The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-15
FEMALE ORDERS.
Some of the Most Noted in the Worlds
. istOry.

That ladies were among the earliest
knights of the Garter, says the London
| Queen, is made evident, not only by the
archives of the order, but by the record OF
sculptured stone. 1t is now perfectly GER
tain that this fam us order of knighthood
| was, as the legend # the Countess of Sails
bury implies, ms ituted in honor of the
fair sex, and that ladies participated in its
rights and donors The queen consort, the
wives and widows of the knights, received
| permi sion, by royal sanction to wear the
| habit of the Order of the Garter on the
feast days of st. George; and robes were
annually given out to them from the royal
| wardrobe, of the same material and cOlor as
| the surcoats of the knights, and embroidered
| like them, with numerous small carriers en-
circled with the otto: "Honi SOFT qui NAL
pense." Each lady of the order w o wo Q
| Oh her left arm garter similar to that of a
| k light, was considered member, and was
| styled Lady of the Society of St. George.
Between the time of John of Gaunt and
the extinction of the Plantagenets, many
| noble ladies were members of the Order of
| the Garter. The frs roll ex ant is of the
| time of Richa q H. In it figure the XII gs
mott er, Joan Plantagenet ''the Fair Maid
of Kent,D he widow of that mirror of
c ivalry and greatest mercenarv soldier in
Europe, the Black Prince), and the kings
Lady Conference.-The fairest lady in al
England" as Froissa styles her. 1t COM
prses also the Queen OF Spain, whose hus-
band was not knight of the order, and the
ill-used Countess of Oxford, the Lady
Phillppa de Courcy, granddaughter of Ed
ward Ill, whom her husband, De We're,
repudiated, no other reason than his
wish to marry one Lancerona, Portu-
guese girl-an awkward fact, by the way,
for believers in chivalry. In the reign of
Richard H., the two daughters Of the Duke
of Lancaster-Philppa, wife of John, King
of Portugal, and herire, wife of Henry.
Pri ce of AstuIias-were also Knights of
The Garter.
Up to this point tie Garter roll proves
no more than that the ladies of the family
of the sovereign were admitted to the order !;
but in the succeeding reigus tie limits of
knighthood were largely extended. Among
the ames oc ur those of the Countesses of
Buckingham, Pemb oke Salisbury, Huting-
ton, Kent, Derby, West noreland, Arundel
Warwick and Richmond; the Ladies Mohun
LIE Despencer, Poynings, Swynfor Fitz-
walter, De Ros, Waterton and Burnell.
The la lady Knight of the Garter as
NJ rgaret Beau or Countess OF Richmond,
mother of Henry VII.
II was not till early a century after the
de tn of the defender of the faith that any
attempt was made to restore the Knight
hood of the Garter to women.
The Austrian Order of the Starry os,
owes its origin to Eleanor Gonzaga, widow
of the Emperor Ferdinand ii. The origin
of the order was miracle The House of
Hapsburg has long asserted that it has in
its possession g small piece of the true cross,
and tie Emperors 1uaximilian and Fred
erick III. wore that relic about their per-
sons, enclosed in a cross of gold. After the
ath of the latter, Leopold Ill, his uc-
cessor, presented it to the wild wed empress,
daughter of Duke Charles Ii. of Mantau, to
comfort her in her Wildwood. She kept
it very carefully locked in a small box.
adorned with crystal and enamel ard COW
cred with silS. l. happened that on the
night of Feb. 2, 1868, a fire suddenly broke
out in the imperial castle at Vienna, Just
below the apartments Of the Empress Flea
nor. The fire soCn reached them, and the
empress only escaped with difficulty. On
the following day search was made for the
relic, and it was discovered among the
ruins, fortunately untouched by the coufla-
grafton, with the exception of the meta,
which was partly melted. The empress
was so rejoiced at the cident that she
ordered a solemn procession, and resolved
to found a female order--not only, as the
statutes say, to commemorate the miraculous
event, bat also to induce the men,
bers to devote then selves thoroughly
to The worship of the Holy Cross,
and pass their lives in the exer-
Csc of religion and works of charity. Pope
Clement x. confirmed the new order by a
bull, the Emperor Leopold confirmed the
statutes, and the order received its name
after the constellation in the southern hem
sphere. 1t is not difficult t. believe that
feminine decoration has undergone several
changes of fashion since 1868. 1t now taxes
the form Of a oval medal, with broad blue
ln1 alf ann. Gil he
trian eagle, with golden claws, upon which
rests a green enameled golden eros,
m ounted in brown wood. Upon it is, in
black letters upon white ground tue
motto of the order, 'Salus ct gloria." 1t is
worn on the left side, SUSPENDED by bow
of black silk ribbon.
The next founded of female orders has
very differ emit origin. 1t was established in
17l4 by Gar Peter in honor of Martha
Rabe, a Livonian woman, the wife of
Swedish dragon, who, after variety of
modifying adventures, induced the Gar to
make her Empress of Russia under the
name of Catherine l. Originally men were
received into this order, but at later
period the decoration was strictly confined
o ladies. The order is divided into two
classes, the number of the Grand Crosses
being limited to the princesses of the i'm
perial family and twelve noble ladies of the
highest Russian ariStocracy. This order
has Pithin the past year been conferred on
three of our own prlDcesses-the Princess
Helena, the Princess Louise (NarchioneSs of
Lorne) and the Princess Beatrice. The
Grand Cross, adj rned with diamonds, Is
worn across the right shoulder toward tue
left side, by broad p ppy-red ribbon with
silver stripes Tli9 ribbon was formerly
blue: but souvellt femme uar{e On the
ribbon is embroidered the equiva ent in
Russian, "For Love and Fatberland" The
reverse is very curious, showing an eyrie at
the top of an old tower, at the foot of
which two eagles, with serpents in their
beaks, are seen in tho act Of carrying them
up as food for their young. Above are the
words "Equot muniG co1apdriS" in allusion
to the services rendered by the young
Catherine to the much older Peter. The
costume consists Of silver stuff with gold |
and of hat and bow of green
velvet.
Russia has another decoration for ladies |
the Maria Medal, founded in 1928 in men,
ory OF Maria Feodorowna, by her son, the |
Emperor Nicholns. 1t is a decoration 're- |
served solely for ladies of UNFINISHED |
character, for faithful services" and is |
generally conferred on the directresses Of |
Institutions founded by the Empress Maria. |
The Maria medal has one peculia itY--"the |
possessors cannot under any circumstances |
be deprived of it," The ribbon j. of the |
same crimson and black stripe as that Of |
the Order Of st. Vladimir.
Bavaria boasts four female orders To |
become member Of the Order of 1t. Eliza
eth "a lady must be Roman Catholic, and