The Royal Order of Saint Hubert (), or sometimes () is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood founded in 1444 or 1445 by Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg. He sought to commemorate his victory over the House of Egmond at the Battle of Linnich on 3 November, which is Saint Hubert's day.
The establishment of the Order occurred during a long-term, intermittent territorial dispute, initially between the Dukes of Jülich and the Dukes of Guelders, who were descended from a female line of the House of Jülich. The dispute began in the 1430s, when Arnold, Duke of Gelderland claimed the duchy of Jülich and the county of Ravensberg, and was resolved in the 1614 Treaty of Xanten, which established the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg of the counties of Ravensberg and Mark with the duchies of Cleves, Jülich and Berg. In 1778, Charles Theodore, Duke of Jülich and Berg and the Count-Elector Palatine, succeeded his childless cousin, Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria and brought the Order to Bavaria.
Initially, the order was open to men and women, although limiting the number of male companions to sixty. It commemorated the conversion of Saint Hubert and his standing as the patron saint of hunters and knights. Over time, the award had other uses as a reward for loyalty to the monarch and service to the princely state.
History
Foundation Sources agree that the Order of Saint Hubert honors a military victory of the Duke of Jülich, on Saint Hubert's day, 3 November 1444.For example, see F.M. Rudge. "Military Orders of St. Hubert." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 January 2010 or Thomas Wilhelm. "Hubert, St. Order of." A military dictionary and gazetteer. Philadelphia: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1881, p. 230. Sources differ on the specific date of establishment of the Order, whether it celebrated the victory at the Battle of Linnich between Gebhard V of Jülich and Arnold of Egmont (or Egmond), or commemorated the battle at a future date. Consequently, the date of the founding depends on the source. Still other sources date the founding of the Order as late as 1473 or 1475.D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton. The knights of the Crown: the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe 1325–1520. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1987, , pp. 604–605.
Twentieth century investigation has helped to clear up some of the confusion. The original Latin statutes of the foundation use Good Friday, in this case 26 March 1445. Furthermore, there is clear written evidence that the Order existed prior to March 1445: The original German statutes were dated immediately after the battle. It is also possible that Gerhard proclaimed the establishment of the Order immediately after the victory of his knights at Linnich, but the documents were not drawn up until later, leading to discrepancy in the dates of 1444 or 1445. To further obfuscate the date of founding, Gerhard's son, William III, renewed the Order upon his own succession to the ducal dignities in 1475, in the so-called New Statutes, which were prepared in Latin and German. These remained the governing documents of the Order until 1708. In this confirmation probably lies the root of confusion over the date of the Order's foundation.
Initially the Order was a knightly brotherhood (Rittersbruderschaft), reflecting the overlapping religious and military aspects of medieval court life. Saint Hubert was the patron saint of hunters and knights. The founding of the Order of the Golden Fleece in the early 15th century started a trend in confraternal princely orders. The purpose of these, whether established by monarchs or princes, was to foster loyalty to a sovereign, replacing to the old Chivalric orders developed in the Crusades. Although some historians classify the Order of the Saint Hubert as a confraternal order, during its 600-year-life, its purpose changed as the fortunes and needs of the Dukes of Jülich and Berg and their successors changed.François Velde. Heradica. 12 March 2006. Accessed 16 February 2010.
Order under the House of Jülich
When Reinhold IV, Duke of Gelder, died in 1423, his nephew Arnold inherited the dukedom. Arnold's cousin, Adolf of Berg, inherited territories near Liège. Arnold believed that Adolf had inherited the better of the two properties, and coveted it for himself. He tried to take it by force and failed; a compromise was reached by which the two agreed to a truce. Adolf of Berg died in 1437 and his cousin, Gerhard IV, the Duke of Jülich and Count of Ravensburg (Westphalia), inherited both the Liège properties and the Duchy of Berg. Arnold reasserted his old claim, maintaining that the truce to which he and Adolf agreed was no longer valid, and prepared to take the duchies by force. Confident in his right to the inheritance, Gerhard met Arnold in battle, at the village of Linnich, in the county of Ravensburg (Westphalia). He and his knights defeated Arnold and his knights on Saint Hubert's day in 1444. In celebration, Gerhard declared the founding of the Order, to reward his loyal and victorious knights.John Bernard Burke. Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of all Nations. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1858, pp. 46–47; Boulton, pp. 604–605.
