Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/640

Rh ORDER OF SAINT GEORGE OF THE REUNION.

Joseph Bonaparte founded on the 24th February, 1808, an Order which he named ' the Order of the two Sicilies,' though he was then master of only one of the two States, but it was done no doubt to increase his adherents, and fortify himself upon the throne of Naples. The Order was divided into three classes, Dignitaries, Commanders, and Knights, and their respective numbers limited to fifty, one hundred, and six hundred. The Knights took, at their nomination, an oath to defend the throne and the state with their blood and property, and they received in return a pension derived from the revenues of the Orders which Joseph had abolished in Naples. His successor on the throne of Naples, Joachim Murat, retained the Order, in its integrity, with a few slight modifications in its statutes, and, in that state, it existed until the return of Ferdinand from Sicily in 1815. It was then generally believed that he would deal with the Order created by the French, in the same manner as they did with the Sicilian Orders, eight years previously; owing, however, to some political considerations, Ferdinand thought proper to retain and array it among the other Sicilian Orders, though he gave to it a new shape, form and character, as decreed in the new statutes which were promulgated on the 1st January, 1819. The Order then received its present name, in commemoration of the reunion of the two kingdoms, and in requital of military distinction and loyalty.

Besides the Grand Master (the King), the Great Constable (the Duke of Calabria), and the Great Marshal, the members are divided into six classes.

1. Knights of the Grand Cross (Plate 85. Tab. II. No. 7, and the star No. 6).