Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/443

192 neck, and the Knights have the cross (Tab. III. No. 12) suspended at the button-hole, though when in uniform they wear it now also round the neck.

Members are allowed to adorn the badge with precious stones.

THE ANCIENT AND MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE TOWER AND SWORD.

To solemnize his arrival at Brazil, the Prince Regent renewed, on the 3rd May, 1808, the Order of the Sword, which had been founded in 1459, by Alphonso V.

The same Order was thoroughly renovated and reformed on the 28th July, 1832, by the Duke of Braganza, who gave it the name of 'the Tower and Sword,' and thus classified it: the Grand Master into Grand Officers, Knights Grand Cross, Commanders, Officers and Knights. The number of the last four classes is unlimited.

The Sovereign or Regent is always Grand Master of the Order. The Grand Officers consist of the Great Commanders, Claveyro (treasurer), Great Ensign, and Great Chancellor. There are, besides, seven other Officers, viz., a King of Arms, (called Tower and Sword) who is always to be a Knight of the Order, two Heralds and four Pursuivants.

The claim to the Order is Merit in the most extended sense of the term, distinction in military career, in civil life, or in literature of any description, without regard to birth, religion or country.

The badge of the Order is a Medal (Tab. III. No. 11) containing in the blue middle of the obverse, a sword resting upon an oak wreath, with the legend: 'Valor, Lealdade e Merito' (Valour, Devotion and Merit). The reverse shows an open book, on one page of which are the Portuguese