"In Hoc Signo Vinces": The Legendary History of The Constantinian Order of St. George
From the Emperor Constantin and the Milvian bridge, Albanian Drisht and Byzantine Empire straight to the Crown of Spain and the Crown of the Two Sicilies
The Constantinian Order of St. George of the House of Bourbon of the Two Sicilies is among the most renowned dynastic Chivalric Orders today.
Its origin is shrouded in legend, including the reference of Emperor Constantine's triumphant victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312 and the heavenly appearance of the Chi Ro symbol and the message IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (In this sign you will win).
In 1545, Pope Paul III. recognized the Albanian noble brothers Andrea and Paolo Angelo Flavio Comneno as heirs to the imperial titles of the Byzantine Empire. Referring to the legend of Emperor Constantinian, the family soon founded the Constantinian Order of St. George and provided Grand Masters until 1698.
The Gian Andrea Comneno’s Search for the Strategic Partner
The last heir of the Angelo Comneno family, Gian Andrea Angelo Flavio Comneno Lascaris Paleologo, was left without male descendants in the middle of the 17th century and had no one to leave the Contantinian Order of St. George to according to the then rules of inheritance.
But our resourceful Gian Andrea had a slightly different plan than his ancestors. Motivated by the historical experience of the difficulty of the challenge of maintaining the infrastructure of such a prestigious Chivalric Order, he resorted to a search for a “strategic partner”.
In several strategic directions and in parallel, Gian Andrea tried to find a sovereign or a state that would be ready to take over the position of Grand Master and manage the Chivalric Order, while compensating him with a reward and a pension corresponding to his rank.
Gian Andrea initially approached the Republic of Venice, but after conducting 'due diligence', the doge and the senate were not willing to invest in a project whose benefit for Serenissima was politically uncertain. Also they were neither convinced of the alleged Byzantine origin of the Order nor of the hereditary rights of the Agnelo family Comneno to the Byzantine throne.
Gian Andrea then addressed the Habsburg family, i.e. Emperor Leopold I, whose sense of imperial greatness was strengthened after the Turkish defeat at the gates of Vienna, and who, during the 1670s and 1680s, showed good will towards the Order.
However, at that moment the House of Habsburg was faced with the challenge of keeping Spain as part of its family heritage and constantly investing in the construction of the eastern defense of its empire against any future Turkish threat.
The indefatigable Gian Andrea worked in Bavaria as well. In the 1690s he offered the order to Gustav Samuel Leopold of Bavaria, Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, but those talks ultimately came to nothing.
The Emergence of the Farnese Family
The search for a strategic partner resulted in great success when Francesco Farnese, bizarrely rich duke of the relatively small duchy of Parma and Piacenza, realized his dream of acquiring the title of Grand Master of the prestigious Constantinian Order of St. George and access to possible future royal titles.
This partnership proved to be crucial for the flourishing of the order until today, managed to keep the Constantinian Order of St. George in the circle of male heirs of the Farnese family, bring the Order closer to the powerful crown of Spain and enable rich humanitarian work and the protection of the right to religious freedom which are still the main tasks of this prestigious knightly order.
The Act of Cannes and the Position of the Grand Master
Since 1960, there have been three branches of the Bourbon family in a dispute over the right to inherit the position of Grand Master. We will focus on the two largest branches, the senior Hispano-Napoletan branch of the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies, headed by Prince Don Pedro, Duke of Calabria, and the junior Franco-Napoletan branch of the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies, headed by Prince Don Carlo, Duke of Castro.
Find out the fascinating story of what has happened as a result of the act of Cannes in the remaining paragraphs …