Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/98

48 a whole century owing to the pending disputes about the inheritance, as also to the intervening Thirty Years' War, and it was at last rescued from oblivion by the Elector of the Palatinate, John William of the House of Neuburg, on the 29th September, 1708. Having inherited a part of the territory to which the Order previously belonged, he declared himself Grand Master of the revived institution, gave it a constitution and new statutes; and bestowed upon the first twelve Knights of the Grand Cross, who were Colonels in the army, the possession of small tracts of land. The Order consisted under the Elector, as Grand Master, of twelve Counts or Barons, and an unlimited number of Princes and noblemen who did not belong to any other order. The nomination was vested in the Chapter, who voted by majority; the candidates elected were obliged to pay 100 ducats entrance fee for the poor. The Knights wore a large red ribbon, and upon the breast a silver Cross within a gold embroidered star with the inscription: 'In Fidelitate constans' (Constant in loyalty). The two successors of John William still further enlarged the statutes; but the last and still prevailing ordinances are those promulgated by Maximilian Joseph IV. (first King of Bavaria) on the 18th May, 1808.

He declared the Order the first in the kingdom, and brought it into connection with that of Civil Merit, by decreeing that candidates must be members of six years' standing of the latter. The Order counts now only twelve Knights from the ranks of Counts and Barons, exclusive of the Sovereign, and the members whom the latter may, in addition, choose to nominate from among the Princes, both native and foreign. The Chapter is annually held either on the 29th September, the day of the renewal of the Order by the Elector, John William, or on the 2nd February (the festival of the Virgin Purification). The entrance fees are now 200 ducats in gold (about £100) for Princes, and 100 ducats