Order of St. James of the Sword - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Military Order of Saint James of the Sword is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

Order of Chivalry

Order (decoration)

An order or order of merit is a visible honour, awarded by a government, dynastic house or international organization to an individual, usually in recognition of distinguished service to a nation or to humanity. The distinction between orders and decorations is somewhat vague, except that most...

History

The Order of Saint James

Order of Santiago

The Order of Santiago was founded in the 12th century, and owes its name to the national patron of Galicia and Spain, Santiago , under whose banner the Christians of Galicia and Asturias began in the 9th century to combat and drive back the Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula.-History:Santiago de...

began in Castile

Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...

-León

Kingdom of León

The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...

in circa 1171, later confirmed in 1172 by Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

's legate Cardinal Hyacinthus of Acardo, as an Order of knights for the protection of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...

in Galicia.

Reconquista

In 1186, King Sancho I of Portugal

Sancho I of Portugal

Sancho I , nicknamed the Populator , second monarch of Portugal, was born on 11 November 1154 in Coimbra and died on 26 March 1212 in the same city. He was the second but only surviving legitimate son and fourth child of Afonso I of Portugal by his wife, Maud of Savoy. Sancho succeeded his father...

donated to the Order of Santiago

Order of Santiago

(then based in Uclés

Uclés

Uclés is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 287 inhabitants....

, Castile) the Portuguese dominions of Palmela

Palmela

Palmela is a town and a municipality in Portugal with a total area of and a total population of 58,222 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 5 parishes, and is located in Setúbal District, about south of Lisbon.The municipal holiday is June 1....

, Almada

Almada

Almada is a municipality in Portugal, covering an area of 70.2 km² located on the southern margin of the Tagus River. Its municipal population in 2008 was 164,844 inhabitants; the urbanized center had a population of 102,357.The seat is the city of Almada....

and Alcácer do Sal

Alcácer do Sal

Alcácer do Sal is a municipality in Portugal, located in Setúbal District. It has a total area of and a total population of 13,624 inhabitants.-History :-Earliest settlement:...

(all three in the Setúbal District, south of Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

). But in 1190-91, all three citadels were conquered by Yaqub al-Mansur, emir of the Almohads. They were recovered sometime between 1194 and 1204. The Order of Santiago established its Portuguese headquarters at Palmela shortly before 1210, and definitively by 1212.

One of the more notable of Portuguese Santiago knights was Paio Peres Correia

Paio Peres Correia

D. Paio Peres Correia, a notable medieval Christian conqueror, who was born c. 1205, in Monte de Fralães, in the district of Barcelos in Portugal....

. Between 1234 to 1242, Correia led the conquest of much of the southerly Moorish dominions of Baixo Alentejo

Baixo Alentejo Subregion

Baixo Alentejo is a NUTS3 subregion of Alentejo Region, in Portugal. It consists of 13 concelhos. It has a total area of 8,505 km² and a population of 135,105 ; thus 15.8 people/km².The chief city is Beja....

and the Algarve. In 1242, Paio Peres Correia was elevated to Grand Master of the Order of Santiago

Order of Santiago

, the only known Portuguese to have held the supreme title of the Castilian-based Order.

In 1249, Paio Peres Correia and the Order of Santiago helped Afonso III of Portugal

Afonso III of Portugal

Afonso III , or Affonso , Alfonso or Alphonso or Alphonsus , the Bolognian , the fifth King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249...

sweep up the final Moorish possessions in the Algarve. The possessions of the Order of Santiago in Portugal were expanded and confirmed by Afonso III in 1255.

After the death of Correia in 1275, the Order of Santiago returned firmly into Castilian hands. Thus, in 1288, King Denis of Portugal

Denis of Portugal

Dinis , called the Farmer King , was the sixth King of Portugal and the Algarve. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile and grandson of king Alfonso X of Castile , Dinis succeeded his father in 1279.-Biography:As heir to the throne, Infante Dinis was...

separated the Portuguese branch from the Castilian-Leonese Order. This was confirmed by Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII , born Jacques Duèze , was pope from 1316 to 1334. He was the second Pope of the Avignon Papacy , elected by a conclave in Lyon assembled by Philip V of France...

in 1320.

