The chief duties of the Knighs were:
1. To assist the Dukes of Savoy by word and deed on every occasion, and at any time they should stand in need of that assistance.
2. To protect the oppressed.
3. To submit their own disputes to the judgment of the Chapter. .
4. To wear constantly the collar or chain of the Order, which is composed alternally of love-knots and the oldfashioned letters: 'F. E. R. T.'[1]
5. To present the Church of Piérre Castel with a chalice, a surplice and all the other articles requisite for the celebration of Mass.
6. To bequeath, at their death, 100 livres for the support of that Church, and to enjoin their heirs to have read one hundred masses.
At funerals of members, the whole fraternity used to be present, dressed originally in white, and subsequently in black cloaks, which they abandoned, after the ceremony, to the Carthusian monks. On all other occasions, the colour of the cloak or mantle was crimson, trimmed with fringes and embroidered with love-knots.
Charles III. of Savoy, proclaimed, on the 11th September, 1518, new statutes, and, at the same time, he gave to the Order, a new name: that 'of the Holy Annunciation;' he also added, round the motto of the collar, fifteen roses, (seven white, seven red, and one of both colours), and to the fifteen Knights, five Officers: a Chan-
- ↑ They have reference to an old motto of the Counts of Savoy, and supposed to be the initials of: ' Fortitudo ejus Rhodum tenuit' (Rhodes was kept by his bravery), in allusion to the exploits of Amadeus V. against the Turks.
