Order of the Jar

Emblem of the Order of the Jar in the 11th century

The Order of the Terraza or Order of the Jar was one of the oldest Military orders of Europe.^[1] It was created in Nájera, then Kingdom of Pamplona , around 1040^[1] in honor to the image of Our Lady the Royal. Its symbol is a jar with annunciation lilies. This came to be taken as the name of the order, thus being also known as Order of the Jar and Order of the Annunciation Lilies, and since the 14th century as Order of the Jar and the Griffin.

Origin

According to legend, since Gartzea was hunting with his falcon, which was launched chasing a pigeon. Both birds will stand at the entrance of a cave of Nájera, which inside there was an image of the Virgin next to a jar of annunciation lilies, he decided to build a monastery near to the cave, which is the Monastery of Santa María la Real of Nájera and create the Order of the Terraza.

Members

Emblem of the Order of the Jar since the 14th century, showing the addition of the griffin, renaming from that momment as Order of the Jar and the Griffin.

Portrait of Oswald von Wolkenstein in the Innsbruck's manuscript of 1432, showing the collar and the bend of the Jar and the Griffin, as a member of the order (the cross is a emblem of other order).

As indicated a chronicle of the Order of Saint Benedict, Gartzea was the first member of the order. This also armed his children, but they to his death would not keep the spirit that his father had put in the order, being almost forgotten until 14th century, when the still infante Ferdinand I of Aragon it restituted, according to the testimony of Fray Jerónimo Román in Las Repúblicas. The August 15 of 1403 was Ferdinand in Medina del Campo imposed the collar to his children Alfonso, John, Henry, Sancho and Peter.

... to the infante Don Alonso that after of his father was king of Aragon..., the second gave to the infante Don John, who was king of Navarre for his wife Doña Blanca, and also King of Aragon, after died his brother Don Alonso, in third he gave to the infante Don Henry, Grand Master of the Order of Santiago, fourthly to the infante Don Sancho, who was Master of the Order of Calatrava, and Don Peter... fifth, and in honoring to his children with the motto enlightened of the Virgin, he was giving by his order to his many favorite knights

After being named king, Ferdinand I of Aragon, after the battle and the conquest of the city of Balaguer, honors the Knights of greater courage in the battle (about eighty) with the shield of the order, which this time consisted of the jar of annunciation lilies in griffin. ^[2]

Etymology

The denomination "of the Terraza" comes from the name formerly given to jars.^[3]

References

1. José Fermín Hernández Lázaro title = Historia de La Rioja. Edad Moderna - Edad Contemporánea. (1983). "Military orders, badges and lineages of La Rioja". Caja de Ahorros de La Rioja. p. 52. ISBN 84-7231-903-2. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. Diego José Dormer.: Several speeches in history, with many ancient royal scriptures, and some notes (1683), pp. 177-197.
3. Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, J.Corominas y J.A.Pascual, Gredos 1983

External links

• The Order of the Jar (1)
• The Order of the Jar (2)
• The Order of the Jar (3)
• The Order of the Jar (4)