Royal Princes

During the 1383-1385 Portuguese succession crisis

1383–1385 Crisis

The 1383–1385 Crisis was a period of civil war in Portuguese history that began with the death of King Ferdinand I of Portugal, who left no male heirs, and ended with the accession to the throne of King John I in 1385, in the wake of the Battle of Aljubarrota.In Portugal, this period is also known...

, D. Fernando Afonso de Albuquerque, master of the Order of Santiago in Portugal, backed the candidacy of John, Master of Aviz

John I of Portugal

John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...

, and served briefly as John's ambassador to the English court.

King John I of Portugal

John I of Portugal

John I KG , called the Good or of Happy Memory, more rarely and outside Portugal the Bastard, was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta...

set about trying to seize the masterships of all the principal military orders in Portugal for his family. In 1418, he secured the mastership of the Order of Santiago for his son, John of Reguengos, the future Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal

Constable of Portugal or Constable of the Kingdom was a title created by the King of Portugal Ferdinand I in 1382, to substitute the title Alferes Mór do Reino. The constable was the second most powerful person in the kingdom, after the King of Portugal...

, and in 1420, the Order of Christ

Order of Christ (Portugal)

The Military Order of Christ previously the Royal Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the heritage of the Knights Templar in Portugal, after the suppression of the Templars in 1312...

(ex-Templars) for another son, Henry the Navigator. After his death in 1433, John I's own Order of Aviz

Order of Aviz

The Military Order of Aviz , previously to 1910 Royal Military Order of Aviz , previously to 1789 Order of Saint Benedict of Aviz , previously Knights of St. Benedict of Aviz or Friars of Santa Maria of Évora, is a Portuguese Order of Chivalry...

(ex-branch of Calatrava

Order of Calatrava

The Order of Calatrava was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164.-Origins and Foundation:...

) was passed to a third son, Ferdinand the Saint. The mastership of the three major orders - Santiago, Christ and Aviz - would remain in the hands of princes of the royal family (infantes) for much of the next century.

After the death of John of Reguengos 1442, his brother, the regent prince Peter of Coimbra appointed John's son Diogo

Diogo of Portugal

Diogo of Portugal was a Portuguese infante, son of John, Lord of Reguengos de Monsaraz, infante of Portugal, and of his wife Isabella of Braganza...

as master of Santiago. But Diogo died within a year, so Peter passed the mastership on to his nephew, Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Beja, the younger brother of King Afonso V of Portugal

Afonso V of Portugal

Afonso V KG , called the African , was the twelfth King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.-Early life:...

. This was confirmed by Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...

in 1444. In the 1452 bull Ex apostolice sedis, Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...

confirmed once more Ferdinand's appointment and put a definitive end to questions (up to then still being raised by Castile) about the autonomy of the Portuguese branch of Santiago.

At the death of Henry the Navigator in 1460, his title of Duke of Viseu

Duke of Viseu

Duke of Viseu was a Portuguese Royal Dukedom created in 1415 by King John I of Portugal for his third male child, Prince Henry the Navigator, following the conquest of Ceuta....

and the mastership of the Order of Christ

Order of Christ (Portugal)

The Military Order of Christ previously the Royal Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the heritage of the Knights Templar in Portugal, after the suppression of the Templars in 1312...

passed on to Infante Ferdinand, Henry's designated heir. Ferdinand was in an unusual position of holding two major military orders, but this was ratified by Pope Pius II

Pope Pius II

Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini was Pope from August 19, 1458 until his death in 1464. Pius II was born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but decayed family...

in 1461.

At Infante Ferdinand's death in 1470, all his titles, including both the orders of Christ and Santiago, were inherited by his eldest son, John, Duke of Viseu

John, Duke of Viseu

Infante John of Viseu was the older son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu and of his wife Infanta Beatrice of Portugal....

