TheOrder of the Golden Spur[1](Italian:Ordine dello Speron d'Oro,French:Ordre de l'Éperon d'or), officially known also as theOrder of the Golden Militia(Latin:Ordo Militia Aurata,Italian:Milizia Aurata),[2]is apapal order of knighthoodconferred upon those who have rendered distinguished service in propagating the Catholic faith, or who have contributed to the glory of the Church, either by feat of arms, by writings, or by other illustrious acts. With the death in 2019 of the last remaining knight,Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg,the order is considered dormant.
| Order of the Golden Spur Ordo Militiae Auratae | |
|---|---|
 Badge of the order | |
Awarded by Holy See | |
| Type | Papal order of knighthood |
| Status | Dormant order |
| Sovereign | Pope Francis |
| Grades | Knight |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | Supreme Order of Christ |
| Next (lower) | Order of Pius IX |
 Ribbon bar of the order | |
History
editBefore 19th century: a noble order
editIt is accounted the earliest papal chivalric institution.[3] The Order of the Golden Spur had its origins in the titleCount palatine of the Lateran Palace,[4]which was in the gift of theHoly Roman Emperorin the fourteenth century:Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperorconferred the title on one Fenzio di Albertino di Prato, 15 August 1357, at Prague.[5]The Order began to be associated with the inheritablepatent of nobilityin the form ofcount palatinateduring the Renaissance;Emperor Frederick IIInamed Baldo Bartolini, professor of civil law at theUniversity of Perugia,a count palatinate in 1469, entitled in turn to confer university degrees. "Bartolini also received the Knighthood of the Golden Spur, a title that sometimes accompanied the office of count palatinate in the Renaissance", according to the historian of universities Paul F. Grendler;[6]the Order of the Golden Spur, linked with the title of count palatinate, was widely conferred after theSack of Rome,1527, byCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor;the text of surviving diplomas conferred hereditary nobility to the recipients. Among the recipients wasTitian(1533), who had painted an equestrian portrait of Charles.[7]Close on the heels of the Emperor's death in 1558, its refounding in Papal hands is attributed toPope Pius IVin 1559.[8]
By the mid-18th century the Order was being so indiscriminately bestowed thatCasanovaremarked "The Order they call the Golden Spur was so disparaged that people irritated me greatly when they asked me the details of my cross;"[9]he had the grace to add that he would have been pleased if he had been able to answer "monToison",and he did habitually wear it, nevertheless, on its scarlet riband. In 1777Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarthad his portrait painted with the star-encircled cross of the order on his coat,[10]and the Order granted toGiovanni Battista Piranesipermitted him to sign his etchingsCav. G.B. Piranesi.The Order was granted to "those in the pontifical government, artists, and others, whom the pope should think deserving of reward. It is likewise given to strangers, no other condition being required, but that of professing the catholic religion."[11]
19th century: decline of the order
editIn the 19th century, members of theCuria,prelates andpapal nuncioshad the privilege of nominating recipients. The Order was given out liberally upon payment of a small fee, and some scandal arose in Paris concerning the sale of forged letters patent claiming to confer this title,[12]formerly linked with the purely honorary designationCount Palatine of the Sacred Palace of the Lateran.[13]Honoré Daumierincluded the "Knight of the Golden Spur" among his series of lithographs "Bohemiansof Paris "(1842); its satirically mocking legend reads" This so-called former Colonel of thePapal Guard,later aide-de-camp to thePrince of Monaco,[14]awaiting as a prize for his services a distinguished post in the Government!... he would, however, willingly accept a tobacconist's shop or a position as an inspector of [street] sweeping; besides, he is a gallant man like all knights of his order, for a trifle demanding satisfaction from five-year-old children, perfectly making excuses from the moment you look at him in the face. "[15]
The badge, as described by Robson in 1830, was an eight-pointed gold cross with a ray point between each arm and the legendBENE MER•ENTI.On the reverse wasEx donowith the name and date when presented. On top of the cross, an imperial crown, and at the base a small spur.
