Order of the Dragon
The
Order of the Dragon (
German:
Drachenorden;
Latin:
Societas Draconistrarum) is an order of selected nobles modeled on the
Order of Saint George of Burgundy. The order was created by
Serbs, but originally commissioned in
1408 by
Sigismund, the
Holy Roman Emperor (while still
king of
Hungary) and his second wife (
Barbara Cilli) in order to protect the royal family. Members of the Order were known as
draconists.
 |
Miloš Obilić with a dragon on his helmet |
Miloš Obilić, a
Serbian knight, had created the secret order of the
Dragon of
Saint George. His shield represented the sun with twelve rays and there were twelve knights, himself included, belonging to this order. As a distinctive sign, they wore a dragon on their helmet. The aim of the order was the death of the
Ottoman Sultan Murad I.
On
June 15,
1389, at the
Battle of Kosovo, Miloš made his way into the Ottoman camp on the pretext of being a deserter, forced his way into the Sultan's tent and stabbed him to death. Obilić was later executed together with all other Serbian prisoners by Murad's son,
Beyazid I.
Only one of the twelve knights of the Dragon survived. He later became a trainer of Serbian prince -
Despot Stefan Lazarević. Lazarević was the son and heir to
Lazar, the Serbian prince who died at the Battle of Kosovo. He was also the first
European-style knight in Serbia. Stefan became a vassal of Hungary and a knight of a special order, so when Sigismund created the Order, Stefan was the first on the list of members.
On
December 13,
1408, the charter for the Order was publicly announced, dedicating the Order to the defense of the cross from its enemies, particularly the Ottomans. The founding twenty-four members were inducted in 1408, including:
*
Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary*
Stefan Lazarević of Serbia *
King Alfonso of Aragon and Naples *
King Ladislaus II of Poland *
Grand Prince Vitovt of Lithuania *
Duke Ernst of Austria *
Christopher III, Duke of Bavaria and King of Denmark*
Pipo of OzoraSymbol of the Order
|
Reconstruction of the order patch (I) based on existing austrian museum artefacts |
For their
symbol, the Order designed an insignia of a dragon with its tail coiled around its neck; on the back of the dragon, from the base of the neck to the tail, is the
Red Cross of Saint George, with the entire image on an
argent field. The dragon represented
The Beast of the
Book of Revelation while the red cross represented the victory of
Christ over the forces of evil. Members were required to wear the symbol (often as a
medallion) at all times and were often buried with the symbol.
A
University of Bucharest annotation to the original edict which establishes the Order reads
O Quam Misericors est Deus, Pius et Justus, which may be part of the emblem.
|
Reconstruction of the emblem (II) based on the sketches in Austrian Museum custody; the original badge is missing |
Growth of the Order
In
1431, Sigismund chose to expand the ranks of the Order. To achieve this, he invited a number of politically influential and militarily useful vassals and nobles for indoctrination into the Order. Included in this ceremony was
Vlad II Dracul, father of
Vlad Ţepeş, who was serving as frontier commander guarding the passes from
Transylvania to
Wallachia. (The post-title
Dracul refers to being invested with the Order of the Dragon.)
The addition of new members caused the creation of many classes within the Order. Each class had a slight variation on the symbol of the order, although the dragon motif was dominant in each variation. Common changes included the addition of inscriptions like
O Quam Misericors est Deus ("Oh, how merciful God is") and
Justus et Paciens ("Justifiably and peacefully"). The order remained prominent until the death of Sigismund in
1437. Without a strong sponsor, the Order quickly lost influence and prestige.
Few historical artifacts of the Order remain today, although the symbol of the Order has been adopted for many family crests throughout Europe. A copy of the edict forming the Order dating to
1707 is the oldest historical artifact of the Order and is stored at the University of
Bucharest.
The Imperial and Royal Dragon Court and Order, is a recent and unauthorized revival of the original Order of the Dragon. Although not generally considered a legitimate Order of Chivalry, it has gained a growing group of adherants. One of its most prominent members is Michael Stewart of Albany, better known as the self styled "
Prince Michael of Albany". Albany claims to be the direct descendant of
Charles Edward Stuart, last head of the
House of Stuart.
The
black metal band
Cradle of Filth have an official fanclub titled
The Order of the Dragon.
The Order of the Dragon was used in
Elizabeth Kostova's novel
The Historian. They were in the book as the underlings of Vlad Ţepeş (whom they considered to be
Dracula) and were used to further his scholarly interests.
In the role-playing game series
World of Darkness, there is a covenant known as the
Ordo Dracul that claims to have been founded by Dracula.
*
The Royal House of Stewart - the website of "Prince Michael of Albany"
