Item number: M61

Year: AD 1841-1870/80

Material: Gold and Enamel

Size: case 104.94 x 59.78 / order 38.62 x 40.99 ／ribbon 37.31 x 24.64 mm

Weight: case 34.46／order 10.72 g

Provenance: Liverpool Medals 2022

Order of St. Sylvester and the Golden Spur also known as the Militia of the Golden Spur or Golden Militia, is the most prestigious award of the Papacy. Although it is not historically clear who among the many supposed founders is the true one, yet it undoubtedly is the oldest and, at one time, was one of the most prized of the papal orders. In AD 1841, Pope Gregory XVI reformed the Order of the Golden Spur as an order of merit, with recipients appointed by Papal brief. This reformed order was known as the “Order of St. Sylvester and the Golden Militia”. Before the reform, the order was in massive decline, it was losing it’s prestige around Europe, there were some scandals in Paris of forged documents awarding the title and the Order was generally given out very liberally to those who would pay a small fee. The Pope also withdrew all faculties to whom and by whomsoever given, and forbade the use of the title or the decoration to all knights who were created by any means other than a Papal Brief.

To restore the order to it’s ancient glory, he limited the number of Commanders to 150 and Knights to only 300 and appointed the Cardinal of Apolostic Briefs at the Chancellor of the Order, with the duty of preserving the name, grade, numbers and date of admission for each Knight.

The order can be divided into two types.

This order which came with a box, represents a type I Knight order. It features a gold-enamelled Maltese cross with medallion on the obverse, bearing the image of St. Sylvester within a golden outer circlet, accompanied by the inscription ‘SANC. SYLVESTER P. M.’ (Saint Sylvester, Supreme Pontiff). On the reverse side of the medallion, the year of the Order’s restoration, 1841, is depicted in golden Roman numerals ‘MDCCCXLI,’ encircled by an enameled ring inscribed with ‘Gregorius XVI restituit’ (Gregory XVI restored). The reverse side of the cross is not covered with enamel. Judging by the ribbon and the absence of enamel on the reverse, this order pertains to the knight class and is classified as type I.

物件編號: M61

年代: 公元 1841-1870/80 年

材質: 黃金, 琺瑯

尺寸: 盒 104.94 x 59.78／勳章 38.62 x 40.99 ／綬帶 37.31 x 24.64 mm

重量: 盒 34.46／勳章 10.72 g

來源: 利物浦獎章 2022

聖西爾維斯特和黃金騎士團，又稱為金刺軍團或黃金軍團，是最貴重的梵蒂岡勳章。儘管在眾多疑似創始人中尚未確定歷史上真正的創立者是誰，但毫無疑問，它是最古老的，曾一度是教宗勳章中最受推崇的。公元1841年，教宗葛利果十六世將金刺騎士團改革為一個憑藉教宗簡短任命的勳章。這個改革後的勳章被稱為「聖西爾維斯特和黃金軍團」。在改革之前，該勳章一直在大幅衰落，它在歐洲各地的聲望正在下降，巴黎出現了一些偽造文件授予稱號 的醜聞，而且該勳章通常非常自由地授予那些願意付費的人。

教宗收回了任何人所授予的權力，禁止所有非經教宗簡短任命而被授予爵士稱號或勳章的人使用該頭銜或裝飾。 為了將該勳章恢復到其古老的光榮，他將指揮官的數量限制為150人，騎士僅限於300人，並任命宗座簡短的樞機主教為該勳章的大使，負責保存每位騎士的名稱、級別、數量和入會日期。

這個勳章可以分為兩種類型：

此勳章是第一型騎士勳章。為金色琺瑯製成的馬耳他十字，正面有一個黃金的圓環，其中有聖西爾維斯特的肖像，周圍有” SANC. SYLVESTER P. M.”（聖西爾維斯特，至高教宗）的銘文。在勳章的反面，展示了該勳章恢復的年份公元1841年，用金色羅馬數字“MDCCCXLI”表示，周圍是琺瑯鍍金的圈，上面寫著“1841 Gregorius XVI restituit ”（1841年葛利果十六世恢復）。十字的反面未覆蓋瓷質 。根據緞帶和反面無琺瑯的特徵來看，這個勳章屬於騎士級別，並分類為第一類型。