. But the sickly John died just two years later, in 1472. The mastership of the orders was subsequently separated again: John's younger brother, Diogo, Duke of Viseu

Diogo, Duke of Viseu

Infante Diogo of Viseu was the second son of Infante Fernando, Duke of Viseu, and his wife Beatriz of Portugal.In 1472, when his older brother John, Duke of Viseu, died without issue, Diogo inherited his titles and estates as 4th Duke of Viseu and 3rd Duke of Beja.Diogo was a popular personality...

became master of the Order of Christ, while the Order of Santiago passed to his brother-in-law, Infante John

John II of Portugal

John II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...

, the eldest son and heir of Afonso V of Portugal. (John had recently married Infante Ferdinand's daughter, Eleanor of Viseu).

With the ascension of Infante John as King John II of Portugal

John II of Portugal

John II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves...

in 1481, the fortunes of the Order of Santiago rose with him. At the time, the Order of Christ, with their vast possessions (including the Atlantic islands), was the richest and most powerful military order in Portugal. To combat their influence, John II, a centralizing prince, doted on and deployed his Order of Santiago at their expense.

The Order of Christ had been out of the explorations business since the death of Prince Henry in 1460. As A result, the Order of Santiago supplied a greater share of the knights for the slate of new expeditions organized by John II in the 1480s.

The death of John II's only legitimate son and heir Prince Afonso in 1491 threw the kingdom into a succession crisis, as it left John II with only one legitimate successor, his cousin and brother-in-law, Manuel, Duke of Beja

Duke of Beja

Duke of Beja was an aristocratic Portuguese title with the level of Royal Dukedom, associated with the Portuguese Royal House, created in 1453, by King Afonso V of Portugal for his younger brother Infante Ferdinand of Portugal.Infante Ferdinand younger son, became King of Portugal as Manuel I and,...

. Manuel of Beja had become the master of the Order of Christ in 1484 (following the death of his brother, Diogo of Viseu). John II did not trust Manuel, and suspected he might fritter away his hard-won gains. As a result, John II launched a campaign to legitimize his natural son, Jorge de Lencastre, as royal heir. From Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...

, John II received authorization to appoint Jorge de Lencastre as the Master of the Order of Santiago in April 1492 (and also administrator of the Order of Aviz

Order of Aviz

). However, the Pope refused to legitimize his birth, and as a result, at the death of John II in 1495, Duke Manuel of Beja ascended as King Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I of Portugal

Manuel I , the Fortunate , 14th king of Portugal and the Algarves was the son of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu, , by his wife, Infanta Beatrice of Portugal...

.

In the first decade of Manuel's reign, D. Jorge de Lencastre was the leader of what might be called the political opposition to Manuel, composed mostly of loyalists of the late John II. The Order of Santiago was his powerbase, and its castle in Palmela

Palmela

served as something akin to an 'alternate' rival court.
The Order of Santiago played a leading role in the early India expeditions

Portuguese India Armadas

The Portuguese India armadas were the fleets of ships, organized by the Portuguese crown and dispatched on an annual basis from Portugal to India, principally Goa...

, a legacy project from the reign of John II. Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...

, Paulo da Gama

Paulo da Gama

Paulo da Gama was a Portuguese explorer, son of Estevão da Gama and the older brother of Vasco da Gama.He was a member of the first voyage from Europe to India, led by his brother, commanding the ship São Rafael, which would be later scuttled in the return trip. Paulo da Gama joined the São Gabriel...

, D. Francisco de Almeida

Francisco de Almeida

Dom Francisco de Almeida , also known as "the Great Dom Francisco" , was a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against the Moors and in the conquest of Granada in 1492...

