The Order of the Golden Fleece

—Jason

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Epic mythology has a way of enthralling people long after the culture that created it has faded away.  The story of Jason and the Argonauts sailing to retrieve the Golden Fleece is a hallmark of ancient Greek storytelling.  The heroic adventure revolves around Greek heroes sailing to the edges of the world to seize the wondrous Golden Fleece and bring it home.  The story was passed from the Greeks to the Romans after the latter conquered most of the Hellenistic world.

The collapse of the Western Roman Empire did not end the transmission of Jason and the Golden Fleece; rather, it became a source of inspiration for some of the nobility inMiddle Ages.  The heroic Argonauts of the ancient story who followed Jason throughout the adventure were viewed as the contemporary retainers of kings and aristocrats.  

In 1430, Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, created a new Catholic chivalric order to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal.  Philip united the incredibly wealthy lands that stretched from Flanders (modern day French-speaking Belgium) to Switzerland.  With this royal marriage, the Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties added considerable territory to their domains.

Philip stated at the time of creation that his new order was to inspire fellow nobles and knights to the heights of chivalry and follow in the footsteps of the Nine Worthies.  This list included Hector, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, all of whom were pagans, Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus, all heroic Jewish figures, and finally King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon, all Christians.  

Membership in the Order of the Golden Fleece was  limited to only 24 members and the sovereign; this was later expanded to 30 and finally 50.  This group acted as advisors to their king regarding launching wars and also having disputes between its members being settled by the order.  If a member was charged with heresy, rebellion, treason, they were tried by their peers.  The sovereign also held all legal jurisdiction regarding the members of the order: no outsider could independently issue warrants for the arrest of these knights.

The death of the childless King Charles II of Spain in 1700 resulted in a war that was world-spanning.  Charles had named his sister’s son, Philip of Anjou, who was a member of the Bourbon dynasty, as his successor but this was challenged by the Habsburgs.  The resulting War of Spanish Succession, between 1701 and 1714, resulted in the Golden Fleece being split in two: the Spanish and Austrian Orders.  

Fearing that the French would gain control of Spain’s extensive overseas empire, the Habsburgs scrambled to form alliances.  To block the ascension of Philip to the Spanish throne, the Holy Roman Empire (under the Austrian Habsburgs) allied with Pro-Habsburg Spanish forces, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Prussia, Savoy, and Portugal to wage war against Pro-Bourbon Spanish forces, France, and Bavaria.  Warfare spanned all of Europe, the New World, and India as both sides sought victory.  

The Treaty of Utrecht ensured that France and Spain would remain separate entities. Although the Habsburgs lost control of Spain, the Bourbons could not merge the French and Spanish monarchies.  Despite the Bourbon dynasty having two major thrones under their control, they would lose both during the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic Wars.  

Today, the Austrian and Spanish orders of the Golden Fleece still exist with 33 members in the former and 16 in the later.