Order of the Star (France)

14th-century depiction of the Order's founding meeting (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

The Order of the Star (French: Ordre de l'Étoile) or Company of the Star was an order of chivalry founded on 6 November 1351 by John II of France in imitation of the Order of the Garter founded in 1348 by Edward III of England.[1][2] The inaugural ceremony of the order took place on 6 January 1352 at Saint-Ouen, from which it is sometimes called the Order of Knights of the Noble House of Saint Ouen.[3][2]

  1. ^ de Laurière, Eusèbe; Secousse, Denis-François (1729). Ordonnances des roys de France de la troisième race, receuillies par order chronologique (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 465–6.
  2. ^ a b Bessen, David M (1986). "Wishing Upon A Star: King John, the Order of the Star, and Politics". Essays in Medieval Studies. 3. Chicago: Illinois Medieval Association: 193–204. ISSN 1538-4608.
  3. ^ In French the order was initially called les Chevaliers de Nostre Dame de la Noble Maison ("the Knights of Our Lady of the Noble House"). In Latin the order was referred to in early documents as consortium seu societatem militem Beate Marie Nobilis Domus apud Sanctum Odoenum prope Sanctum Dyonisium in Francia ("the knightly company or society of the Blessed Mary of the Noble House at Saint-Ouen near Saint-Denis in France") in a letter founding its canonical institute, and inclite Stellifere Congregationis nostre militaris apud Sanctum Audoenum in Domo Nobili ("illustrious Starbearing Knightly Congregation in the Noble House at Saint-Ouen") in a letter of June 1356, from Ursula Georges, Medieval Names of Some Knightly Orders.