THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL SOCIETY
OF THE ALMANACH DE CHIVALRY
PRESIDENT
& CHANCELLOR
His Imperial and Royal Highness
Prinz Karl Friedrich von Deutschland
de jure Emperor Charles VIII I.R.
HONORARY CHAIRMAN
His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI , Bishop of Rome
HONORARY
VICE-CHAIRMAN
Her Imperial Highness
Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna of Russia
de jure Empress of All The Russias
THE
OFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE IMPERIAL AND
ROYAL SOCIETY OF THE ALMANACH DE CHIVALRY
His Excellency
Count Frederick Wilhelm von Buren.
His Most Illustrious Highness
Count Charles von Giech.
His
Excellency
Count Leopold zu Limpurg und Gaildorf.
His Excellency
Baron Christian Wilhelm von Groditz.
THE HONOURY MEMBERS
OF THE IMPERIAL AND
ROYAL SOCIETY OF THE ALMANACH DE CHIVALRY
His Majesty
King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
Her Majesty
Queen
Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Her Majesty
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
Her Majesty
Queen
Beatrix of The Netherlands.
His Majesty
Czar Simeon II of The Bulgarians,
His Majesty
King Albert II of The Belgians
His
Majesty
King Harald V of Norway.
His Majesty
King Michael I of Romania.
His Majesty
King
Constantine II of Greece.
His Majesty
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
His Royal Highness
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.
His
Most Serene Highness
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.
His Most Serene Highness
Prince Albert II of Monaco.
Her
Imperial Highness
Grand Duchess Maria of Russia.
His Imperial Highness
Grand Duke George of Russia.
His
Royal Highness
Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy,
The Prince of Naples.
His Imperial and Royal Highness
Prince Dom Pedro Orleans-Bragança.
His Imperial and Royal Highness
The Archduke Otto von Habsburg of Austria
His
Imperial and Royal Highness
The Archduke Sigismund of Austria, Prince of Tuscany.
His Imperial and Royal Highness
Prince George Friedrich of Prussia.
His Royal Highness
Margrave Max of Baden.
His Royal Highness
Duke Franz of Bavaria.
His Royal Highness
Margrave Maria Emanuel of Meissen.
His Royal Highness
Prince Michael of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
His
Royal Highness
Duke Friedrich-Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen.
His Highness
Duke Borwin of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
His
Highness
Duke Eduard of Anhalt.
His Highness
Duke Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
His Most Serene Highness
Prince Jean-Engelbert of Arenberg.
His Serene Highness
Prince York of Schaumburg-Lippe.
His Illustrious Highness
Count Ernst Leonhard von Harrach
zu
Rohrau und Thannhausen.
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THE HISTORY OF THE ALMANACH DE CHIVALRY
The Almanach de Chivalry, was formally founded
on Christmas day 2002, by His Imperial and Royal Highness Prinz Karl Friedrich von Deutschland, Herzog von Saxe-Altenburg,
de jure Charles VIII I.R. , by Imperial decree, to promote the cause of Christian Chivalry and to list by Almanach the various
Imperial, Royal and Princely Orders of Knighthood in Europe and Christendom, His Imperial Highness, Welcomes you to The Official
Website of The Almanach de Chivalry, and Hopes you will be able to have a better understanding of Chivalry in its Universal
Glory. The formal rise of Chivalry brought with it messages of loyalty, heroism, glory and brotherly love. It was seized upon
by the Sovereigns and Princes of Europe, who saw it as the ideal stratagem with which to bond men of rank and military expertise,
creating elite brotherhoods of Chivalric Orders that would serve them in both war and peace.
KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY THE TERMINOLOGY
The Terms are often confused, and often needlessly distinguished. The term knighthood comes from the English word
knight (from Old English cniht, boy, servant, cf. German Knecht) while chivalry comes from the French chevalerie, from chevalier
or knight (Low Latin caballus for horse). In modern English, chivalry means the ideals, virtues, or characteristics of knights.
The phrases "orders of chivalry" and "orders of knighthood" are essentially synonymous. The German translation
for "knight" is Ritter (literally, rider). The Latin term in the Middle Ages was miles, since a knight was by definition
a professional soldier. In modern times, the Classical Latin term eques was preferred.
THE
EMERGENCE OF KNIGHTS IN EUROPE
Succintly, a knight was a professional soldier.
The old "citizens' armies" of Antiquity had been replaced by professional armies. This trend was reinforced by the
appearance in the 8th century of the stirrup, which made mounted men much more powerful and turned cavalry into the most important
element of medieval armies. But being a mounted soldier was expensive, since it required enough income to buy and sustain
a horse and the equipment (armor, weapons) to go with it. Thus, those who were too poor to provide this service became mere
peasants, attached to the land. In feudal society as it emerged in the 10th century, everyone held land from someone else
in exchange for goods or services of some kind. Men who were not free provided a portion of their crops and labor services.
Men who were free provided military service, either personally or (if they were rich enough) using others' services. Thus,
a man who held his estate in knight's fee owed service as a knight to his lord. A more sizeable vassal, when called by his
liege, would summon his knights and form a contingent in his liege's army.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNIGHTHOOD
Knighthood was originally a professional association. It included those men who could afford to make and maintain
the heavy capital investment required by mounted warfare (horse and armor). It emerges in the 11th century, and its members
are nobles (members of the great land-owning families) as well as small land-holders, free men, craftsmen, etc (in Spain,
caballeros villanos were common until the 14th c.). It must be understood that, even in the feudal era, the boundaries of
knighthood were quite fluid. Anyone who, by luck or effort, managed to obtain the training and equipment to be a knight, could
eventually enter that class. In Flanders, there is a famous case of a family of servile (i.e., unfree) origin who entered
into knighthood and became castellans of Orders in the 12th c. In the course of the 12th century, a social and ethical dimension
is added to this professional aspect. The strong influence of Cluny monks, who try to give an ethos to savage warfare, leads
to the definition of the true miles Christi, a soldier who follows a certain code of behavior, which we now call chivalric.
Starting in the second half of the 12th century, literature (gests and Arthurian romances) also provides a model for the knightly
community, as well as a means of glorifying it.
KNIGHTHOOD AND NOBILITY
Thus, knights
were not necessarily nobles, nor were nobles necessarily knights. The noble class and the knightly class slowly came to merge
from the late 12th century onward. Nobles become knights with increasing frequency. The French prince (future king Louis VI)
was knighted without the knowledge of his father who remains distrustful of a rather heterogeneous professional class, but
thereafter every French king is knighted (Favier 1993). Conversely, heredity enters the knightly class in the 13th century.
The son of a knight is automatically a squire, thus making him eligible for knighthood on the basis of his ancestry; at the
same time, knighthood is more and more restricted to descendants of knights by various legal restrictions imposed over the
course of the 13th century. In the late 13th century, a decision of the Parliament in Paris forbade the count of Artois from
making unfree men into knights without the king's consent; interesting to note, the two men who had been so knighted were
allowed to remain knights subject to the payment of a fine. This marked both the closure of the knightly class as well as
the beginnings of a new form of access, by purchase. In England, the evolution was different: those who held land in knight's
fee but did not wish to take up the profession could pay a tax. Knighthood did not become a hereditary class in England, and
instead the knightly class (those eligible to be knights) became the nucleus of the gentry
ORDERS OF
KNIGHTHOOD
The origins of orders of knighthood are in the Crusades. In the Latin Orient, a new institution
emerged, in which knights (professional soldiers) associated themselves under a strict, quasi-monastic rule of life, for the
purpose of protecting pilgrims and defending Christian conquests in the Holy Land. In the 14th century, just as the original
military-monastic orders were searching for a new mission after the loss of the Holy Land, kings began creating orders of
their own, modelled in part on these original orders, but with a different purpose, to bind their nobility to themselves.