, D. Afonso de Albuquerque

Afonso de Albuquerque

Afonso de Albuquerque[p][n] was a Portuguese fidalgo, or nobleman, an admiral whose military and administrative activities as second governor of Portuguese India conquered and established the Portuguese colonial empire in the Indian Ocean...

and Duarte de Meneses

Duarte de Menezes

Dom Duarte de Menezes , was a 16th C. Portuguese nobleman and colonial officer, governor of Tangier from 1508 to 1521 and 1536 to 1539 and governor of Portuguese India from 1522 to 1524.- Background :...

, were leading knights of the Order of Santiago.

It is reported by chronicler João de Barros

João de Barros

João de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...

(p. 274) that just before his departure for India in 1497, King Manuel I of Portugal presented Vasco da Gama with his personal standard - not the familiar armillary sphere flag later associated with Manuel, but rather the banner of the Order of Christ, of which Manuel was the grand master. But chronicler Gaspar Correia

Gaspar Correia

Gaspar Correia or Gaspar Corrêa was a Portuguese historian, author of "Lendas da Índia , one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia, being referred to as a Portuguese Polybius.- Biography :There is little information about the life of the author...

(p. 15) reports that as soon as the ships left sight of Lisbon harbor, Paulo da Gama pulled 'the royal standard' down from the mast. Evidently the Gamas took the king's gesture as a calculated slight against their beloved Santiago.

Nonetheless, in subsequent years Manuel I would set his Order of Christ to poach the knights of the Order of Santiago. In January, 1505, Manuel managed to coax D. Francisco de Almeida

Francisco de Almeida

to abandon Santiago and move over to the Order of Christ. Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...

himself eventually did the switch in 1507. Afonso de Albuquerque

Afonso de Albuquerque

, by contrast, refused; he was buried in his Santiago vestments.

Master Jorge de Lencastre spent much of his career trying to defend the Order of Santiago against Manuel's encroachments. In May 1505, he actually managed to secure a royal order prohibiting knights from leaving his orders without his express permission. But Manuel soon obtained from Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI

Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...

two bulls to undermine him - one from July 1505, giving the King of Portugal the right to dispose of the property of all three Orders; another in January, 1506, authorizing knights to move freely from other Orders to the Order of Christ.

In 1509, D. Jorge de Lencastre introduced a new set of rules for the Order of Santiago, overhauling its administration in a centralized fashion, bringing it closer in line with the rules of their Spanish brethren

Order of Santiago

. This was done perhaps to gain the support of the Spanish monarchy and the Pope, but to no avail. In 1516, Manuel secured from Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...

the authority to appoint Jorge's successor as grand master of Santiago.

Manuel died in 1521, and was succeeded by his son John III of Portugal

John III of Portugal

John III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile...

who kept up the effort to erode the Order of Santiago. When Jorge de Lencastre died in July, 1550, John III received a bull from Pope Julius III

Pope Julius III

Pope Julius III , born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from 7 February 1550 to 1555....

a couple of weeks later appointing him personally as the master of both the Order of Santiago and the Order of Aviz

Order of Aviz

. This was followed up by a second bull, Praeclara cahrissimi, issued by the pope under great diplomatic pressure by John III in December 1551, appointing the Kings of Portugal as masters in perpetuity of all three military orders, Christ, Santiago and Aviz, thus bringing an end to the independence of the military orders in Portugal.

Later Years

Pope Pius VI

Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...

(1789) and the Queen Mary I reformed the order into a secular institution. In 1834 when the civil government of Portugal became anti-Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

, after the defeat of King Miguel

Miguel of Portugal

Dom Miguel I, sometimes Michael , was the King of Portugal between 1828 and 1834, the seventh child and second son of King John VI and his queen, Charlotte of Spain....

in the Civil War

History of Portugal (1777–1834)

The history of Portugal from the beginning of Queen Maria I's reign in 1777, to the end of the Liberal Wars in 1834, spans a complex historic period in which several important political and military events led to the end of the absolutist regime and to the installation of a constitutional monarchy...

