(Orden de Santiago). Instituted in 1170. In silver gilt with red enamels, measuring 48.8 mm (w) x 81.5 mm (h), ornate vertical pinback flanked by dual stays, chipping evident in the red enamels on the lower spur of the arm at 9 o'clock, very fine.
Footnote: The Order of Santiago, also known as the Order of St. James of the Sword, is a religious and military order founded in the twelfth century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrim of St. James' Way, to defend Christendom and to remove the Muslim Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. Entrance was not however restricted to nobles of Spain exclusively, and so many of her members have been prominent Catholic Europeans in general. The Order of Santiago is one of the most renowned military orders in the history of the world, its insignia being particularly recognizable and abundant in Western art. After the death of the Grand Master Alonso de Cárdenas in 1493, the Catholic Monarchs incorporated the Order into the Spanish Crown. Pope Adrian VI forever united the office of grandmaster of Santiago to the crown in 1523. The First Republic suppressed the Order in 1873 and, although it was re-established in the Restoration, it was reduced to a nobiliary institute of honorable character. It was ruled by a Superior Council dependent on the Ministry of War, which was also extinguished after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931. The Order of Santiago is one of the four Spanish military orders, together with those of Calatrava, Alcántara, and Montesa. It was restored as a civil association with the kingship of Juan Carlos I with the character of a nobiliary, honorable, and religious organization that remains as such.