Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/189

Rh enamelled elephant with golden tusks, a blue cloth covering, a battlemented tower upon his back, and a negro upon his neck with a spear in his hand. This decoration is worn suspended by a bright blue watered broad ribbon across the left shoulder towards the right hip. On festival days, it is suspended by a golden chain (No. 3) consisting of towers and elephants with blue coverings, upon which is seen the Golden letter D (Dania). The Knights wear, besides, upon the left breast a star, in the centre of which is a small red shield, charged with a cross formed of brilliants and surrounded by a silver laurel wreath (Tab. I. No. 1). The costume of the Knights, on festival days of the Order, consists of a jacket and short breeches of white satin; of a mantle of crimson velvet with a long train, lined with white fur; a collar in the form of a hood; and a black velvet hat with red and white feathers. The King wears, on such occasions, a mantle lined with ermine, and upon the hat a black heron plume and white feathers.

The motto of the Order is: 'Magnanimi Pretium' (Reward of the high minded or magnanimous).

The special festival of the Order which used to be held on Whit-Tuesday, has, since 1808, been transferred to the 1st January.

THE ORDER OF THE DANNEBORG.

A miracle, according to popular belief, was the cause of the foundation of this Order. The tradition relates, that the Knights of the Sword who were introduced into Livonia by Albert III. Bishop of Riga, were, in 1219, so hardly pressed by the heathen Esthonians whom they had subjected, as to induce them to seek assistance at the hands of the King of Denmark, Waldemar II. The latter came, but in the battle which he gave to the combined hordes of Esthonians and Russians, the ranks of his own troops were sadly thinned and