I think also the Elephant Order is funny because... I don't think of Denmark as really being a place where I'd expect to see elephants, or orders relating to the same! Whereas garters are intrinsically more ridiculous but at least they seem like they belong a bit more :)
Well, it's not like the Golden Fleece was at home in Burgundy. :) Also the Order of the Garter gets the price for best motto with Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense, supposedly what Edward III' said while picking up the garter of the not his wife lady he was dancing with. But "Order of the Elephant" made me smile as well, and I am curious which Dane thought to name it like that - or was it something the Oldenburgs came up with, in which case, which German?
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Moltke's memoirs
It's hard to say from Wikipedia whose *idea* it was, but it's old, almost as old as the Order of the Golden Fleece:
A predecessor order called the Brotherhood of the Mother of God Society was founded by King Christian I around 1460 and sanctioned by the Pope. Because this brotherhood was active in ecclesiastical areas, the king had the order confirmed by bulls from Popes Pius II (1462) and Sixtus IV (1474). At that time the image of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child hung on the chain of the order, while the chain showed elephants and towers.
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Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Moltke's memoirs
Well, it's not like the Golden Fleece was at home in Burgundy. :) Also the Order of the Garter gets the price for best motto with Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense, supposedly what Edward III' said while picking up the garter of the not his wife lady he was dancing with. But "Order of the Elephant" made me smile as well, and I am curious which Dane thought to name it like that - or was it something the Oldenburgs came up with, in which case, which German?
Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Moltke's memoirs
A predecessor order called the Brotherhood of the Mother of God Society was founded by King Christian I around 1460 and sanctioned by the Pope. Because this brotherhood was active in ecclesiastical areas, the king had the order confirmed by bulls from Popes Pius II (1462) and Sixtus IV (1474). At that time the image of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child hung on the chain of the order, while the chain showed elephants and towers.