![]() ![]() In return for their services, the nobles could expect to enjoy royal protection, honors, and offices. ![]() Boulton argues that "the Society of the Dragon was clearly intended to serve as the institutional embodiment of the royal faction its founder had created". The members were to swear loyalty to the king, queen, and their future sons and to protect the royal interests. They also list the mutual obligations of the king and his nobles. The statutes go on to describe the order's symbols of the ouroboros and the red cross, which were worn by its members and gave the order its corporate identity (see below). The Order's outward focus on foreign threats was also aimed at achieving a level of domestic cohesion. The primary representatives of "the perfidious Enemy" remained the Ottoman Turks, who continued to be a problem for Sigismund's successors. It also included foreigners (and non-Catholics), such as the Orthodox Serbian ruler Stefan Lazarević and the Wallachian rulers. The aim of the order was to fight the Ottoman Empire, defend the Hungarian monarchy from foreign and domestic enemies, and the Catholic Church from heretics and pagans. The order adopted Saint George as its patron saint, whose legendary defeat of a dragon was used as a symbol for the military and religious ethos of the order. George ( Societas militae Sancti Georgii), founded by King Charles I of Hungary in 1318, the grandfather of Sigismund's first wife Mary. It was to some extent modelled after the earlier Hungarian monarchical order, the Order of St. Contemporary records, however, refer to the order by a variety of similar if unofficial names, such as Gesellschaft mit dem Drachen, Divisa seu Societas Draconica, Societas Draconica seu Draconistarum, and Fraternitas Draconum. Its statutes, written in Latin, call it a society ( societas) whose members carry the signum draconis (see below), but assign no name to it. On DecemSigismund and his queen, Barbara von Cilli, founded the league known today as the Order of the Dragon. His pact with Hermann II was secured in 1408, when Sigismund married Herman II's daughter Barbara. In the aftermath of this battle, and events unfolding in what is known as the Bloody Sabor of Križevci, 171 members of Bosnian nobility were also massacred. Sigismund campaigned against the Croatian nobility which culminated in 1408 with the Battle of Dobor in Usora. This was achieved by allying himself with the political party of Stibor of Stiboricz, Nicholas II Garay, and Hermann II of Celje, in return for their military support, which enabled him to fight off domestic rivals. Sigismund returned to Hungary in 1401 and, facing a number of revolts, gradually resumed control and re-asserted himself as the King of Hungary. About 12,000 crusaders died with only a few leaders, including Sigismund, escaping. Sigismund was nominally in charge however, in the 1396 Battle of Nicopolis the French leader, John of Nevers, commanded the French half of the forces and ignored Sigismund's entreaties by charging the Turks. In 1396, Pope Boniface IX proclaimed a crusade against the Ottomans, and a campaign was organised to liberate Bulgaria from the Turks, save Constantinople, and put a halt to the Ottoman expansion. Two years later, the Turks had taken the Bulgarian fortress of Nicopolis. ![]() In 1389, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I fought Lazar, Prince of Serbia at the Battle of Kosovo Polje, in which both leaders died, leading to an uncertain outcome of the battle. His rule was weakened in 1395 when Mary, who was pregnant, died in a horse riding accident. During the next decade, he constantly sought support or employed ruthless methods to strengthen his unsteady hold on the throne. In 1387, the Bohemian royal son Sigismund of Luxembourg was elected King of Hungary and Croatia, a title which he owed chiefly to his marriage to Queen Mary of Hungary in 1385. Sigismund faced fierce struggles for power leading up to the foundation of the order in 1408. 1433, displayed at the Neue Burg, Vienna. ![]()
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