In 1841,Pope Gregory XVI,in thePapal BriefQuod Hominum Mentes,reformed and renamed the order as theOrder of Saint Sylvester and the Golden Militia.He withdrew all faculties to whom and by whomsoever given, and forbade the use of the title or the decoration to all knights created by any means other than a Papal Brief. To restore the Order to its ancient glory, he limited the number of Commanders to 150 and knights to 300 (for the Papal States only), and appointed the Cardinal of Apostolic Briefs as Chancellor of the Order, with the duty of preserving the name, grade, number and date of admission of each knight.[16]
20th century till present
editOn 7 February 1905, in commemoration of thegolden jubileeof thedogmatic definitionof theImmaculate Conception,Pope Pius Xin his motu proprioMultum ad excitandos,divided the order into two, one taking the name ofOrder of St. Sylvesterand the other taking the older name of the Order of the Golden Spur, and placed it under the patronage of theBlessed Virgin Mary.[17] In modern times the order has only one class, Knight, and its membership has been restricted to one hundredknightsthroughout the world. The honour is conferred by aMotu Proprioof the Pope. It is used to award merit, without any consideration of noble birth, and no longer confersnobility,as it did before 1841. It is the second highest of the papal orders (the first being theSupreme Order of Christ).
With the death ofGrand Duke Jean of Luxembourgon 23 April 2019, there are no living members of the Order of the Golden Spur.
Insignia
editThe emblems of the order after the 1905 reorganization consists of:
- Thebadge,an eight-pointed, enamelled gold cross, in whose center is a small white medallion on one side of which is the word "Maria" surrounded by a golden circle, and on the other the year MDCCCCV and in its surrounding circle the words "Pius X Restituit".Pendant from the bottom of the cross is a small golden spur. The decoration is suspended from a red ribbon with white borders.
- Thestar,which is worn on the left breast, is the same cross centered upon the rays of a silver star.
The official uniform is a red tunic decorated with two rows of gilt buttons, black velvet collar and cuffs embroidered in gold, black trousers with gold side stripes, epaulettes ornamented with gold fringes and surmounted on top with the emblem of the order, gold spurs, oblong two-peaked hat trimmed with gold and bearing the papal colors, and a sword whose hilt forms a gilt cross in a black scabbard, held in place with a gold sword belt with red fringe.
In the early days of the order its members were entitled to wear a goldlivery collar(chain), but when the order was revived in 1905 this was not resumed, though the collar remains a symbol of the order.
Inecclesiastical heraldry,individuals awarded this Order may depict the gold livery collar completely encircling theshieldon theircoat of arms.[18]
Notable recipients
edit
- Diego García de Paredes(1466–1534), Spanish soldier[citation needed]
- Raphael(1483–1520), artist[citation needed]
- Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574), artist and biographer[citation needed]
- Orlande de Lassus(1532-1594), composer, conferred byPope Gregory XIII[19]
- Domenico Fontana(1543 – 28 June 1607)[20]
- Giorgio Basta(1544-1607), conferred byRudolf II[21]
- Ventura Salimbeni(1568–1613), SieneseManneristpainter andprintmaker
- Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini(1571–1627), ItalianCardinaland uncle ofPope Gregory XIV
- Nicholas Plunkett(1602–1680), Irish lawyer and Confederate leader[citation needed]
- Antonio Latini(1642–1692), steward toCardinal Antonio Barberini,cardinal-nephew ofPope Urban VIII
- Christoph Willibald Gluck(1714–1787), German classical composer[citation needed]
- Bartolomeo Cavaceppi(c. 1716–1799), Italian sculptor[citation needed]
- Giacomo Casanova(1725–1798), adventurer[22]
- Giovanni Gallini(1729–1805), dancer and impresario in London 1760–1800[citation needed]
- Georg Joseph Vogler(1749–1814), German composer, conferred byPope Clement XIV[23]
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756–1791), classical composer, at the age of fourteen[24]
- Anton Raaff(1714-1797), tenor, conferred byPope Pius VI[25]
- Niccolò Paganini(1782–1840), Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer[26]
- Miklós Horthy(1868–1957), Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1944)[citation needed]
- Benito Mussolini(1883–1945)[27]
- Prince Paul of Yugoslavia(1893–1976), Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1934–1941)
- Hussein bin Talal(1935-1999),King of Jordan(1952-1999)
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi(1919–1980),Shah of Iran[28]
- Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg(1921–2019)
- Sukarno(1901–1970),President of Indonesia[29]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Heraldicallygold, it is to be understood: "Throughout the Middle Ages gold was far too rare to permit spurs being made of solid gold, despite the importance with which spurs were regarded. They were usually made of iron, brass, or copper, silvered or gilded, and often of iron tinned". (Stephen V. Grancsay, "A Pair of Spurs Bearing the Bourbon Motto"The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin36.8 (August 1941:170–172) p. 171).
