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The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the Order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland (James II of England and Ireland) who asserted that he was reviving an earlier Order. The Order consists of the Sovereign and sixteen Knights and Ladies, as well as certain "extra" knights (members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs). The Sovereign alone grants membership of the Order; he or she is not advised by the Government, as occurs with most other Orders. The Order's primary emblem is the thistle, the national flower of Scotland. The motto is ''Nemo me impune lacessit'' (Latin for "No one provokes me with impunity").〔1687 Statutes, quoted in ''Statutes'' (1987), p6〕 The same motto appears on the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom for use in Scotland and some pound coins, and is also the motto of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, Scots Guards, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The patron saint of the Order is St Andrew. Most British orders of chivalry cover the whole United Kingdom, but the three most exalted ones each pertain to one constituent country only. The Order of the Thistle, which pertains to Scotland, is the second-most senior in precedence. Its equivalent in England, The Most Noble Order of the Garter, is the oldest documented order of chivalry in the United Kingdom, dating to the middle fourteenth century. In 1783 an Irish equivalent, The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, was founded, but has now fallen dormant. == History == James VII claimed that he was reviving an earlier Order, but this issue is marked by widely varying claims. According to legend, Achaius, King of Scots (possibly coming to the aid of Óengus mac Fergusa, King of the Picts), while engaged in battle at Athelstaneford with the Saxon King Æthelstan of East Anglia, saw in the heavens the cross of St Andrew.〔Nicolas, p. 4〕 After he won the battle, Achaius is said to have established the Order of the Thistle, dedicating it to the saint, in 786.〔This version of the foundation, although without the date, is given in the warrant 'reviving' the Order in 1687. (1687 warrant, quoted in ''Statutes'', 1978, p. 1)〕 The tale is not credible, because the two individuals purported to have fought each other did not even live in the same century.〔Nicholas, p4, footnote 1, notes that Achaius died more than a century before Aethelstan〕 Another story states that Achaius founded the Order in 809 to commemorate an alliance with the Emperor Charlemagne. There is some credibility to this story given the fact that Charlemagne did employ Scottish bodyguards.〔Nicolas, Appendix, p.vi, quotes Nisbet's ''A system of heraldry'', which relates this version.〕 There is, in addition, a tradition that the order was instituted, or re-instituted, on the battlefield by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.〔Mackey and Heywood, p. 890〕 The earliest claim now taken seriously by historians is that James III, who adopted the thistle as the royal plant badge and issued coins depicting thistles,〔Nicolas, p. 3〕 founded the Order during the fifteenth century.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Monarchy Today: Queen and Public: Honours: The Order of the Thistle )〕 He allegedly conferred membership of the "Order of the Burr or Thissil" on King Francis I of France.〔Nicolas, footnote7, p. 15, quotes Nisbet in support of these claims.〕 However, there is no conclusive evidence for a fifteenth-century order. A French commentator writing in 1558 described the use of the crowned thistle and the cross of St Andrew on Scottish coins and war banners, and added that there was no Scottish order of knighthood.〔''Calendar of State Papers Scotland'', vol. 1 (1898), 206.〕 Similarly, John Lesley writing around 1578, refers to the three foreign orders of chivalry carved on the gate of James V's Linlithgow Palace with his ''ornaments'' of St Andrew, ''proper to this nation''.〔Leslie, John, ''Historie of Scotland'', vol. 2, STS (1895), 230–1.〕 Some Scottish order of chivalry may have existed during the sixteenth century, possibly founded by James V and called the Order of St. Andrew, but lapsed by the end of that century.〔(Stevenson, Katie "The Unicorn, St Andrew and the Thistle: Was there an Order of Chivalry in Late Medieval Scotland?", ''Scottish Historical Review''. Volume 83, Page 3–22, April 2004 )〕〔Nicolas quotes Elias Ashmole's ''Treatise on Military Orders'' (1672) which mentions a ceremony involving Knights of St Andrew (i.e. Knights of the Thistle) but Nicolas goes on to say that "it was not pretended that there were any "Knights of the Thistle" or "of St Andrew" after the accession of James VI in 1567"〕 James VII issued letters patent "reviving and restoring the Order of the Thistle to its full glory, lustre and magnificency" on 29 May 1687.〔1687 Warrant, quoted in ''Statutes'' (1978), p. 1〕 Although the "restoration" in 1687 of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle was accomplished by King James VII & II, the initiative for - essentially - founding this Scottish Royal Order can be attributed to John, 1st Earl and 1st Jacobite Duke of Melfort, then Secretary of State for Scotland, who together with his elder brother James, 4th Earl and 1st Jacobite Duke of Perth, then Lord Chancellor of Scotland, were among the eight Founding Knights. Eight knights, out of a maximum of twelve, were appointed, but the King was deposed in 1688.〔Nicolas, pp. 25–26〕 His successors, the joint monarchs William and Mary, did not make any further appointments to the Order, which consequently fell into desuetude.〔Joseph Timothy Haydn's ''Book of Dignities'' (Longmans, 1851), p. 434〕 In 1703, however, Anne once again revived the Order of the Thistle, which survives to this day.〔1703 warrant, quoted in ''Statutes'' (1978) pp. 11–12〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Order of the Thistle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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