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June 26, 2001
Lourve:
Royal Mace of the Ordre du Saint-Espirt 
Patrimoine:
Book of Statutes of the Ordre du Saint-Espirt
Lourve:
Robes of Honor for the Ordre du Saint-Espirt
Commemorative
Coins for the Ordre du Saint-Espirt
French
Orders of Chivalry
French
Heraldry: Characteristics
Additional
Orders of Chivalry Links
Books
for sale on Peerage, Royalty & Orders of Knighthood
The orders in the Holy Land were often the recipients of many donations, often in the form of estates, in all of Europe. As a result, they had to create a structure to administer these estates locally (a commendatorwas originally a trustee of such an estate, word later corrupted into commander). Thus, orders such as Malta, Saint-Lazarus and others became by nature far-flung, with estates and their administrators in various European countries, and the Order itself in the Middle East.
After the final expulsion of the Franks from Palestine in 1291, these orders either found new bases and activities, or else fell into oblivion. Naturally, their vast estates represented tempting targets, either for outright confiscation (the Order of the Temple was abolished by the Pope in 1312 at the instigation of the French king just for that reason; likewise, Henry VIII confiscated the estates of Malta in England), or else simply subjection of the order to the local sovereign so that its estates could be used as a source of favors and pensions. This was in essence the fate of the Order of Saint-Lazarus. Only Malta managed to survive through the ages, although by the 20th century it had lost its estates everywhere except in Austria.
To the category of military-monastic can also be added the Teutonic
Knights (Deutscher Orden) and the Orders in Spain (Calatrava, Alcantara,
Santiago, Montesa), which represented analogs of the crusading spirit deployed
in the colonization of Eastern Europe or the Reconquista of Spain on the
Muslims.
The national orders are orders of chivalry, usually restricted
to the nobility, with limited membership and only one class, which sovereigns
created in order to find new ways of binding to their person the loyalty
of an aristocracy whose feudal allegiance was waning. The model for these
orders was that of the Knights of the Round Table around King Arthur. The
most famous and one of the oldest ones is the Order
of the Garter in England, created in 1348. These orders proliferated
in the 15th and 16th centuries. From the 18th century to the present, sovereigns
and governments have tended to create orders of merit, without nobiliary
requirements and few if any knightly characteristics (such as ceremonies,
oaths, duties).
Private orders are less well-known. A number of them were created
for devotional or moral purposes by private citizens, who often sought
the protection or approval of the Pope or of a sovereign. In fact, military-monastic
orders often started as private orders, organized by an individual or group
of individuals; they later gained papal recognition as Orders of the Church
and acquired wealth and influence which placed them above ordinary private
orders. In France, a number of orders were created by important lords,
vassals of the king of France such as the dukes of Orléans, Burgundy
or Bourbon. Some of these orders were similar in intent to the national
orders, at a regional level so to speak; others were like private orders,
for devotional purposes. I placed them in a separate category although
I tend to think of them as private orders.
Whether Orders of Merit should be included as orders of chivalry is a complex question. I see them as distinct, because they usually have no nobiliary and religious requirements, and because they tend to reward past behavior rather than summon for future action. However, in many ways they extend the traditions of national orders of chivalry, particularly in the names of ranks, types of insignia, and in their general purpose of both rewarding meritorious subjects and binding their loyalty to the sovereign. In France, the order of Saint-Louis (1693) was the first of this kind, and became the prototype for the Legion of Honor.
See more information on Saint-Michel on Guy Sainty's Web site.
Portrait of François Ier by Jean Clouet. Notice
the collar of Saint-Michel.
On December 31, 1578, Henri III created the Ordre du Saint-Esprit (Order of the Holy Ghost). It's primary purpose was to gather around the King and to reaffirm the principal heads of the "catholic party" in full war of religion that Henri III created in December 1578 a new order of knighthood dedicated to the "benoist Holy Spirit", , in memory of his accession to the throne of Poland (1573) and France (1574) both on Whitsunday (then of France one day of Pentecost). This new command in addition owed stage with the devalorization about the Michaelmas, and the Holy Spirit Ordre asserted himself immediately as the principal command of the French royalty and as one of the most brilliant of all European Chivalry Orders.
MEMBERSHIPS REQUIREMENTS
Another point of interest, in article 8 it was written that on the ordinary clothes, therefore daily, the knights were to carry hanging gold cross to the collar the " to a ribbon of soye of celestial color bleuë ". It is thus due for the first time in the history is defined the ribbon of a command, because the Michaelmas had received a black ribbon under Henri II without that being written thousand share (thus simple habit), and the Golden Fleece employed the red ribbon, eminently Spanish color of command, and always such, as of Philippe II, like one small seeing it on a table of the king in armour, painted by Anton van Darhost or Mor (Antonio Moro), going back to 1557.
It is this cordon-bleu cook replacing the collar and carried, in saltire
which was judged too much malcommode by Henri IV and Louis XIII when they
overlapped, the cross their leaf the chest. Henri IV had thus the idea
to pass the cord under the left arm and at this point in time was born
the large cord hack some for almost all the commands of the world. Only,
among the old commands, the Golden Fleece and Annonciade did not have a
large cord in scarf, the Michaelmas receiving finally this badge under
Louis XIV the ecclesiastics and the magistrates of the Holy Spirit (like
the chancellor or it Minister of Justice of France if they belonged to
the command) however continued to carry the ribbon in saltire because of
their clothing.
In article 84
it was known as that the prelates, commanders (thus knights) and officers
(the four large officers) will carry the bent cross of the command sui,
the left side of their coats, dresses and other clothings of top: It be
make in the shape of a Maltese cross de Malte in embroidery of money, with
medium of which it with have a dove illustrate, and with angle, some ray
and flower of lily, also in embroidery of money, some size, and according
to the portrait that We of have make make "The ray or ray appear indeed
on certain old representation of command and disappear quickly with XVII`
century, but we hold there the origin of plate of command, because the
embroidery become gradually metal plate métalliques with XVIIIe
and XIXe century.
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From that date, the Saint-Esprit was always conferred with the Saint-Michel (both called "les Ordres du Roi"), although Saint-Michel continued to be conferred alone, especially to artists and writers. The orders were abolished by decree of June 20, 1790. Louis XVIII awarded both orders while in exile (although, according to the statutes of the Saint-Esprit, he could not do so until after his coronation, which never took place). Both orders were reestablished in 1814 upon the Restoration of the monarchy without the nobiliary requirement, and abolished again in 1830 by Louis-Philippe.
Some pretenders continued to bestow the Saint-Esprit. The comte de Chambord, grandson of Charles X, wore the cross. The duc d'Orléans (†1926) wore the cross and awarded it to a few people: his cousin Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (1861-1948), his brother the duc de Montpensier, his cousin the duc de Vendôme, his cousin Manuel II of Portugal (1889-1932). The comte de Paris refuses to bestow the order, considering that it can only be done by a ruling monarch. Among the Spanish Bourbons, various pretenders have considered themselves to be grandmasters of the Saint-Esprit, and have bestowed the order to various people: Don Carlos duke of Madrid (1847-1919) who inherited the insignia of the comte de Chambord, his son Don Jaime duke of Madrid (1870-1931) to Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and to Xavier of Bourbon-Parma in 1927, the eldest son of Alphonse XIII, don Jaime, duke of Segovia (1908-75) to the duc de Bauffremont, the duc de Polignac, and his son Don Alfonso duke of Anjou (1936-89) to the present duke of Anjou among others.
Modern references: