[MR] BBC: Order of the Garter, and Saint George

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Today is the feast day of Saint George, a martial saint if there ever was
one. Not coincidently, it is also the foundation day of Great Britain's
highest order of chivalry, the The Most Noble Order of the Garter, of which
Saint George is the patron saint.

The Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 by King Edward III. Tales of
its start when Edward restored a garter which had fallen from a lady's
stocking at a court ball are probably spurious. Edward was very conscious
of symbols in his pursuit of the French throne, and also of buying the
loyalty of his nobles through gestures. The Order of the Garter was a
stroke of genius.

>From its inception, the Order's core has been limited to the
English/British monarch, the Prince of Wales, and 24 Companions of the
Garter. In addition there are Supernumary Members, usually other members of
the royal family and heads of allied governments, who don't count toward
the total. The monarch alone makes the selections to the order, and it
includes both men and women.

In the middle ages, supernumary membership in the Order of the Garter was a
highly prized honor throughout Europe. Garter membership was once offered
to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, but he had to decline due to
conflicting loyalties to his overlord, the King of France. So Philip
started his own parallel order of chivalry, the Order of the Golden Fleece,
which is also still in business in two versions. A rival order to the
Garter, the Order of the Star, was founded in 1351 by the French King John
II. It has been defunct for a long time.

An excellent summary of the Most Noble Order of the Garter is found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter .

And Saint George? Well, as he is the patron saint of Great Britain, to also
be the patron of the realm's highest order of knighthood is a no-brainer.

George was supposedly a Roman soldier who was martyred for refusing to
recant his Christian faith. Whether he was actually a member of
Diocletian's Praetorian Guard and his death was in 303 CE is open to
question, but that's the legend now. The bit about the dragon was added in
the 11th century. All that said, he is/was regarded as the chief military
saint by many Christian authorities. He is the patron of whole lot of
places besides Great Britain, the nation of Georgia being somewhat obvious.

You can read about Saint George at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George .

And since I've mentioned them above, you can learn about the Order of the
Golden Fleece at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Fleece
, and the Order of the Star at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_(France) .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