Secular Orders of Knighthood

[DonaCatalina]

Holy Spirit (Spain) - Also known as the Order of the Dove, this order was founded by Juan I, c. 1390. It never functioned as a true order, but rather as an award or collar, according to Boulton. Its badge was a dove descending.
 
DATED FORM: TRANSLATION: DATE: LANGUAGE: SOURCE:
[There was on the said collar] una paloma blanca 'a white dove' c. 1390 Spanish Boulton

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Order of the Dove, Castile, 1390-- Cliental pseudo-orders

Cliental pseudo-orders were not orders of chivalry in the fashion of the Templars, Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights, Caltrava, Lazurus, or St George, or the Garter, etc.. They were princes' retinues fashionably termed orders. They were without statutes or restricted memberships.

Ref: D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton's, The knights of the crown : the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe, 1325–1520, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, Palgrave Macmillan (February 1987), ISBN 0-312-45842-8

[Bonny Pearl]

Here's one for the ladies

We actually have a group of renthusiasts in an Order named after this group of brave women.


The Order of the Hatchet


There is a case of a clearly military order of knighthood for women. It is the order of the Hatchet (orden de la Hacha) in Catalonia. It was founded in 1149 by Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona, to honor the women who fought for the defense of the town of Tortosa against a Moor attack. The dames admitted to the order received many privileges, including exemption from all taxes, and took precedence over men in public assemblies. I presume the order died out with the original members.

Here is a description taken from Ashmole, The Institution, Laws, and Ceremony of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (1672), Ch. 3, sect. 3:

"The example is of the Noble Women of Tortosa in Aragon, and recorded by Josef Micheli Marquez, who plainly calls them Cavalleros or Knights, or may I not rather say Cavalleras, seeing I observe the words Equitissae and Militissae (formed from the Latin Equites and Milites) heretofore applied to Women, and sometimes used to express Madams or Ladies,though now these Titles are not known.

"Don Raymond, last Earl of Barcellona (who by intermarriage with Petronilla, only Daughter and Heir of King Ramiro the Monk, united that principality to the Kingdom of Aragon) having in the year 1149, gained the City of Tortosa from the Moors, they on the 31 of December following, laid a new Siege to that place, for the recovery of it out of the Earls hands. The Inhabitants being a length reduced to gread streights, desired relief of the Earl, but he, being not in a condition to give them any, they entertained some thoughts of making a surrender. Which the Women hearing of, to prevent the disaster threatning their City, themselves, and Children, put on mens Clothes, and by a resolute sally, forced the Moors to raise the Siege.

"The Earl, finding himself obliged, bythe gallentry of the action, thought fit to make his acknowlegements thereof, by granting them several Privileges and Immunities, and to perpetuate the memory of so signal an attempt, instituted an Order, somewhat like a Military Order, into which were admitted only those Brave Women, deriving the honor to their Descendants, and assigned them for a Dadge, a thing like a Fryars Capouche, sharp at the top, after the form of a Torch, and of a crimson colour, to be worn upon their Head-clothes. He also ordained, that at all publick meetings, the women should have precedence of the Men. That they should be exempted from all Taxes, adn that all the Apparel and Jewels, though of never so great value, left by their dead Husbands, should be their own.

"These Women (saith our Author) having thus aquired this Honor by their personal Valour, carried themselves after the Military Knights of those days." Jeanne Hachette, who fought to repel a Burgundian assault on the town of Beauvais in 1472. The King exempted her from taxes, and ordered that, in an annual procession to commemorate the event, women would have precedence over men. This story seems to be a carbon copy of the Order of the Hatchet story...

In Italy, the Order of the glorious Saint Mary, founded by Loderigo d'Andalo, a nobleman of Bologna in 1233, and approved by pope Alexander IV in 1261, was the first religious order of knighthood to grant the rank of militissa to women. This order was suppressed by Sixtus V in 1558.

In the Low Countries, at the initiative of Catherine Baw in 1441, and 10 years later of Elizabeth, Mary and Isabella of the house of Hornes, orders were founded which were open exclusively to women of noble birth, who received the French title of chevalière or the Latin title of equitissa. In his Glossarium (s.v. militissa), Du Cange notes that still in his day (17th c.), the female canons of the canonical monastery of St. Gertrude in Nivelles (Brabant), after a probation of 3 years, are made knights (militissae) at the altar, by a (male) knight called in for that purpose, who gives them the accolade with a sowrd and pronounces the usual words.

In England, ladies were appointed to the Garter almost from the start. In all, 68 ladies were appointed between 1358 and 1488, including all consorts. Though many were women of royal blood, or wives of knights of the Garter, some women were neither. They wore the garter on the left arm, and some are shown on their tombstones with this arrangement. After 1488, no other appointments are known, although it is said that the Garter was granted to a Neapolitan poetess, Laura Bacio Terricina, by Edward VI. In 1638, a proposal was made to revive the use of robes for the wives of knights in ceremonies, but it came to nought. (See Edmund Fellowes, Knights of the Garter, 1939; and Beltz: Memorials of the Order of the Garter).

Unless otherwise noted, all the above is from the book by H. E. Cardinale, Orders of Knighthood, Awards and the Holy See, 1983. The info on the order of the Hatchet is reproduced elsewhere as well, e.g., a Spanish encyclopedia. I have seen the order of glorious Saint Mary discussed elsewhere, but without mention of women. I have yet to identify the orders of the Hornes family.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

M'Lady Bonny Pearl, we actually discuss this Order on another thread FOLLOWING ORDERS, as it's members participated in a "Crusade".  

I see you've given recognition to some of the Ladies who follow the thread......

[DonaCatalina]

Order of the Dove, Castile, 1390-- Cliental pseudo-orders

Cliental pseudo-orders were not orders of chivalry in the fashion of the Templars, Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights, Caltrava, Lazurus, or St George, or the Garter, etc.. They were princes' retinues fashionably termed orders. They were without statutes or restricted memberships.

Ref: D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton's, The knights of the crown : the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe, 1325–1520, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, Palgrave Macmillan (February 1987), ISBN 0-312-45842-8

Interesting take on it;
but an order of knighthood created by a king was still an order of knighthood.

I had never heard of the Order of the Hatchet. Thank for bringing that up Bonny.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Holy Spirit (Spain) - Also known as the Order of the Dove. It never functioned as a true order, but rather as an award or collar, according to Boulton.

They were a group bound by a simple oath of allegiance to a prince who bestowed a badge or insignia. These were in fact glorified retinues, misnamed orders, which makes them often confused with princely orders.

[Bonny Pearl]

You're Welcome Dona

We have/had a 'group' on Renspace.  Alas there hasn't been much activity with it for about a year now.  I have been working on getting the group up again on it's own site.  I'd love to see this order active again and grow.

[Bonny Pearl]

M'Lady Bonny Pearl, we actually discuss this Order on another thread FOLLOWING ORDERS, as it's members participated in a "Crusade".  

I see you've given recognition to some of the Ladies who follow the thread......

I will have to read this thread in depth.  I was not aware some of our sisters were participating.  I just saw that the crest that looks a lot like the one that was created by our dear Caitlin has been presented on there.  Will have to look more.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

It appears when you mention the RENSPACE, that we may not be talking about the same people. The ladies that comment in the Following Orders thread were bestowed an affliation with the Order of the Hatchet due to its gender demographics, when compared to the Templars and such.

[Bonny Pearl]

I believe you may be right WM.   

I know there are some folks on this site that were involved in the group on renspace.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Interesting. Do they participate for the "badge" to wear at fest, or do they study the history and combat actions of the original group, as we like to focus on in our thread?

[Bonny Pearl]

The respace group was formally founded on 12/31/07 (12/31 in honor of the original date).  Character creation was a big part of it.  A banner, crest, etc was designed.


We did not have to earn a badge or anything such as that.  It was mostly founded to show honor to the women who fought and to strive to have that same valor/conviction in our everyday lives, etc.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

Thank you for the clarification. Huzzah on your intent.      And a hearty Deus vult from our end.

[Bonny Pearl]

I am not surprised that there would be more than one ren based Order out there considering the history of these original knights.

[Monsignor de Beaumanoir]

With the demise of RENSPACE as I understand it, will we be seeing a thread for these Orders here?

[Bonny Pearl]

Renspace was brought back to life; however I don't think the group on that site has been revived.

I'd love to see the members of that group that are members of r/f start talking again here.  I do have a domain name that I am planning to build up as well.  It would be great to chat with members of the Order you referred to on here as well. 

[SirMichael]

Greetings Dame Bonny Pearl,

On behalf of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem of which I am a Knight Commander at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Ohio...Agis Quod Adis ( Do well what you do!!!) Much luck with developing your Order of the hatchett.



Sir Michael of Mentor
Knight Commander
EOHSJ

[Bonny Pearl]

Faire greetings to you also Sir Michael! 

[Sir Samuel]

Greetings all,
I bid thee all good tiding. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Samuel of the Knights of the Golden Trail. We are the owners of the Historical Loveland Castle in Loveland, Ohio. Curious as to the orders you all represent and how you came about Knighthood?

I will be more than happy to either divulge my own story or you can learn of our History if you don't already know, at   http://lovelandcastle.com

Thank you for your time