Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/440

Rh under the reign of King Dionysius, but the statutes remained the same in both countries. Afterwards, the Order shared the fate of those of Christ and Aviz, it came under the administration of James II., and finally under the perpetual Grand Mastership of the Crown. In 1789, it was secularized by Queen Mary, who divided it into three classes: six Knights Grand Cross, one hundred and fifty Commanders, and an unlimited number of Knights.

The Order had its head-quarters at Palmella, and possessed forty-seven villages and boroughs, one hundred and _ fifty prebends, and four cloisters and convents in Santos, which enjoyed the same rights as did the cloister of Barcelona. The decoration (Plate 62, Tab. II. No. 7) is worn by the Knights Grand Cross across the right shoulder towards the left hip, by the Commanders round the neck, and by the Knights at the button-hole.

The first two classes wear, besides, the star (No. 6) on the left breast.

THE ORDER OF CHRIST.

The Order of the Templars having been abolished in France by Philip le Bel, its property confiscated, and the members persecuted and expelled with the sanction and authority of Pope Clemens V; it was revived in Portugal, where it flourished under the name of the ' Knighthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.' The extreme persecutions which the Templars were subjected to in France, apparently for the mere sake of seizing hold of their property, under the pretext of their conspiring against the state, roused universal sympathy with the sufferers, while the Portuguese government needing, in addition, their support and valour, as a bulwark against the Spanish Moors at Algravia, King