[MR] Wikipedia: Order of the Golden Fleece

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1430, Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good (House of Valois,
Burgundy) established *L'Ordre de la Toison d'Or* (Order of the Golden
Fleece), a high order of chivalry.

In 1422 while supporting England against France in the Hundred Years' War,
Philip was offered membership in the Order of the Garter. He declined the
honor when it was pointed out that acceptance could be considered high
treason against his liege lord, the King of France. Thoroughly miffed,
Philip created his own order. Many consider the Golden Fleece to be the
highest European order of chivalry, though the English might quietly
dispute that.

The last Valois Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was killed at the
Battle of Nancy in 1477. Leadership of the order passed through his
daughter, Mary of Burgundy, to her husband Maxamilian I, House of Habsburg.
Habsburg seniority eventually passed to Spain, taking the Order of the
Golden Fleece with it. When the Spanish Habsburg line failed in 1700 and
the Bourbons took the Spanish throne (sparking the War of Spanish
Succession), the Order of the Golden Fleece was split. Today both the
Spanish Bourbon and Austrian Habsburg branches remain in business, and
independent of each other.

Both branches of the Golden Fleece are supposedly Catholic orders. With the
exception of the English Prince Regent  (later King William IV), the
Habsburg branch has remained exclusively Catholic, and is generally only
open to the Habsburg male line. The Bourbon branch inducted its first
Protestant, the Duke of Wellington in 1812, and later inducted Prince
Albert of England. Today the order includes non-Catholics, both men and
women.

More about the Golden Fleece is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Fleece .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Burgundy Geek Extraordinaire