Order of St. Hubert
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The Royal Order of Saint Hubert (german: Sankt Hubertus Königlicher Orden), or sometimes (german: Königlicher Orden des Heiligen Hubertus) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood founded in 1444 or 1445 by
Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg ( – 19 August 1475) was the son of William VIII of Jülich, Count of Ravensberg and Adelheid of Tecklenburg. Gerhard was the second duke of the combined Duchy of Jülich-Berg but the 7th Gerhard in the House ...
. He sought to commemorate his victory over the
House of Egmond The House of Egmond or Egmont (French language, French: ''Maison d'Egmond'', Dutch language, Dutch: ''Huis Egmond'') is named after the Netherlands, Dutch town of Egmond aan den Hoef, Egmond, province of North Holland, and played an important role ...
at the Battle of Linnich on 3 November, which is Saint Hubert's day. The establishment of the Order occurred during a long-term, intermittent territorial dispute, initially between the Dukes of Jülich and the Dukes of Guelders, who were descended from a female line of the House of Jülich. The dispute began in the 1430s, when
Arnold, Duke of Gelderland Arnold of Egmond (14 July 1410 – 23 February 1473) was Duke of Guelders, Count of Zutphen. Life Arnold was born in Egmond-Binnen, North Holland, the son of John II of Egmond and Maria van Arkel. On 11 July 1423, Arnold, still a boy, suc ...
claimed the duchy of Jülich and the county of Ravensberg, and was resolved in the 1614
Treaty of Xanten The Treaty of Xanten (german: Vertrag von Xanten, links=no) was signed in the Lower Rhine town of Xanten on 12 November 1614 between Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, with representatives from E ...
, which established the
United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg The so-called United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire between 1521 and 1666, formed from the personal union of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves and Berg. The name was resurrected after the Congress of Vienn ...
of the counties of Ravensberg and Mark with the duchies of Cleves, Jülich and Berg. In 1778, Charles Theodore, Duke of Jülich and Berg and the Count-Elector Palatine, succeeded his childless cousin,
Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian III Joseph, "the much beloved", (28 March 1727 – 30 December 1777) was a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777. Biography Born in Munich, Maximilian was the eldest son of Holy Roman Empero ...
and brought the Order to Bavaria. Initially, the order was open to men and women, although limiting the number of male companions to sixty. It commemorated the conversion of Saint Hubert and his standing as the patron saint of hunters and knights. Over time, the award had other uses as a reward for loyalty to the monarch and service to the princely state.


History


Foundation

Sources agree that the Order of Saint Hubert honors a military victory of the Duke of Jülich, on Saint Hubert's day, 3 November 1444. Sources differ on the specific date of establishment of the Order, whether it celebrated the victory at the
Battle of Linnich A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
between Gebhard V of
Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...
and Arnold of Egmont (or Egmond), or commemorated the battle at a future date. Consequently, the date of the founding depends on the source. Still other sources date the founding of the Order as late as 1473 or 1475.D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton. ''The knights of the Crown: the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe 1325–1520.'' Woodbridge: Boydell, 1987, , pp. 604–605. Twentieth century investigation has helped to clear up some of the confusion. The original Latin statutes of the foundation use
Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
, in this case 26 March 1445. Furthermore, there is clear written evidence that the Order existed prior to March 1445: The original German statutes were dated immediately after the battle. It is also possible that Gerhard proclaimed the establishment of the Order immediately after the victory of his knights at Linnich, but the documents were not drawn up until later, leading to discrepancy in the dates of 1444 or 1445. To further obfuscate the date of founding, Gerhard's son, William III, renewed the Order upon his own succession to the ducal dignities in 1475, in the so-called ''New Statutes'', which were prepared in Latin and German. These remained the governing documents of the Order until 1708. In this confirmation probably lies the root of confusion over the date of the Order's foundation. Initially the Order was a knightly brotherhood ''(Rittersbruderschaft)'', reflecting the overlapping religious and military aspects of medieval court life. Saint Hubert was the patron saint of hunters and knights. The founding of the
Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...
in the early 15th century started a trend in confraternal princely orders. The purpose of these, whether established by monarchs or princes, was to foster loyalty to a sovereign, replacing to the old Chivalric orders developed in the Crusades. Although some historians classify the Order of the Saint Hubert as a confraternal order, during its 600-year-life, its purpose changed as the fortunes and needs of the Dukes of Jülich and Berg and their successors changed.


Order under the House of Jülich

When Reinhold IV, Duke of Gelder, died in 1423, his nephew Arnold inherited the dukedom. Arnold's cousin, Adolf of Berg, inherited territories near
Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
. Arnold believed that Adolf had inherited the better of the two properties, and coveted it for himself. He tried to take it by force and failed; a compromise was reached by which the two agreed to a truce. Adolf of Berg died in 1437 and his cousin, Gerhard IV, the Duke of Jülich and Count of Ravensburg (Westphalia), inherited both the Liège properties and the Duchy of Berg. Arnold reasserted his old claim, maintaining that the truce to which he and Adolf agreed was no longer valid, and prepared to take the duchies by force. Confident in his right to the inheritance, Gerhard met Arnold in battle, at the village of Linnich, in the county of Ravensburg (Westphalia). He and his knights defeated Arnold and his knights on Saint Hubert's day in 1444. In celebration, Gerhard declared the founding of the Order, to reward his loyal and victorious knights. The Order remained in collateral branches of the family of the Dukes of Jülich and Berg until 1521, when the male line holding the two duchies and the county of Ravensberg became extinct. A daughter, Maria von Geldern, remained to inherit the duchies and the county, but, under the
Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
practiced in the northwestern German states, women could only hold property through a husband or guardian. Consequently, the territories passed to her husband—who was also her distant relative— John III, Duke of Cleves and Mark. The couple had three daughters, one of whom, Ann of Cleves, married Henry VIII of England in 1540, and one son, Wilhelm, who subsequently inherited the duchies and the administration of the Order. The duchies included most of the present-day North Rhine-Westphalia that lay outside the
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