As you will have seen in this room, the King of Spain carried out various religious roles. One of those was to head orders of Christian knights, the most important of which was the Order of the Golden Fleece. That brotherhood of knights was at the service of the Catholic Church and was founded in the Belgian city of Bruges in 1430 by Prince Philip III "the Good," Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders.

The maximum insignia of the Order is a necklace whose links are styled in the form of the letter "B" for Burgundy, and the necklace includes restones and quartzes. These symbols illustrate the motto of the arms of the Duke or Burgundy of the Order: Ante Ferit Quam Flamma Micet, which means injure before the ame is seen. Since its creation, only 60 necklaces can be awarded and upon their death the recipients of it must return the Golden Fleece.

The word eece refers to the skin of the ram and which gives its name to the Order, as the insignia that its members wear, either on the necklace or as a locket, is the golden eece rescued by Jason, a hero of Greek mythology, who embarked on a journey accompanied by the Argonauts to Colchis in search for the eece. Look at the portrait of King Charles I.

Can you see the Golden Fleece necklace he is wearing?

In 1504 the Order of the Golden Fleece passed to the Spanish Crown, as the new Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Handsome married Juana the insane one, the daughter of the Catholic kings. Since then all of the Hispanic kings are members of that Order and since the government of Philip III they have led the monarchy with the title of Grand Master. Look for the portrait of King Fernando VII in this room in which he is dressed in the habit of the Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

The members of the Order of the Golden Fleece defended the cult of the Virgin Mary, and in this room you will nd a Tota Pulchra, a representation of the purity of Mary. As those knights also believed that the Virgin helped them in battle, they wore a relief of Tota Pulchra on the breastplate of their armour.

Look closely at the armour with which King Philip II was represented.

Can you see the Virgin as Tota Pulchra?

Can you see that he only wore the locket of the Golden Fleece, fastened with a red ribbon?

~ Y o e l R e y . L a M o n a r q u a H i s p n i c a e n e l a r t e ~

T H E O R D E R O F T H E

G O L D E N F L E E C E ~ M u s e o N a c i o n a l d e A r t e ~