Order of the Swan

Badge of the order on a gravestone in Feuchtwangen

Order of the Swan was a religious association of princes and nobles formed in 1440 by Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg. The order originally comprised, with the Elector Frederick at their head, thirty men and seven women united to honor Mary, the mother of Jesus. Its headquarters was a monastery on a hill near Brandenburg. The order spread rapidly, numbering in 1464 about 330 members, as well as branches established in the Margraviate of Anspach (1465) and in the possessions of the Teutonic Order in Prussia.

Along with encouraging more enthusiastic homage to Mary, the order sought to foster perseverance in works of mercy. It was extinguished during the Protestant Reformation, since that movement discouraged devotions to Mary.

In 1843 the order was revived, perhaps as no more than an idea, by Frederick William IV of Prussia. In this incarnation, it was an association, open to men and women of all creeds, for the amelioration of physical and moral ills.

Notes

References

•  "Swan, Order of the". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
•  Moeller, Charles (1913). "Order of the Swan". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
•  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Swan, Order of the". Encyclopedia Americana.  This work in turn cites:
  • Hanle, Urkunde und Nachweise zur Geschichte des Schwanenordens (1874)