Knighthood and Orders of Chivalry

The following pages deal with knights and knighthood, as well as the related concept of order of knighthood, both in its original form as a medieval institution, and its modern form as an award of merit. See the introduction for a development of these distinctions.

Contents

  • General Introduction to Knights and Knighthood
  • Women and Knighthood in the Middle Ages
  • History of the Orders of Knighthood: a Survey
  • Specific Orders:
  • An essay on legitimacy of orders.
  • Bibliography

    There are many, many books on the topic of orders of chivalry. There is an excellent bibliography:

    • Suetens, Ivo: Bibliographie Numismatique - Supplément: Ordres et Décorations. Bruxelles, Cercle d'Etudes Numismatiques, Travaux: 1969, 1977 (2 vol.).

    Lists of British knights

    To identify a British knight (knight bachelor or knight member of an order), one can use:

  • Shaw, William Arthur: The knights of England; a complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors; Incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland, compiled by G. D. Burtchaell. London, Printed and published for the Central chancery of the orders of knighthood, Sherratt and Hughes, 1906.
  • Shaw's lists go "from the earliest time" to 1904 inclusive. For any honour awarded sinec January 1, 1900, the online edition of the London Gazette can be searched.

    Other Resources on the Web

    Listings of Knights

  • ORB's page on military orders with scholarly contributions, primary documents (such as the rules of the Templars and Teutonic nights) and links
  • Page on Chivalric Orders by Guy Stair Sainty, the most complete site on the subject.
  • A Page on Honours from the British monarchy's official website.
  • Honours in New Zealand
  • The Canadian Honours System
  • The British Venerable Order of Saint John, US priory (with further links)
  • Knightly Orders & International Nobility, by Luigi Mendola.
  • The ancient Portuguese military orders by José Vicente de Bragança
  • links to Military Orders, Orders of Knighthood & Orders of Merit
  • As Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas (in Portuguese)
  • Official Web Page of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta's Assocation in the United States.
  • A page of links related to the Order of Malta from the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard.
  • The Orders of Chivalry Web Site, currently contains articles the British Orders of Chivalry, the Orders of St John (the Sovereign Order of Malta and on the four non-Catholic Orders of St John known as the Alliance Orders), the Order of St Lazarus, and the Order of St Stanislas.
  • Catholic Encyclopaedia entry on Chivalry
  • International Commission on Orders of Chivalry originally founded in 1962, refounded in 1999-2001

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    François Velde