Order of the Broom-cod

Richard II wearing the order

The Order of the Broom-cod (French : "Ordre de la Coste de Genest"), is believed to have been founded in 1234 by French king Louis IX the Saint to commemorate his wedding with Margaret of Provence, daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and her coronation. Other sources mention Charles VI the Beloved as the founder.[1]

The order takes its name from the pod of the broom plant (broom-cod, or cosse de geneste), which was used as an emblem for livery collars and badges.[2]

Insignia

The collar of the order was made of a succession of broom-cods and gold fleur-de-lis and a cross – with the motto of the Order, "Exaltat Humulis" (It exalts the humble), in black letters – hanging from a short necklace made of golden hearts.

Ackermann mentions this chivalric order as the historical order of France.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Gustav Adolph Ackermann, Ordensbuch, Sämtlicher in Europa blühender und erloschener Orden und Ehrenzeichen. Annaberg, 1855, p 209 n°85 "Orden von der Gensterblume" - Google Book (Former orders of France : p. 205-214)
  2. ↑ Nichols JG. (1842). "III. Observations on the Heraldic Devices discovered on the Effigies of Richard the Second and his Queen in Westminster Abbey, and upon the Mode in which those Ornaments were executed; including some Remarks on the surname Plantagenet, and on the Ostrich Feathers of the Prince of Wales". In Society of Antiquaries of London. Archaeologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity. XXIX. J. B. Nichols and Son, London. p. 45.
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