Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/553

 SARDINIA.

THE ORDER OF THE ANNUNCIATION.

Historians, though they seem to agree that this Order was founded by Count Amadeus VI. of Savoy, under the name of: 'the Order of the neck-chain or collar,' are yet at variance about the cause of its foundation; some attribute it to an act of gallantry, and others to a sentiment of piety. Possibly it owed its origin to both causes combined, since the spirit of that age usually blended together the two feelings of love and religion.

Count Amadeus ordered in his will the establishment of a cloister at Pièrre Castle in Bugey, where fifteen Carthusian Priors were to read mass daily in honour of the fifteen Joys of the Blessed Virgin, and for the welfare of fifteen Knights.

The Cloister was finished in 1392, and the fickle Amadeus VIII. first Duke of Savoy, who first exchanged the crown for the tiara, and then again resigned the chair of St. Peter to enjoy the pleasures of Rippaille (at the Geneva Lake), held in the latter place, 1410, the first Chapter of the Order, and proclaimed its first statutes.

The Order which was placed under the Grand Mastership of the Dukes of Savoy, was only accessible to the high and ancient nobility of unblemished repute in virtue and honour, nor was it allowed to to be worn with any other decoration.