Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/104

50 i. e. a black collar, a sash of the same colour; narrow, short breeches with poppy-red garters and bows, and a short black mantle after the old Castilian fashion, plume and sword.

THE KNIGHTLY ORDER OF SAINT GEORGE.

The origin of the Order cannot be shown with historical accuracy. The statements of the Bavarian chroniclers, that the Order was brought over to Germany from the Holy Land, as early as the twelfth century by Welf I., Otto III. and IV. and Eckart II., are, at least, not sufficiently warranted by historical records. The same may be said of the alleged renewal of the Order by the Emperor Maximilian I., who is said to have founded an Order of St. George in 1494, previous to the campaign against the Turks. These questionable traditions are, however, closely connected with the strictly historical account of the second renewal, or rather first foundation of the Order by the Elector Charles Albert, afterwards the Emperor Charles VII., who received it as a pious legacy from his father, Max Emanuel. The latter had, during his campaigns against the Turks, solemnly resolved to renew it as a military badge of distinction; but this he was prevented by death from accomplishing. His intention was, however, carried out by his son, who founded on the 24th April, 1729, the knightly Order of St. George, imposing upon the members the duty of venerating that saint, and believing in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.

He gave statutes to the Institution, and richly endowed it with large priories, prebends, and afterwards with provostships; and Pope Benedict XIII. confirmed the Order, by a Bull, granting to it all the honours, privileges, and advantages which had been conceded by previous Popes to all the