Orders of Knighthood

Knighthood, Orders of, religious, honorary, or other fraternal society. Knights of the Middle Ages, vowing loyalty to their king, formed orders to defend his lands. During the crusades religious orders of knights fought the Muslims for the Holy Lands. The most famous of the religious orders were the Knights of St. John, the Knights Templars, and the Teutonic Knights. In Great Britain honorary orders of knights include the Order of the Garter (1349), the Order of the Thistle (1687), the Order of the Bath (1725), the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1818), the Royal Victorian Order (1896), and the Order of the British Empire (1917). Other European orders are the Seraphim of Sweden (1748), the Golden Fleece of Spain and Austria (1429), the Danish Order of the Elephant (1462), St. Andrew of Russia (1698), the Black Eagle of Prussia (1701), the Legion of Honor of France (1802), the Order of St. Olaf in Norway (1847). In the United States, the Knights of Columbus are a fraternal order of Roman Catholic men.