Ordre de Saint-Michel
The Ordre de Saint-Michel ( Order of Michael) was a French knightly order .
founding
King Louis XI. founded it on August 1, 1469 in Amboise in response to the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece . The purpose of the order was not least to strengthen the royal central power at the expense of the power of the nobility. Accordingly, the Order of Michael was also under the direction of the king, who carried the title of Chef et Souverain . The knights of the order also had to take a personal oath on him.
Seat
The abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy was originally planned as the seat of the order . But it turned out to be so remote that not a single religious meeting took place there.
As early as 1496, the seat was moved to the Saint-Michel du Palais chapel in Paris. For a long time the order suffered from insufficient funding. In 1496 Charles VIII asked the Pope to set up a college of priests near the chapel, in whose rooms the order could meet. Approved by a papal bull in 1497 , the plan was not pursued after Charles' death a year later.
In 1555 the seat was finally moved to the Sainte Chapelle in Vincennes Castle .
Order chain
The knights wore a gold necklace made of shells tied with knots, on which hung a medallion showing the dragon slayer Michael .
Members
Originally only representatives of the high nobility belonged to the Order of Michael, such as the dukes of Berry , Anjou , Bourbon and Orléans , who were related to the king, as well as members of the houses of Luxembourg , Laval , La Trémoille , Chabannes , Crussol , Rohan , Dunois , Melun and Artois . A king of Denmark and one of Scotland were also accepted. The Duke of Brittany refused entry into the order out of hostility to the royal family, the Duke of Geldern because of his membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece . Under Charles VIII the proportion of foreigners rose, u. a. by accepting members of the Stuart and Savoy houses and the Venetian ambassador Luca Spinola .
Originally the number of living members of the Michael Order was limited to 31, then to 36. In 1565 the limit was officially raised to 50 in the course of the wars of religion, and in 1578 to 100. Louis XIV. Also softened this limit temporarily, while his successor strictly enforced it again, but accepted more than non-noble and new-nobility in the order than every other king before him. In fact, the official limit was mostly exceeded by far: when Henri III took office. in 1574 the order is said to have included around 700 knights.
Decline in importance
Because of the numerical expansion and the increasing opening of the lower needle and the middle suffered the order, in particular with respect to the order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Garter a significant loss of prestige. His insignium was now mockingly called “le collier à toutes bêtes” (“everyday chain”).
Not least in response to this, Henri III. 1578 the Ordre du Saint-Esprit . This was reserved for foreign ruling princes and the high nobility of France, including the royal princes. With their appointment, its members automatically belonged to the Order of Michael.
Since the time of Louis XV. the order is increasingly open to writers, artists and officials. The necklace is rarely worn. It was replaced by a black ribbon, which earned the order the name "cordon noir". The Michaels medallion was replaced by a gold or enameled cross.
resolution
In the course of the revolution , the Order of Michael was dissolved in 1791, as were the other orders. In 1814 he was briefly revived, but hardly any new knights were appointed. King Louis-Philippe finally abolished it in 1830.
In the twentieth century, two Spanish Bourbon descendants manifested their claim to the French throne by being awarded the Order of Michael: Duke Jaime I appointed Count Jean d'Andigné on August 2, 1929 and his son Amedée on August 25, 1930 as knights. In 1960, Duke Jaime II accepted six people into the order: his secretary Patrick Esclafer de la Rode , Count Pierre de la Forest Divonne , Massimo Sciolette , Teodoro Constanti Zarifi , Karl-Otto Ziesniss and another unknown person.
See also
Web links
literature
- Les ordres du roi. Répertoire général contenant les noms et qualités de tous les chevaliers des Ordres royaux, militaires et chevaleresques ayant existé en France de 1099 à 1830. Avec une histoire des Ordres du Saint-Esprit, de Saint-Michel, de Saint Louis etc., ed. by Ludovic de Colleville and François de Saint-Christo , Paris undated [1925]. [S. V-XII brief overview of the Order, pp. 67–152 List of Members and pp. 153–156 List of Officials]
- Peter Vetter, The French Order of Knights of St. Michael (1469-1830), Diss.phil., Bonn 1979.
- Philippe Contamine, Michaelsorden, in: Lexikon des Mittelalters Vol. 6, 1993, Col. 607.
- D'Arcy JD Boulton, The knights of the crown. The monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe (1325-1520), 2nd improved edition, Woodbridge 2000, ISBN 0851157955 and ISBN 0851154174 , pp. 427-447.