- ^Annuario Pontificio 2012(Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2012ISBN978-88-209-8722-0), p. 1272
- ^Sainty, Guy Stair, "History of the Papal Orders",Alamanch de la Cour,chivalricorders.org, archived fromthe originalon 13 August 2007,retrieved18 August2007
- ^Comes palatini Lateranensis.
- ^Paul F. Grendler,The Universities of the Italian Renaissance(2004), p. 184, note 130; the title empowered Fenzio to confer the license of doctor of civil law.
- ^Grendler 2004:184 note 134.
- ^C Hope, "Titian as a Court Painter",Oxford Art Journal,1979.
- ^Thomas Robson,The British Herald; or, Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility...(1830)s.v."Golden Spur, in Rome" and plate 4 (fig. 21) and 5 (figs 3 and 7).
- ^"L'ordre qu'on appelle de l'Éperon d'Or était si décrié qu'on m'ennuyait beaucoup quand on demandait des nouvelles de ma croix." (Histoire de ma vie,8;ix);.
- ^Hulton Archive
- ^Robson 1830.
- ^"Scrutator" inNotes and Queries3rd Series,3,p. 254.
- ^Robson 1830; the language used in the patent was French, the international diplomaticlingua francaof the era.
- ^The bachelorHonoré V, Prince of Monaco,had died the previous year, during which the pope had included the Order within the Order of Saint Sylvester and the Golden Militia.
- ^The National Museum of western Art: Daumier, "Bohemians of Paris", 24 (illustrated).
- ^Papal knights[permanent dead link]
- ^Rock, P.M.J. (1908),"Pontifical Decorations",The Catholic Encyclopedia,vol. IV, New York: Robert Appleton Company,retrieved18 August2007
- ^Noonan, Jr., James-Charles (1996),The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church,Viking, p.196,ISBN0-670-86745-4
- ^Catholic Encyclopedia,1913,s.v."Orlandus de Lassus".
- ^Sauer, Joseph. "Domenico Fontana." The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 7 December 2022
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^Dr. Veress Endre,Basta György, Hadvezér Levelezése és Iratai (1602—1607),T. 2, Budapest, 1913, pp. 779 and 782.
- ^Casanova,Histoire de ma vie,7:ix, 8:ix.
- ^One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Vogler, Georg Joseph".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 171–172.
- ^Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life: Selected Letters,transl. Robert Spaethling, (W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2000), 17.
- ^Lipowsky, Felix Joseph (1811).Baierisches Musik-Lexicon.Munich: Giel. pp. 261–262.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^"... culminating with a brilliant season [1821] in Rome, during which he was, by Pope Leo XII, decorated with the Order of the Golden Spur..." Nicolo Paganini and His Guarnerius: A Reminiscence of Genoa,The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular,Vol. 27, No. 519 (May 1, 1886), pp. 266-270
- ^Kertzer, David I. (28 January 2014).The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe.Random House.
- ^Annuario Pontificio,1954, p. 998
- ^"List of All Award".National Library of Indonesia.Retrieved9 November2022.
