Order of St. George (Bavaria)
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The Order of the House of Knights of St. George (short: Order of St. George ) was, as the Bavarian order of knights, probably the best-known of all 13 orders of knights that were named after St. George . It still exists today as a house order of the House of Wittelsbach .
history
The order was founded during the Crusades in the 12th century. In 1494 it was renewed by the Roman-German King Maximilian I , after it had died again, by the Elector Karl Albrecht, later Emperor Charles VII , on April 24, 1729 and restored by Pope Benedict XIII. approved. The Pope granted him all the privileges of the Teutonic Order , the knights had to commit themselves in their pledge to defend the Immaculate Conception of Mary . After the Bavarian Kurlinie expired in 1778, the order was recognized by Elector Karl Theodor as a Palatinate Bavarian order. Maximilian I Joseph elevated the George Order to the second order of Bavaria and King Ludwig I provided it with comprehensive statutes on February 25, 1827. Finally, the order of knights under King Ludwig II was reorganized on April 17, 1871 in the spirit of its time, in that the purpose of the order was to replace the "defense of the Christian Catholic faith" with the exercise of works of mercy.
organization
The order had two "tongues", the German and the foreign. At the head of the order were the grand master (king), the first grand prior (crown prince), the second grand prior (next royal prince) and a chancellor. The owners were the Grand Commandery , Grand Commander ad honores, Capitular Commander , Commander ad honores and Knights . The king appointed three grand committees (de grâce), three advanced (de justice). The order candidate had to prove an ancestral sample of eight paternal and eight maternal noble ancestors and be at least 25 years old.
In addition, the order had a religious knightly class. The highest priest was the provost. From 1733 the office was connected to the Stiftspropstei St. Wolfgang am Burgholz . As the highest cleric of the religious order, this provost held a respected position of honor at the electoral court and was infulfilled , that is, he had the honorary right to wear an episcopal miter . From 1774 to 1789 this office was held by Joseph Ferdinand Guidobald von Spaur , who became titular bishop of Abila in Palestine in 1780 and was promoted to court bishop of Munich in 1789. The last religious provost before secularization was Count Damian Hugo Philipp von Lehrbach (1738–1815) from 1789 , who already gave a printed sermon at the religious assembly on April 23, 1782, in the presence of Pope Pius VI. who took part as a guest staying in Munich.
After the First World War and the end of the monarchy in the Kingdom of Bavaria , the order was able to maintain itself as a charitable association due to its character as a house order. The Grand Master is always the head of the House of Wittelsbach, male members of the former royal house are admitted to the rank of Grand Prior. The current Grand Master is Franz Duke of Bavaria , Order Chancellor Christoph Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.
Order decoration
The sign of the order is an eight-pointed golden cross with small balls on the cross tips. The image of the Virgin Mary standing on a moon can be seen in the medallion on the front on a sky-blue background . In the corners of the cross the letters VIBI ("virgini immaculatae Bavaria immaculata": "the immaculate virgin, the immaculate Bavaria"). On the reverse the depiction of Saint George surrounded by a laurel wreath , as well as the letters IVPF (“justus ut palma florebit”: “The righteous will green like a palm tree.” - Ps 92,13 LUT ).
Sky blue ribbon edged with white and dark blue on the edge, which holds the medal through a lion's head. The Grand Commander carry the ribbon from the right to the left side of the body and on the chest the sky-blue, eight-pointed, silver-framed star with Bavarian alarm clocks in the corners, in the middle a silver shield with a red cross, the Commander the cross on the neck and the star, the knight the cross in the buttonhole. At the religious festivals (April 24th and December 8th), the members of the order wear a special costume and the cross on a gold chain .
The ceremony clothing consisted of a light blue velvet salar with a white silk and ermine lining. White atlas silk trousers, silky white stockings and shoes with rosettes of the same kind completed the clothing.
National coat of arms
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The George Order was one of the four royal Bavarian orders that were depicted in the state coat of arms.
Award numbers
1806 to 1918
| Order class | Awards |
|---|---|
| Grand Prior | 14th |
| Grand Commander | 92 |
| Commander | 82 |
| Knight | 288 |
| St. George's Medal | 75 |
1918 to 1986
| Order class | Awards |
|---|---|
| Grand Prior | 7th |
| Grand Commander | 59 |
| Commander | 76 |
| Knight | 145 |
Brilliant star of the Order of St. George, Residenz Treasury, Munich
Order stars from the treasury of the Munich residence
Statue of Saint George, Munich Treasury, around 1590
Prince Carl as 2nd Grand Prior, with a candidate and a knight
Ludwig II as grand master
Ludwig III. as a grandmaster
literature
- Arnhard Graf Klenau: Order in Germany and Austria , Volume II, Graf Klenau Verlags GmbH, Offenbach 2008, ISBN 3-937064-13-3 , pp. 92-101
- Ernst von Destouches : History of the Royal Bavarian House Knight Order of St. George . Munich 1871. (digital view)
- Georg Baumgartner, Lorenz Seelig: The Royal Bavarian House Knight Order of Saint George 1729–1979 . Catalog of the exhibition in the Munich Residenz from April 21 to June 24, 1979. Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes, Munich 1979.
- Coat of arms calendar of the Kgl. Bavarian House Knight Order of Saint George , Munich, 1807; (Digital view)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website Historical Lexicon of Bavaria
- ^ Digital scan of the religious festival sermon before Pope Pius VI., 1782
- ↑ Joseph Schwind : Damian Hugo Philipp Graf von und zu Lehrbach (1738–1815) the benefactors of the Speyer Cathedral , Speyer , Jäger'sche Buchdruckerei, 1915, p. 33
- ↑ Register of associations at the Munich District Court (VR No. 6274)