Order of the Golden Fleece

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The founder, Philip the Good , with at least five other Members wearing collars, 1447-8

Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, with the collar of the Order

The Order of the Golden Fleece (Spanish: Orden del Toisón de Oro) is an order of chivalry founded in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.

1 Origin
2 The Spanish Order
- 2.1 Members of the Order
3 Austrian Order
- 3.1 Members of the Order
4 Acknowledgment
5 See also
6 Literature
7 External links

[edit] Origin

It was modelled on the English Order of the Garter (Philip had been elected to membership of the Garter in 1422, but had declined to avoid offending the king of France), but dedicated to Saint Andrew. Like the Garter it was restricted to a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increased to 30 in 1433 and 50 in 1516—plus the sovereign. It received further privileges unusual to any order of knighthood: the sovereign undertook to consult the order before going to war; all disputes between the knights were to be settled by the order; at each chapter the deeds of each knight were held in review, and punishments and admonitions were dealt out to offenders, and to this the sovereign was expressly subject; the knights could claim as of right to be tried by their fellows on charges of rebellion, heresy and treason, and Charles V conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes committed by the knights; the arrest of the offender had to be by warrant signed by at least six knights, and during the process of charge and trial he remained not in prison but in the gentle custody of his fellow knights. The order was explicitly denied to "heretics", and so became an exclusively Catholic award during the Reformation, though the choice of the pagan Golden Fleece of Colchis as the symbol of a Christian order caused some controversy.

The badge of the Order, in the form of a sheepskin, was suspended from a jewelled collar of firesteels in the shape of the letter B, for Burgundy, linked by flints; with the motto "Pretium Laborum Non Vile" ("Not a bad reward for labour") engraved on the front of the central link, and Philip's motto "Non Aliud" ("I will have no other") on the back (non-royal knights of the Golden Fleece were forbidden to belong to any other order of knighthood).

With the absorption of the Burgundian lands into the Habsburg empire, the sovereignty of the Order passed to the Habsburg kings of Spain, where it remained until the death of the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, Charles II, in 1700. He was succeeded by Philip of Anjou, a Bourbon. There followed a dispute between the Houses of Habsburg and Bourbon over sovereignty, which resulted in the division of the Order into Spanish and Austrian branches. In either case the sovereign, as Duke of Burgundy, writes the letter of appointment in French.

[edit] The Spanish Order

The Duke of Wellington wearing the Spanish Fleece

Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria

The Spanish Order of the Fleece has been a source of controversy in the past, particularly during the Napoleonic period. The award of the Order to Napoleon and his brother Joseph angered the exiled king of France Louis XVIII and caused him to return his collar in protest. These, and other awards by Joseph, were revoked by king Ferdinand on the restoration of Bourbon rule in 1813.

In 1812 the acting government of Spain illegally awarded the order to the Duke of Wellington, an act confirmed by Ferdinand on his resumption of power, with the approval of the pope. Wellington therefore became the first Protestant to be awarded the Fleece. It has subsequently also been awarded to non-Christians, like Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand.

There was another crisis in 1833 when Isabella II became Queen of Spain in defiance of Salic Law. Her right to award the Fleece was challenged by Carlists and the prestige of the Order inevitably suffered due to the political controversies of the period.

Sovereignty remained with the head of the Spanish house of Bourbon during the republican (1931-39) and Francoist (1939-1975) periods and is held today by the present king of Spain, Juan Carlos.

[edit] Members of the Order

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain (b. 1938)
Carlos, Duke of Calabria (b. 1938)
Constantine II of Greece (b. 1940)
Felipe, Prince of Asturias (b. 1968)
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden (b. 1946)
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1921)
Akihito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1933)
Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands (b. 1938)
Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark (b. 1940)
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom (b. 1926)
Albert II, King of the Belgians (b. 1934)
Harald V, King of Norway (b. 1937)
Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand (b. 1927)

[edit] Austrian Order

Neck Chain of a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, shown in the Schatzkammer in Vienna, Austria.

The Austrian Order did not suffer from the political difficulties of the Spanish, remaining an award solely for Catholic royals and nobles. The problem of female inheritance was avoided on the accession of Maria Theresa in 1740 as sovereignty of the Order passed not to herself but to her husband, Francis.

On the collapse of the Austrian monarchy after World War I King Albert I of Belgium requested that the Sovereignty and treasure of the Order be transferred to him as the ruler of the formerly Habsburg lands of Burgundy. This claim was seriously considered by the victorious allies at Versailles but was eventually rejected due to the intervention of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who took possession of the property of the Order on behalf of the dethroned emperor Karl. Sovereignty remains with the head of the house of Habsburg, but the present head Otto has transferred the sovereignty to his eldest son Karl.