, under the constitutional monarchy

History of Portugal (1834-1910)

The history of Portugal from the end of the Liberal Civil War in 1834 to the republican revolution of 1910 was marked by several events that made way for the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic in the 5 October 1910 revolution....

the order lost its properties. The ancient Military Orders were transformed by the liberal constitution

Constitution of Portugal

The first Portuguese Constitution was drafted in 1822. Several revolutions led to the constitutions of 1826 , 1838 , 1911 , 1933 , and 1976 ....

and subsequent legislation into mere Orders of Merit

Order of Merit (disambiguation)

Order of Merit may refer to:Extant national orders:* Order of Merit of Antigua and Barbuda, see Commonwealth realms orders and decorations* Order of Merit * Order of Merit of the Bahamas* Order of Merit of the Police Forces...

. The privileges which once had been an essential part of the membership of the old military orders were also ceased.

In 1910, when Portuguese monarchy ended, the Republic of Portugal

Portuguese First Republic

The Portuguese First Republic spans a complex 16 year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926...

abolished all the Orders except the Order of the Tower and Sword

Order of the Tower and Sword

The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system. It was created by King Afonso V in 1459....

. However, in 1917, at the end of the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, some of these Orders were re-established as mere Orders of Merit to reward outstanding services to the state, the office of Grand Master belonging to the Head of State - the President of the Republic. The Military Order of St. James, together with the other Portuguese Orders of Merit, had its statutes revised on several occasions, during the First Republic (1910–1926), then in 1962, and again in 1986.

The Military Order of Saint James, together with the Military Orders of Christ

Order of Christ

Order of Christ may refer to:* Order of Christ – former Knights Templar Order awarded initially by the kings of Portugal, now by the Portuguese state...

and of Aviz

Order of Aviz

, form the group of the "Ancient Military Orders", governed by a Chancellor and a Council of eight members, appointed by the President of the Republic, to assist him as Grand Master in all matters concerning the administration of the Order. The Order, despite its name, can be conferred to Portuguese and foreigners for outstanding services to science, literature or art. The highest grade of the Order, that of Grand Collar, is a special award, conferred only to foreign Heads of State

Head of State

A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

Grades

The Order of St. James of the Sword, as awarded by the Portuguese government today, comes in six classes:

Grand Collar (GColSE), which wears the badge of the Order on a special collar (chain), and the star of the Order in gold on the left chest;
Grand Cross (GCSE), which wears the badge of the Order on a collar (chain), or on a sash on the right shoulder, and the star of the Order in gold on the left chest;
Grand Officer (GOSE), which wears the badge of the Order on a necklet, and the star of the Order in gold on the left chest;
Commander (ComSE), which wears the star of the Order in silver on the left chest;
Officer (OSE), which wears the badge of the Order on a ribbon with rosette
Rosette (decoration)
A rosette is a small, circular device that is presented with a medal. The rosettes are primarily for situations where wearing the medal is deemed inappropriate. Rosettes are issued in nations such as France, Italy and Japan...

on the left chest;
Knight (CavSE) or Dame (DamSE), which wears the badge of the Order on a plain ribbon on the left chest.

Insignia

The badge of the Order is a gilt
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...

cross with red enamel, similar to the Order's emblem illustrated here, but with a longer lower arm, and is surrounded by a wreath of green-enamelled palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

leaves; a white-enamelled scroll, bearing the legend "Ciência Letras e Artes" (Science Literature and Art), is located at the bottom of the badge. (The Grand Collar badge has no scroll, and a laurel wreath instead of palms.) During the monarchy the badge was topped by the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....

of Christ.
The star of the Order has 22 asymmetrical arms of rays, in gilt for Grand Collar, Grand Cross and Grand Officer, and in silver for Commander. The central disc is in white enamel, with a miniature of the modern badge in it. During the monarchy the Sacred Heart of Christ was placed at the top of the star.
The ribbon of the Order is plain lilac.

External links

Homepage of the order, with pictures of the badges and explanation of the several grades (in Portuguese).
The Cross of Saint James, history of the St James' Cross used by the Order of St James of the Sword (in English).

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