GOLDEN FLEECE AWARD

The tenth of January 1429, the day of his wedding to Isabella of Portugal, a Burgundian Duke Philip the Good established the Golden Fleece - in honor of the Virgin Mary and St. Andrew and in defense of the faith and the Catholic Church. However, the symbolism of the Order and its motto is caused by some researchers doubt that Philip Good guided only by pious intentions. Some note that the establishment of the Order of the Golden Fleece was a political goal, and one of them - gather in a single fist, a small group of high nobility of the various provinces, which rules the Duke of Burgundy. These provinces were joined to the domain of Philip the Good because of the numerous dynastic marriages and various forms of inheritance, but did not have a unifying tradition of obedience and loyalty to a common suzerain.

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Badge of the Order represented the golden fleece - the skin of a sheep, which the leader of the Argonauts Jason stole from Colchis. The sign that hung on the chain, consisting of 28 parts-flints, of which the speaker of red flame burst forth, interspersed with scenes of Flint and Jason battle with a dragon guarding the fleece. Every detail is the mark of this order has a symbolic meaning: flint - it is a heraldic symbol of Burgundy and the Netherlands, so the combination of it with the fleece is not accidental. Above the image of the battle Jason with the dragon on the curved strip is placed Latin inscription "PRETIUM LABORE NON VILE" ( "The award is not inferior to exploit")

The Order of the Golden Fleece is a second motto, which reads: "ANTE FERIT QUAM FLAMMA MICET" ( "The blow falls before the flames flare up").

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The third motto of the Order - "NON ALIUD" ( "I possess and otherwise do not want") - embroidered on a red ribbon. He is associated with persistent and prolonged struggle between Spain and Austria for possession of the Golden Fleece. On the day of the Order holiday - 30 November - and special occasions a sign of the Order of the Golden Fleece is put on the neck on a gold chain.

In heraldic science there are several versions of the history of the establishment of the Order: that it was established in honor of the happy deliverance from captivity in Mingrelia (Colchis), a member of the ducal house, or simply in honor of the prose of enrichment of the Netherlands through the export of the famous Flemish cloth and velvet. The story about how loving the ancient myths Duke likened golden lady, had fallen at full gallop with a horse, with Gellius, falling from the back zlatorunnogo barana1.

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Name of the Order link and Philip the Good with the intent to commit a crusade against the Turks and liberate them from the dominion of the earth, on which roam the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.

Duke Philip the Good from the very beginning of his reign possessed a richly embroidered tapestry, depicting all the adventures of the Argonauts. However, in the ancient Greek myth of Jason broke the word given to Medea, and because Jean Germain, Chancellor of the Order, interpret the meaning of the Order of the mark in another way. He argued that this is not a fleece - not Colchis, and the sheared wool of Gideon, which, according to the biblical Book of Judges ", the dew fell from the sky in a sign that Gideon defeat the Medes.

Thus, the motto and the complex symbolism of the Order of the mark in science have many interpretations, but the actual contemporaries easily read their political implications and the high demands placed Dukes to their knights.

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In the Order′s regulations say that a knight, having joined the Order of the Golden Fleece, was to announce his withdrawal from any other orders, if there was, as duty before it can require them to faithful service to someone else. For example, the knight Henrik von Borselenu had to abandon the service and the pension which he was granted by King Louis XI.

When he died in 1477 Charles the Bold, the last of the Dukes of Burgundy, the head of the Order of the Golden Fleece was the Archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg - the husband of his daughter and later Holy Roman Emperor. Possessions of the Habsburgs is constantly expanding, and this time they were owned by Austria and the crown Germanic emperors, and in the XVI century and received the Hungarian crown of St. Stephen.

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Marriage of Philip I of Spain Princess John brought the Habsburgs and the Spanish kingdom, after which the number of people wishing to join the Order, whose head was the Emperor himself, grew rapidly. In 1515 the Order of the statute was revised, resulting in a number of his gentlemen rose to 52 people (originally there were 24). Soon the noble knights were allowed to wear a badge of the Order is not on a gold chain from a flint and chert, and the red tape himself had a sign become complicated by the fact that one of the links in the chain has in its upper part.

In the XVII century the Order of the Golden Fleece is no longer seen as an alliance of knights surrounding sovereign: chivalry gone, and the signs of the Order of the Union were signs royal favor.

In 1700, when he died Spanish King Charles II and the Habsburg dynasty in Spain, cut short, came to power here Bourbons.

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However, the Austrian Habsburgs did not want to waive their rights to Spain, and soon began a war of the Spanish Succession that covered all of Western Europe. And the old Burgundian Order became a symbol of the Netherlands - a major attraction in the fight against the Bourbon of Spain and Hapsburg Austria. In this struggle, Prince Charles VI of Austria Franz Joseph in 1703, proclaimed himself king of Spain (under the name of Charles III), and briefly took over Madrid. But this time enough to take the archives of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Vienna.

Bourbon Spain did not want to tolerate the loss of archives and continued to take their Order, and the Habsburgs in Vienna - his own. The litigation between the two countries ran for many years, each side presents a different claim, turning even the support of other European powers.

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Subsequently, the established order of "dual ownership", but in fact in 1748 the Order of the Golden Fleece split into two - Spanish and Austrian, whose head is still considered an heir the house of Habsburg. In the statutes of the Order and its practices in both states were introduced numerous amendments which made the differences more visible.

Order of the Golden Fleece was of great importance in Europe and even in the beginning of the XIX century. For example, in 1809 Napoleon, being at the peak of power and glory, wanted to create its highest military decoration - the Order of the Three golden fleeces, as a symbol of domination over the Netherlands and Spain and union with Austria.

Golden Fleece, and entered into the Russian heraldry, as well as the characteristic form of insignia associated with the image of the golden fleece of Colchis.

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In 1855, when the established emblem of Kutaisi Province, turned it to this form.