry_, ii. 49 and Selden's _Titles of Honor_, p. 702.

[33] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, pp. 608 and 657.

[34] See "Project concerninge the conferinge of the title of vidom," wherein it is said that "the title of vidom (vicedominus) was an ancient title used in this kingdom of England both before and since the Norman Conquest" (_State Papers_, James I. Domestic Series, lxiii. 150 B, probable date April 1611).

[35] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, pp. 452 seq.

[36] _Ibid._ pp. 449 seq.

[37] Du Cange, _Dissertation_, ix.; Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 452; Daniel, _Milice Françoise_, i. 86 (Paris, 1721).

[38] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 656; Grose, _Military Antiquities_, ii. 206.

[39] Froissart, Bk. I. ch. 241 and Bk. II. ch. 53. The recipients were Sir John Chandos and Sir Thos. Trivet.

[40] _Commonwealth of England_ (ed. 1640), p. 48.

[41] _State Papers_, Domestic Series, James the First, lxvii. 119.

[42] "Thursday, June 24th: His Majesty was pleased to confer the honour of knights banneret on the following flag officers and commanders under the royal standard, who kneeling kissed hands on the occasion: Admirals Pye and Sprye; Captains Knight, Bickerton and Vernon," _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1773) xliii. 299. Sir Harris Nicolas remarks on these and the other cases (_British Orders of Knighthood_, vol. xliii.) and Sir William Fitzherbert published anonymously a pamphlet on the subject, _A Short Inquiry into the Nature of the Titles conferred at Portsmouth_, &c., which is very scarce, but is to be found under the name of "Fitzherbert" in the catalogue of the British Museum Library.

[43] "Sir Henry Ferrers, Baronet, was indicted by the name of Sir Henry Ferrers, Knight, for the murther of one Stone whom one Nightingale feloniously murthered, and that the said Sir Henry was present aiding and abetting, &c. Upon this indictment Sir Henry Ferrers being arraigned said he never was knighted, which being confessed, the indictment was held not to be sufficient, wherefore he was indicted de novo by the name of Sir Henry Ferrers, Baronet." Brydall, _Jus Imaginis apud Anglos, or the Law of England relating to the Nobility and Gentry_ (London, 1675), p. 20. Cf. _Patent Rolls_, 10 Jac. I., pt. x. No. 18; Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 687.

[44] Louis XIV. introduced the practice of dividing the members of military orders into several degrees when he established the order of St Louis in 1693.

[45] G. F. Beltz, _Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter_ (1841), p. 385.

[46] Heylyn, _Cosmographie and History of the Whole World_, bk. i. p. 286.

[47] Beltz, _Memorials_, p. xlvi.

[48] _Orders of Knighthood_, vol. i. p. lxxxiii.

[49] Mémoires, i. 67, i. 22; _History of Chivalry_; Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, vii. 200.

[50] _Orders of Knighthood_, vol. i. p. xi.

[51] Selden, _Titles of Honor_, p. 638.

[52] Harleian MS. 6063; Hargrave MS. 325.

[53] _Patent Rolls_, 35th Hen. VIII., pt. xvi., No. 24; Burnet, _Hist. of Reformation_, i. 15.

[54] Spelman, "De milite dissertatio," _Posthumous Works_, p. 181.

[55] _London Gazette_, December 6, 1823, and May 15, 1855.

[56] On the Continent very elaborate ceremonies, partly heraldic and

## partly religious, were observed in the degradation of a knight, which

are described by Sainte Palaye, _Mémoires_, i. 316 seq., and after him by Mills, _History of Chivalry_, i. 60 seq. Cf. _Titles of Honor_, p. 653.

[57] Dallaway's _Heraldry_, p. 303.

[58] Even in 13th century England more than half the population were serfs, and as such had no claim to the privileges of Magna Carta; disputes between a serf and his lord were decided in the latter's court, although the king's courts attempted to protect the serf's life and limb and necessary implements of work. By French feudal law, the villein had no appeal from his lord save to God (Pierre de Fontaines, _Conseil_, ch. xxi. art. 8); and, though common sense and natural good feeling set bounds in most cases to the tyranny of the nobles, yet there was scarcely any injustice too gross to be possible. "How mad are they who exult when sons are born to their lords!" wrote Cardinal Jacques de Vitry early in the 13th century (_Exempla_, p. 64, Folk Lore Soc. 1890).

[59] Sainte Palaye, ii. 90.

[60] Medley, _English Constitutional History_ (2nd ed., pp. 291, 466), suggests that Edward might have deliberately calculated this degradation of the older feudal ideal.

[61] Being made to "ride the barriers" was the penalty for anybody who attempted to take part in a tournament without the qualification of name and arms. Guillim (_Display of Heraldry_, p. 66) and Nisbet (_System of Heraldry_, ii. 147) speak of this subject as concerning England and Scotland. See also Ashmole's _Order of the Garter_, p. 284. But in England knighthood has always been conferred to a great extent independently of these considerations. At almost every period there have been men of obscure and illegitimate birth who have been knighted. Ashmole cites authorities for the contention that knighthood ennobles, insomuch that whosoever is a knight it necessarily follows that he is also a gentleman; "for, when a king gives the dignity to an ignoble person whose merit he would thereby recompense, he is understood to have conferred whatsoever is requisite for the completing of that which he bestows." By the common law, if a villein were made a knight he was thereby enfranchised and accounted a gentleman, and if a person under age and in wardship were knighted both his minority and wardship terminated. (_Order of the Garter_, p. 43; Nicolas, _British Orders of Knighthood_, i. 5.)

[62] Gautier, pp. 21, 249.

[63] Du Cange, _s.v. miles_ (ed. Didot, t. iv. p. 402); Sacchetti, _Novella_, cliii. All the medieval _orders_ of knighthood, however, insisted in their statutes on the noble birth of the candidate.

[64] Lecoy de la Marche (_Chaire française au moyen âge_, 2nd ed., p. 387) gives many instances to prove that "al chevalerie, au xiii^e siècle, est déjà sur son déclin." But already about 1160 Peter of Blois had written, "The so-called order of knighthood is nowadays mere disorder" (_ordo militum nunc est, ordinem non tenere_. Ep. xciv.: the whole letter should be read); and, half a century earlier still, Guibert of Nogent gives an equally unflattering picture of contemporary chivalry in his _De vita sua_ (Migne, _Pat. Lat._, tom. clvi.).

[65] It has been taken as the Latin word meaning "he bears" or as representing the initials of the legend _Fortitudo Ejus Rhodum Tenuit_, with an allusion to a defence of the island of Rhodes by an ancient count of Savoy.