Still later, in the late 16th century, these monarchical orders were imitated in form by the new orders of merit which became
common throughout Europe. Because each institution tried to use the prestige of the previous one by imitating it, the term
"order of knighthood" has been passed on and is now used for modern awards and decorations which are neither orders
nor composed of knights. In modern society, only a very few orders survive from the times of the Crusades, and most "orders
of knighthood" awarded by sovereigns or governments (such as the English Garter or the Spanish Golden Fleece) are, in
spite of their historical connection, awards of merit.
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HERALDRY
AND KNIGHTHOOD
The relations between heraldry, nobility and knighthood are often completely misunderstood.
Briefly stated, heraldry appeared in the landed aristocracy and quickly spread to the knightly class in the 12th century,
at a time when knighthood and nobility remain very distinct classes. Over the course of the 13th century, knighthood and nobility
came to merge, just as heraldry spread far beyond either class to be used by all classes of society. Thus, heraldry is not
particularly linked to nobility, although the most easily documented uses of heraldry are among nobles, simply because nobles
were the elite. The initial development of heraldry certainly owes a lot to the practices of the knightly class, in particular
the growing fashion of tournaments, which became more and more popular from the 13th century, just as knighthood as a military
institution was on the wane. Tournaments were the occasion to display coats of arms, and heralds, who were originally a specialized
group of minstrels, became responsible for identifying and cataloguing the arms of participants. Their knowledge of coats
of arms also helped them identify fighters in battle and dead on the battlefield, and for this reason heralds became associated
with battles, truces, declarations of war, in an official capacity.
THE CHIVALRIC CODE OF KNIGHTS
The armoured Knight and his force formed the backbone of the medieval European Army. If disciplined, they could turn
the tide of battle, but battles were sometimes won without the combat even starting: the sight of the armoured cavalry could
be enough to cause their enemies to flee. Without battles to keep them occupied, men in fighting mood could get bored and
become a liability to the ruler, his people and the Church. Something was needed to curb the semi-legalized vandalism of marauding
Knights and it evolved in the form of the nebulous set of ethics now called the "Code of Chivalry", which gradually
refined into a loose set of rules aimed at civilizing the high-born. It was a theme picked up by writers of the time, including
Raymond Lull, Honore Bonet and Christine de Pisan. Lull (1232-1315), an Aragonian of noble blood, was well versed in Knightly
deeds and wrote of love and the pursuit of it in the style of the troubadours of southern France. Amorous by nature, he often
cheated on his wife, until he had a vision of Christ on the Cross, which he interpreted to mean he was to change his life.
His work thereafter was to convert the heathen to Christianity, through prayer, preaching and writing books, one of the most
influential being his "Libre del Ordre de Cavayleria" (Book of the Order of Chivalry), written in 1275. For centuries
this was considered the standard textbook on the subject of Chivalry and was widely translated. Christine de Pisen (1364-1430),
adisciple of Honore Bonet (1380), provided a fascinating insight into the workings of the medieval mind in her book of 1408-1409,
"Le Livre des Faits d'Armes et de Chevalerie (The Book of Feats of Arms and Chivalry), which deals with such varied themes
as banning the use of poisoned arrows by Christians, and saving the souls of warriors. She was clearly acquainted with the
latest trends in military thinking in the early 15th century, and tackled questions, such as "should the Emperor make
war on the Pope?" and "Can a madman be justly held prisoner?" Her answer- "No" -to the second question
diplays a level of humanity uncommon in her age. Drawing on such diverse sources as Roman military strategy and the love songs
and martial epics of the German Minnesinger and French troubadours, Lull, de Pisan and others attracted the attention of the
rulers of Europe, most of whom sought to make their Royal Courts centres of learning and Chivalric enterprise. They also hoped
that through such pursuits as courtly love, tournaments and Orders of Chivalry, they would pacify their unruly courtiers and
weld them inton a coherent force that saw loyalty to the overlord as a benefit rather than a hindrance. In its simplest form
the code required that its followers should honour their Lord, defend the Church - including, when posssible, taking up ams
against the infidel and protect the weak, the poor and all women. In reality, true followers of such noble aims were rare,
and even those warriors who were held up by medieval writers and the Church as paragons of Chivalry would today be looked
upon in a very different light. It says much of those times that one of the men who most epitomized the Code of Chivalry was
not a Christian Knight at all, but the Muslim ruler Saladin (1137-1193), Sultan of Egypt and Syria, who led the Muslim army
against the Crusaders in Palestine.
EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS OF CHIVALRY
Medieval
Europe was dominated by two powers, the Knights and the Church. While the Church often railed against the excesses of troublesome
Knights, who were not averse to sacking the odd Abbey, it was into the local Church that the Knights bodies were eventually
carried. These violent characters were the same men whose memorials often appeared in due course in the stained glass windows
of the Church bearing their acts of bravery and Knightly power. The History of the First Crusade in the Holy Land, started
when Pope Urban II (reigned 1088-1099), saw a way to channel the violence of the military. Rather than beseeching men to stop
fighting, he encouraged them to take their aggression out on the principal bugbear of the Christian world - The Muslims,(It
must be formally stated that the The Almanach de Chivalry and its members does not recognize this old outdated view of Muslims
but thinks of all Muslims as our brothers under one God). His rough and ready evangelism appealed to the fighting men of Europe:
they saw the possibility of achieving not only eternal glory, but also earthly riches. Urban used the symbolism of the crucifix
during his rallies of 1095, announcing that it should be the token of their cause. The message immediately took effect, as
men tore up strips of coloured cloth and stiched crosses on their tunics. despite many setbacks, the First Crusade (1096-1099)
achieved one of its aims: The Holy city of Jerusalem was finally captured, but the true Christian ideal had been defeated
because its inhabitants -men, women and children - were shown no mercy and murdered in an evil orgy of brutality. While the
prospect of riches was an obvious draw, there were some of high rank who espoused the noblest aims of Chivalry. For several
years prior to Jerusalems's capture, a group of Knights had acted as protectors to pilgrims to the city. At the time of the
First Crusade they lived near the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. In 1119 Hughes de Payns and Geoffrey de St Omer, incorated
the group into a religious Order, the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, usually known as the Knights Templar. So poor
did the early Templars claim to be that their seals often depicted two men riding a single horse. The idea of priest-Knights
soon caught on and led to a flowering of other military Orders of Chivalry. Among them were the Knights of the Order of St.
Lazarus of Jerusalem, who maintained leper hospitals, and the Knights of the Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem (the
Knights Hospitallers), formed to aid sick and weary pilgrims. Some of the great dormitories they built still survive. The
Hospitallers and the Templars acquired great wealth and built vast castles. There was little love lost between these two powerful
Knightly Orders, and as such when not fighting the " infidel", they were apt to fight each other. Concerning the
Insignia of these Religious Orders of Knighthood, they settled on a Cross of a particular form and colour, and some of these
symbols are still familiar today, none more so than the white eight-pointed Cross of the Hospitallers, now called the Sovereign
and Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and known as the Order of Malta. Its Members are best known for their voluntary
work as the St. John's Ambulance Brigade. The Prince Grand master of the Order of Malta, quarters his family arms with those
of the Order, and his shield is placed on an eight-pointed white Cross surrounded by a rosary. The whole is placed on a black
princely mantle and ensigned by a princely Crown of degree. Other high-ranking prelates (notably Baliffs Grand Cross) are
entitled to bear a chief of the Order - Gules a cross Argent - and have a banner of the Order carried in procession. Protestant
chapters of this Order were formed in the late 16th and 17th centuries.Of the other religious military Orders, the most famous
were the Teutonic Order of Germany and the Orders of Santiago and Calatrava, both of Spain. The Crosses of each Order have
often found their way into the Heraldry of their members. The Teutonic Knights who maintained their fighting traditions by
opposing pagan tribes along the eastern Baltic, displayed a balck crutched Cross (Cross potent)which told of their origins
caring for the sick and wounded Knights and pilgrims who came from their homelands.
