Dragon Order
The Dragon Order ( lat . Societas Draconistarum , ital . Ordine del Drago [ne] , clothes . Sárkány Lovagrend , rum . Ordinul Dragonului , serb . Витешки ред змаја ) was a 1408 established a Catholic noble Order. Foundation day could also have coincided with the coronation of the founder, Sigismund of Luxembourg , as King of Hungary in 1387.
It has also been referred to as the Order of the Conquered Dragon , Order of the Conquered Dragon, or Order of the fallen dragon . These names cannot be found in the documents. Generally it is only called the Dragon Order or Order of the Dragon Knights ( Societas nostra Draconica seu Draconitarum ) or Hungarian Dragon Order .
introduction
The order was brought into being by the future emperor Sigismund , who had been king of Hungary since 1387 , and his second wife Barbara von Cilli on December 12, 1408. The model was the Order of Saint George founded by Charles I of Hungary in 1326 .
The patron saints of the order were the dragon slayer St. George and St. Margit of Antioch . Legend has it that Margit was swallowed by the devil in the form of a dragon, but with God's grace escaped from the dragon's stomach without injuries.
The symbol of the order was the dragon with its tail wrapped around its neck ( Ouroboros ). The order symbol was worn directly on clothing in the form of a neck or shoulder ornament. From 1418 until Sigismund's death , the symbol was given the additional inscription "O quam misericors est Deus justus et pius" ("Oh how merciful is God, how just and pious"). Sigismund could be a golden dragon's neck in Oradea bury. The symbol changed many times over the centuries - but the dragon and the cross always remained part of the order. Originally it was a red cross on a silver background, sewn on a black background.
As a knight on behalf of the dragon, you committed yourself to defending Christianity .
history
Numerous politically and militarily influential personalities were present at the introduction of the order, including Stefan Lazarević (Serbia), Nicolae von Gara, Stibor von Stibericz , Pipo von Ozora , the Ban von Severin .
At the Reichstag in Nuremberg , Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary, extended the ranks of the order, for example with the poet Oswald von Wolkenstein and Vlad II , Prince of Wallachia, who is said to have received the nickname Dracul as a sign of his membership of the Dragon Order. Other members did not swear on the loyalty of the order, but were allies, e.g. B. Władysław II. Jagiełło (King of Poland), Vytautas the Great (Grand Duke of Lithuania), Henry V (King of England) and Brunoro della Scala (nominal imperial vicar of Verona and Vicenza ). Another well-known member of the order was Alfonso V of Aragon . Duke Ernst "Der Eiserne" of Austria , King Albrecht II and Stefan Lazarević are also said to have belonged to the Dragon Order.
The leading families of the order were Gara and von Cilli . Their commitment was the loyalty of the royal families and their friends to the order. The law of the Order was drawn up by Bishop Eberhard von Oradea , Chancellor of the Hungarian Court. A copy of this law from 1707 and a Hungarian edition from 1841 have been preserved. Analyzes showed that the order of the Dragon Order (symbolized by tortuosi daconi , taken over from the Order of St. George) was the fight against pagan armies and Hussites outside of Orthodox communities. According to this, the protection of the king and his family by Hungarian aristocratic groups had the highest priority. During Sigismund's lifetime membership in this order allowed political access to Hungary and its king.
The cross element of the Dragon Order changed with Vlad II Dracul in 1437 from the Latin cross to the Hungarian double cross, the patriarchal cross . Vlad personalized the symbolism from Psalm 91: You step on lions and otters, you step on young lions and snakes . It stood for the efforts of Vlad II for the victory of the Christian world over the Ottoman Empire . During his reign he had coins minted with his image and the symbol of the dragon on the reverse. The symbol of the order also found its way into many family coats of arms of its time. Over time, the importance of the Dragon Order declined.
literature
swell
- Between new zeytting, and even bigger Christian Victoria, so the Christians, with God's help and by-hand, have defeated and overcome 500,000 Turks at Ostrahitz in Croatia on October 29th, anno of the 87th year. More a new Zeyttung, except Constantinople the 27th Nov., Anno 1587. Jar, which also the Georgians and Ianitscharen, vil thousand Turks slain on Zweyen order , Augspurg: [Printer:] Wörly, 1587
- Regesta Imperii - Section XI: The documents of Emperor Sigismund 1410 / 11-1437 , Munich: Bavarian State Library
Representations
- Th. V. Bogyay: Article " Dragon Order ", in: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Volume 3, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-7608-8903-4 , p. 1346
- Wladyslaw Kuzdrzal-Kicki: The dragon order: genesis, foundation and degeneration. Documentation and conclusions , Vol. 1, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-921513-15-4
- Georg Janesch-Troll / Hans Mendgen (ed.): Marienburg in Burzenland: On the history of the former knightly order community in Transylvania , Bielefeld 1987, ISBN 3-7694-0419-X
- Ralf-Peter Märtin: Dracula, The life of Prince Vlad Tepes , new edition of the first edition, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-8031-2396-8
- Illustration and description of all orders of knights in Europe , reprint of the orig. Augsburg 1792, Holzminden 1999 ?, ISBN 3-8262-1807-8
See also
Web links
- Encyclopaedia Humana Hungarica 03
- (Information in approx.)
- private page Dragon Order
- Order of the dragon in the coat of arms (PDF file; 1.6 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ludwig Kuhn, Handbook of the history and constitution of all flourishing knight orders in Europe, Camesinaschen Buchhandlung, Vienna 1811, p. 135
- ↑ Karl Gottlieb von Windisch, Ungrisches Magazin or contributions to Hungarian history , Pressburg, 1782, page 115, ( online )
- ↑ Source ( Memento from May 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive )