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thefe Knighl® 5 and here were their Ceremonies andChapters held, until Charles Emmanuel I. exchang’d itand other Places for the Marquifate of Saluces, 1607. onthe Ani^verfary of the Feaft and Celebration of theOrder ( being fix’d upon the Day of the Annunciation)were tranflated firft to the Church of St. Dominick^ atMontmeiller , and afterwards by him to the Hermitage ofCamaldule, upon the Mountain of Turin call’d I'EremaJffs. The ancient Collar was of Gold, Three Fingersbroad j in barbarous Characters were ingraved thefeLetters, FERT, and one Knot (commonly call’d theSavoy Knot J at the end of each Fert ; which, withThree other Knots entwin’d one within another, madeup the Circumference pendant at the Collar without anyFigure. Thefe old Characters were fuppos’d to be theInitials of Fortitudo ejm Rhodum tenuit , alluding to Ama-deus le Grand , who fo valiantly defended Rhodes againftthe Turks, 13x0. But that this was long before theDevife of the Houfe of Savoy, is manifeft from theCoins of Lewd de Savoy , Baron de Vaud. who dy’d1301. the Monument of Thomas de Savoy, who dy’d1233. whereon was lying at the Feet of his Portaiturea Dog with a Collar about his Neck, infcrib’d Fert , asan integral Word, and from a Brafs Coin of the faidEarl’s, on the Reverie whereof are Two Knots of theModel before fpoke of, and the Word Fert in the midft.There is the ECtype of a Silver Coin of Peter de Savoy ,(who eroded in England the noble Pile of that Namein the Strand, temp. H. III.) wherein is reprelented theDevife Fert in Gothicp Characters, the true Interpreta-tion of which Word cannot be explain’d. This ancientCollar is {till in vogue and daily worn, but now calledThe little Collar, fafliion’d of Gold or Silver gilt, aboutan Inch broad, and of different weight. The Knightswear it about their Necks, clofe to the Collar of tneirDoublet. Duke Charles III. as he much reltor’d theSplendor of this Order, Anno 15x8. introduc’d thelarger one, only worn upon high Days. It weighsabout Two Hundred Crowns, and is compos’d of the"Word Fen, interwoven with Knots, fevered with Fif-teenRofes of Gold, whereof Seven areenamell’d withWhite, and Seven with Red, and border’d with Two
Thorns.