THE
INSTITUTION OF ORDERS OF CHIVALRY
An Order is an institution derived from the medieval monastic
or secular orders of knighthood. Although originally closed fraternities, modern orders are honorific, having generally been
created by a sovereign or head of state to reward meritorious service. An order is generally the highest honor a citizen may
receive for a career or service of great distinction in the services of one's country. Membership in an order is generally
granted by the sovereign or head of state, who is typically the "grand master" of the order. In Europe the King
or Queen is the "Sovereign / Grand Master" of each order. Membership is usually limited to a specific, small number.
Orders may have several classes of membership which are denoted by a variety of insignia or badges of rank and distinction.
The badges are often referred to as "orders." The insignias typically are made of precious metals with enameled
or jeweled designs.
THE
PAPAL ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD
The Papal Orders are awarded in the name of the Supreme Pontiff and are given
both as awards of His Holiness as Head of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church and also as Sovereign of the Vatican City State.
Membership at one time was conferred by Papal Bull, or by Apostolic Letter, signed by the Pope himself, but since the reforms
made in the structure of these Orders at the beginning of the 20th century, the diplomas have been signed by the Cardinal
Secretary of State. Since the 29 June 1991 this post has been filled by His Eminence Angelo, Cardinal Sodano. The categories
below may be considered to embrace all the legitimate Roman Catholic Orders of Knighthood. The Papal and Catholic Orders may
be divided into several categories.
(1) Those Orders awarded directly by the Supreme Pontiff as head of the
Catholic Church and the Vatican City State. These are generally called the Papal Orders. The highest, and most infrequently
awarded, is the Supreme Order of Christ; the second is the equally rarely given Order of the Golden Spur, the third is the
Order of Pius IX (Pian Order or Ordine Piano), the fourth is the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, and the fourth is the Order
of Saint Sylvester Pope and Martyr. Awards of the Orders of Christ and the Golden Spur at made at the express wish of His
Holiness the Pope, in consultation with the Cardinal Secretary of State. Awards of the Ordine Piano are made either to Heads
of State and senior members of their household at the time of official visits to the Holy See, to senior members of the Diplomatic
Missions accredited to the Holy See and, exceptionally, to those who have particularly served the Holy Father personally or
the Holy See, at the discretion of the Cardinal Secretary of State. Awards of the latter two Orders are generally made on
the recommendation of Diocesan Bishops, or of Apostolic Nuncios. There are National Associations of Papal Knights in France,
Great Britain and the United States, as well as Diocesan Associations such as those in Milan and Los Angeles.
(2) Those Orders of Chivalry directly under Papal protection. These are today the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of
Malta, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher. These Orders are under the protection of His Holiness as Supreme Pontiff
and are not considered to be awards of the Vatican State. Indeed, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a Sovereign independent
entity in International Law which enjoys mutual diplomatic relations with sixty-seven Sovereign States, in addition to being
an Observer Member of the United Nations. The Order was founded in the late 11th century but became a Religious Military Order
by a Bull of Pope Paschal II of 1113. The Grand Master, presently His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Andrew Bertie, is elected
by the professed, religious members of the Order, and serves for life, or until his abdication (only two Grand Masters in
history have ever abdicated). Elections of the Grand Master must be approved by the Supreme Pontiff as the religious superior
of the Order, who also appoints a Cardinal patron and a Prelate of the Order. The Grand Master of the Order of the Order of
the Holy Sepulcher, however, is appointed directly by the Pope and serves during his pleasure or until such time as he may
wish to lay down this office. The Patriarch of Jerusalem is, ex officio, Grand Prior of the Order, while the lay head is the
Governor-General (presently Ambassador Count Ludovico Carducci Artenisio). The Knights of the Holy Sepulcher were reorganized
as an Order of Knighthood in 1847; the present Cardinal Grand Master is His Eminence Carlo Cardinal Furno, appointed in January
1996.