The Order remained in collateral branches of the family of the Dukes of Jülich and Berg until 1521, when the male line holding the two duchies and the county of Ravensberg became extinct. A daughter, Maria von Geldern, remained to inherit the duchies and the county, but, under the Salic law practiced in the northwestern German states, women could only hold property through a husband or guardian. Consequently, the territories passed to her husband—who was also her distant relative—John III, Duke of Cleves and Mark. The couple had three daughters, one of whom, Ann of Cleves, married Henry VIII of England in 1540, and one son, Wilhelm, who subsequently inherited the duchies and the administration of the Order. The duchies included most of the present-day North Rhine-Westphalia that lay outside the ecclesiastical territories of the Electorate of Cologne and Münster. Wilhelm was known as Wilhelm the Rich.Jonathan Irvine Israel, Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low countries and the struggle for world supremacy, 1585–1713. London: Hambledon Press, 1997, , pp. 30–38.
Order under the House of Wittelsbach-Palatine In March 1609, Duke John William of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died childless. Both Duke Wolfgang William of Palatinate-Neuberg and Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg claimed the territories.Israel, pp. 30–38; Patrick Coby. Thomas Cromwell: Machiavellian statecraft and the English Reformation. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2009. , p. 172. In the subsequent succession chaos, the Order fell into disuse. By the late 17th century, the Duchy of Jülich passed into the jurisdiction of the Prince-Elector Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Neuberg, who descended from a cadet branch of the Palatine line of the House of Wittelsbach. In May 1708, he restored the Order of Saint Hubert and assumed the position of grand master for himself. To reward loyalty and service, he conferred the cross of the Order on several of his courtiers. He also gave the recipients generous pensions on the condition that a tenth be set aside for the poor, and a significant sum be distributed on the day of their reception into the order.Rudge, "Military Orders of St. Hubert." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. Accessed 20 January 2010.
In 1777, the death of Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria without a legitimate male heir ended the main line of Wittelsbach; after the War of the Bavarian Succession, a brief and relatively bloodless contest, Charles Theodore inherited his cousin's dignities.Ernest Flagg Henderson. A short history of Germany (volume 2). New York: Macmillan, 1917, p. 213. The Order moved with the new Elector to Bavaria, where it eventually was confirmed again on 30 March 1800 by Maximilian IV, Elector of Bavaria. In the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, the Order functioned primarily as a military order,Rudge, Military Orders of St. Hubert." similar to the Military Order of Maria Theresa or the Order of Leopold.Boulton, p. 605. The present head of the House of Wittelsbach, Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria, Duke of Bavaria, is the current Grand Master of the order.Guy Stair Sainty, Editor. World Orders of Knighthood & Merit. Burke's Peerage, 2010. , p. 295.
Structure and requirements Initially, hierarchy of membership was relatively flat. The statutes called for a grand master, in this case the Duke of Jülich,Rudge, "Military Orders of St. Hubert." four masters, and a provost, or arms master. Of the four masters, two were required to be representative of families of the Duchies of Jülich or Berg; the origins of the others had no geographic limitations. The masters were the clearing house for membership; they investigated the admission of new members and any alleged infractions by the existing membership. The Provost, a weapons master, maintained the weapons and arms of the brotherhood, and himself wore a special medallion.
The Order was open to men and women, and both genders were entitled companions. Until 1476, there were no limits on the number of companions to be admitted, but that year, with the new edition of the Order's statutes, the Duke limited the number of men to 60;Rudge, "Military Orders of Saint Hubert." unlimited women could be admitted. The editions of the Order's statutes, two in Latin and two in German, established similar requirements for membership. The Latin editions stipulated that the man be of noble birth—eight generations of noble grandparents—and of unblemished reputation; the German versions required that only four grandparents of the man be noble. Women were to be spouses of a companion; in the 1476 versions of the statutes, both Latin and German, female members of the Duchess' household could be admitted even if their husbands were not members or if the women were single, but were required to resign if they left the service of the Duchess. The exception to this clause provided for their continued membership if their husbands became companions of the order.
Restructuring under Maximilian Joseph IV In confirming the Order, on 18 May 1808, the King of Bavaria declared the Order to be the first in the kingdom and linked it to the Order of Civic of Merit. He limited membership to twelve knights from the ranks of counts and barons, excluding himself, as grandmaster, and members (native and foreign), who may be nominated by the sovereign. Entrance fees were 200 gold ducats for princes. Those under the rank of prince paid an entrance fee of 100 silver ducats, which amounted to 120 Reichsthaler; the silver Reichsthaler was 29.44g of .989 fineness.M. Reichard, Itinerary of Germany, or A Traveller's Guide. London: Leigh, 1819, pp. 66–70. He also established a dress costume for festival days, which included not only the insignia of the Order, but a black collar with a sash, narrow, short breeches with poppy-colored garters and bows, a short black cape, a sword, and a plumed hat.Sourindro Mohun Tagore. The orders of knighthood, British and foreign, with a brief review of the titles of rank and merit in ancient Hindusthan. Calcutta, 1884, p. 25. Ludwig II was laid in state and was buried in this apparel.Christopher McIntosh. The Swan King: Ludwig II of Bavaria. London: Tauris, 2000, , p. 200.
Collars, Badges and Stars