Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/184

82 Elephant commands as high a respect in public opinion as does the Golden Fleece, or even the Garter. The date of its origin cannot be ascertained with historical accuracy, since even the Danish historians themselves are not agreed on the point. Some would have it founded during the time of the first Crusade, others in the time of Kanut VI. (consequently at the end of the twelfth century), while others refer its creation to the second half of the fifteenth century, under Christian I. The Danish government in its official documents, assumes the date of the foundation to fall in the first half of the fifteenth century, while Christian I., it says, has only renewed the Order in 1458.

That the Order was originally of a religious character is evident, not only from the circumstance that it required the Papal consent (of Pius V. and Sixtus VI. in 1462 and 1464) but also from the name: 'Society and fraternity of the Holy Virgin Maria,' which the fifty Knights, the number as at first fixed, had borne. The surmise is further confirmed by the insignia of the Order, which consisted originally of the figure of the Virgin with the infant Jesus in her arms, as also by the collar of the mantle in the shape of a monk's hood, which the Knights still wear on festival days. It has, however, entirely lost its religious element since the alteration of its statutes by Christian V. on the Ist December, 1693. Since that time it ought only to count thirty Knights, exclusive of the Princes of the blood who are by birth entitled to the Order, though they cannot wear it before the completion of their twentieth year. All the other Knights, if Danes, must have professed the Evangelical religion, for at least thirty years, and be declared by the Board of Enquiry, previous to their nomination, worthy of the Cross of Danneborg. This last regulation is, however, no longer strictly enforced, nor is the number of the Knights now strictly limited to thirty.

The badge of the Order (Plate 24, Tab. I. No. 2) is a white