Order of the Crescent (House capétienne of Anjou-Sicily)

A first order of the Crescent was created with Messine, in 1268, by Charles of Anjou, brother of the king de France Louis IX, in memory of the battle of the lake Ficin, in the plain of Tagliacozzo, close to Aquila, where it overcame and made captive Conradin, grandson of the emperor Frederic II.

It conferred it to the German gentlemen and princes who had assisted it in this war, and on several other lords whom it wished to attach to his cause.

The knights were to justify of four degrees of nobility on the paternal side. This order remained little of time and was replaced by the Ordre of the Star.

The second order of the crescent , completely dsitinct of the precedent, was founded in 1448 with Angers by Rene of Anjou says the Good, king de Sicile and of Jerusalem, in the honor of Maurice saint.

The thirty-six knights forming the order carried crimson red a velvet coat doubled white satin, a white velvet mantelet, and a long dress of the same color, on the right-sided of which increasing of gold was bent. On this crescent word “LOZ was engraved. ”

The collar of the order was made of a gold chain with three rows, to which was suspended, by three gold cahînettes, a gold crescent also. One recognized the value and the generosity of the knights, with the tags of gold aglet, corresponding to the number of battles or seats during which they had fought.

Sources

Palliot, Vraye and Parfaite Science of the Armorial bearings , 1660
Gourdon de Genouillac, Dictionary of the orders of knighthood , 1860

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