(3) Those Orders which were founded by Papal Bull, whose membership is limited exclusively to Roman Catholics,
which require obligations of service according to Catholic teaching and which generally have a governing body which administers
the Order on behalf of the Grand Master. The first of these, the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, is in
the unique position of having had Cardinal Protectors appointed directly by the Holy See until the "temporary suspension"
of this post in 1924 (as of yet not reinstated). Its Grand Magistery is hereditary by virtue of the Apostolic Letter Sincerae
Fidei of 1699 and the Bull Militantis Ecclesiae, which invested it in the person of Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma, and
his heirs. The present Grand Master, XIth in succession from Francesco Farnese, is HRH the Infante of Spain Don Carlos de
Borbón-Dos Sicilias y Borbón-Parma, Duke of Calabria, who succeeded in 1964. There is a Grand Prior, presently
an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church (presently the Most Reverend Monsignor Bruno B. Heim).
The Four Spanish
Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa have a Prior of the Order who, as Bishop of Ciudad Real,
is nominated by the Holy See (and whose appointment is listed in the Annuario Pontificio). The hereditary Perpetual Administrator
on Behalf of the Holy See (and Grand Master) of the four Orders since 1975 has been HM King Juan Carlos I of Spain; the President
of the Council is HRH the Infante of Spain Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria.
The Sacred Military order of Saint Stephen
(of Tuscany) is a dynastic Order of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine-Tuscany whose statutes have been recently reformed, reaffirming
its Catholicity and the annual ceremonies are now once again held in the ancient Priory Church in Pisa. The Order was founded
in 1561 and it was accorded its status as an Order under Papal protection by the Bull His, quae pro Religionis propagatione
of 1562. The hereditary Grand Magistery is invested in the person of the Head of the House of Habsburg-Tuscany, presently
HIRH Archduke Sigismond of Austria, who succeeded in 1994.
The Royal Order of Saint George for the Defence of
the Immaculate Conception , a dynastic Order of the Royal House of Bavaria, is likewise still maintained as an exclusively
Roman Catholic military Order but is exclusively limited to male Bavarians of the ancient nobility. It was founded in 1726
and confirmed by Papal Bull of 1728. The Grand Magistery is hereditary in the Royal House of Bavaria and is presently held
by HRH Duke Franz of Bavaria, who succeeded his father in 1996.
(4) Those Orders which were founded or confirmed
by Papal Bulls but which are Collar Orders given in one grade (that of Knight). In order of seniority by date of foundation
these are (a) the Supreme Order of the Annunciation (Savoy-Italy), of which the hereditary Grand Master is HRH Crown Prince
Vittorio Emanuele, Duke of Savoy, who succeeded in 1983.
(b) The Order of The Golden Fleece , of which the hereditary
Sovereign is HM King Juan
Carlos I of Spain, who succeeded in 1977.
(c) The Order of the Holy Spirit (France, dormant)
(d)
the Order of Saint Michael (France, dormant), of
which the succession to the Sovereignty is invested in the
person of the Head of the Royal House of France.
(d) The Illustrious Royal Order of Saint Januarius , of which the
Hereditary Grand Master
is HRH Infante of Spain
Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria, who succeeded in 1964.
(5) The Teutonic Order which, was formally founded
as a Religious Military Order of Chivalry, became in 1929 a purely Religious Order of Priests, Brothers and Sisters, with
a category of twelve honorary knights and an unlimited number of associates, known as Marianer. Its present headquarters are
in Vienna, whereas in 2001 the Teutonic Order was formally revived back into a Chivalric Order of Knighthoood, thus making
a seperate Teutonic Order from the present Clerical Papal Order in Rome, by His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Karl Friedrich
of Germany, Duke of Swabia, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, on Christmas Day in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and One.
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