The Unicorn, St Andrew and the Thistle: Was there an Order of Chivalry in Late Medieval Scotland?
Kate Stevenson
The Scottish Historical Review: Vol 83, No. 215, Part 1 (april, 2004), pp.3 – 22.
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Abstract
A common expression of kingship throughout Europe in the fifteenth century was the founding of orders of chivalry. Whether the Scottish crown also attempted to appropriate the ideologies of chivalry in this way is important to establish. Scholars have generally accepted that a chivalric order of knighthood was instituted in and functioned from the reign of James III. This order, in its first stages was named by scholars as the Order of the Unicorn, then becoming the Order of St Andrew, allegedly the order upon which the Order of the Thistle was modelled. However, no detailed examination of the evidence supporting the order’s fifteenth-century existence has yet been undertaken. This article re-examines the evidence used by historians to support the conclusion that James III founded a chivalric order and asks whether an alternative interpretation can be advanced.
James VII and II instituted the Order of the Thistle on 29 May 1687, claiming to be reviving it from ancient roots. This is, in fact, the earliest explicit reference to a chivalric order and the first indication that a medieval Scottish order may have existed. The patent, which was epared in pursuance of this warrant, never passed the Great Seal, and the statutes which were annexed to it have only the authority of the king’s signet. By these statutes, which were manifestly derived from those of the English Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle was to consist of twelve knights and the sovereign, and the chapel where the order was tomeet was to be the Royal Chapel of Holyrood House.
Kate Stevenson
The Scottish Historical Review: Vol 83, No. 215, Part 1 (april, 2004), pp.3 – 22.
Abstract
A common expression of kingship throughout Europe in the fifteenth century was the founding of orders of chivalry. Whether the Scottish crown also attempted to appropriate the ideologies of chivalry in this way is important to establish. Scholars have generally accepted that a chivalric order of knighthood was instituted in and functioned from the reign of James III. This order, in its first stages was named by scholars as the Order of the Unicorn, then becoming the Order of St Andrew, allegedly the order upon which the Order of the Thistle was modelled. However, no detailed examination of the evidence supporting the order’s fifteenth-century existence has yet been undertaken. This article re-examines the evidence used by historians to support the conclusion that James III founded a chivalric order and asks whether an alternative interpretation can be advanced.
James VII and II instituted the Order of the Thistle on 29 May 1687, claiming to be reviving it from ancient roots. This is, in fact, the earliest explicit reference to a chivalric order and the first indication that a medieval Scottish order may have existed. The patent, which was epared in pursuance of this warrant, never passed the Great Seal, and the statutes which were annexed to it have only the authority of the king’s signet. By these statutes, which were manifestly derived from those of the English Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle was to consist of twelve knights and the sovereign, and the chapel where the order was tomeet was to be the Royal Chapel of Holyrood House.
Click here to read this article from The Scottish Historical Review
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