Order of the Crescent 

In 1448 Rene had founded yet another Crusading Order, The Military Order of the Crescent. Just as the Order of the Lys was composed mostly of Scots, so the Order of the Crescent was composed mostly of French Aristocrats. The first documents of the Order date from Sunday 17th. July 1451 when the Statutes of the Order were given. The Order was dedicated to St. Maurice and its Chapel still exists today being the South Transept of the Cathedral at Angers. (See Nouvelle Histoire Genealogique de L’Auguste Maison de France, “Les Valois” by Patrick van Kerrebrouck, section Ducs d’ Anjou, Rene dit ” Le Bon”, also the complete works of King Rene by Le Comte de Quatrebarbes 1845). 
 
The original members include, besides Rene himself, the Duke of Calabre and the Comte de Vaudemont (Rene’s sons), the Sieur de Beauvau, Grand Seneschal of Provence and Anjou and the Sforza, Duke of Milan, by now the Commander of the Company of the Lys. It also includes Jacobo Antonio Marcello of Venice who together with the Sforzas were members of the Order of the Lys, as well as the Sieur de Loges (or Lorges) whose only daughter, or possibly grand-daughter, was to marry Georges de Montgomery, son of Rene de Montgomery (1464 – 86), godson of Rene d’Anjou, and who became Seigneur de Lorges in his wife’s name and was to accompany Charles VIII to Naples in 1495. 
 
Rene de Montgomery (The Elder) had married Jeanne d’Harcourt and obtained from her father the ancient Montgomery lands in Normandy and their daughter, Jeanne d’Harcourt de Montgomery, married Rene de Lorraine, grandson of Rene d’Anjou by his daughter Yolande de Bar, and who became known as Rene de Bar et Lorraine and who in turn became Sovereign Grand Commander of the Lys. 
 
Rene de Montgomery (The Younger) married Lione de Loddes in Blois. Rene de Lorraine married secondly Philippe de Gueldres. James II of Scotland (1437-60) married Mary de Gueldres (See genealogy – Oxford History of the British Monarchy). 
 
At some stage, the Order of the Crescent disappears or was suppressed by a Pope (Date and source unknown), at all events it eventually disappears and its members or their descendants appear in the Order of the Lys. 
References: 
(1) Montgomery, H. (2001) – The Montgomery Millennium p.(7) – Megatrend, Belgrade & London. Also documents from the Clan Sinclair trust kindly shown to me by Maj. Niven Sinclair. 
(2) The Seal of Rene d’Anjou as Sovereign of the Order from a photocopy in the possession of the Order. 
(3) As a matter of interest Charles VII in December 1429 granted Joan of Arc’s brothers letters of nobility and the name Du Lis. See Fox-Davies A.C. (1985) – A complete Guide to Heraldry (Revised Edition 1985), p.207, Bloomsbury Books, London. 
(4) Forbes-Leith, The Scots Men-at-Arms & Life-Guards in France, vol.(i) pp.35-47 
(5) Daniel, Histoire de la milice Francoise, vol.(ii) p. 170 also Baigent & Leigh (1989) – The Temple & the Lodge, p. 104, Jonathan Cape, London 
(6) The Fleur-de-Lys Obelisk from a print in Asboth Janos, (1890) – An Official Tour through Bosnia-Herzogovina, English translation, p. 110,London, 1890. (See also Viestnik Hrv. Archoeol. Druztva). 
Asboth was an official of the Austro-Hungarian court who was making an official journey through newly acquired territories. His drawings are probably more important than his comments. 
(7) Ibid 
(8) The Bosnian gravestones were associated with the Bogomils by Evans, A.J. (1878) – Through Bosnia and Herzegovina on foot during the insurrection, pp.174 –177, London. See also Stoyanov, Y. 
(1994) – The Hidden Tradition in Europe p. 208, Penguin, London, UK. Also Solovjev, A. (1954) – 
Cahier d’Etudes Cathares, 18 pp. 92 – 114. For the contrary case see Wenzel, M. (1965) – Ukransi motivi na steccima, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Yuri Stoyanov does not himself come out on one side or the other merely comments on other scholars’ opinions. 
(9) Hibbert, C. (1979) – The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, p. 79, Penguin Books, London,UK 
(10) Ibid. p. 85 
(11) The Margrave of Tuscany was held by the family of Canossa in the 11th. Century and Boniface of Canossa held the fief of Mantua. The last Margrave in her own right was Matilda who died in 1167. Thereafter Mantua became the fief of the Bonacolsi family until 1328 when they were replaced forcibly by the Gonzagas. See Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 7, p. 798 
(12) Actas da 1a. Conferencia do Mediterraneo, ‘As Ordens de Cavalaria e O Mediterraneo’, Lisboa, Setembro de 1996. 
(13) Role, R.E., (1996)- Research into the Orders of the Fleur-de-Lys and St. James of Altopascio faxed to Dr. Hugh Montgomery and based upon documents in the Archives of the library at Altopascio. 
(14) See note 12 
(15) See note 12 
(16) The Sarajevo Haggadah, (1983) – Prosveta, Belgrade & Svjetlost, Sarajevo – Yugoslavia 
(17) Montgomery, H. op. cit. Coats of Arms 
(18) Anstruther, Ian (1963) – The Knight & the Umrella, Bles Ltd., London 
(19) Ferguson, J. (1899) – The Scots Brigade 1572-1782, T & A Constable, Edinburgh. Vol. I, 
1572–1697. Vol. II, 1698-1782 
(20) Ibid 
(21) Ibid 
(22) Ibid 
(23) Ibid 
(24) Ibid 
(25) Ibid 
(26) Ibid 
(27) Ibid 
 
Other references used or shown in the text: 
Cannon,J. & Griffiths, R. (1988) – Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York. 
Revue Cantonale de Livarot (1987),- Montgomery, 1000 ans d’Histoire, Areo, Paris, France. 
Photographs of the Losen Crois sant & Losen du Lys in Angers by Hugh Montgomery. 
Photographs of the Statue of Rene and the Castle in Angers by Hugh Montgomery. 
The Fleur-de-Lys headstones from photographs taken by Ivana Jovanovic & Hugh Montgomery outside the Ethnic Museum in Belgrade in October 2000. 
Research by Prof. Yuri Stoyanov, Yates Fellow, at the Warburg Institute of the University of London 
on Orders of Chivalry and kindly shown to Hugh Montgomery prior to publication. 
 
This History has been researched by Dr. Hugh Montgomery over a period of several years and the copyright has been gifted by him to the Order. 
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