1609 Origines Equestrium sive Militarium Ordinum, Miraeus (Knights Templar, etc). First edition.

The 1609 first edition of Aubertus Miraeus' history of the Catholic orders of knighthood, including the Knights Templar, Hopsitaller, Teutonic, Order of the Golden Fleece, etc. The work details the origins, rules and histories. To some degree, this was a work of counter-reformation, aiming to show historical virtues of the Catholic church. As such, the institutions are presented in their relationship to church organization.

The work also touches on Iberian initiatives, which were created to push back the Moorish forces from the Iberian Peninsula.

Miraeus also touches on the later Order of the Golden Fleece, Order of the Garter and Saint Michael.

Provenance -

The title page and last page both bear the signature of J Franc. d'Orival. D'Orival was a very common French Catholic name in the 17th century, but in 1610 a Francois d'Orival did write a manuscript documenting the Holy Shroud of Besancon and its reputed miracles (see the Doubs Archives, "Le Sainct Suaire de Besancon. Antiquite, miracles et venerations d'icelu Le Sainct Suaire de Besancon..."). There is no possible way to know if this is the same Francois d'Orival, but since the shroud of Besancon was thought to have been brought to France by a knight, there is some small possible relationship.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 1003308, 28 copies recorded in the world's libraries.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 25 x 17 x 1 cm. Quarto. Hardcover with leather spine. Boards with decorative paper covering them. Spine with a fleur roll along the edges, title and year in gilt along the spine. Marbled endpapers.

Pages - viii, 46, [2]

Collation - *4, A-F4. Collates complete.

Condition -

See pictures. Small chip at head of spine. A little loss along joints of spine. Some wear to leather, edges and corners. "Kron 191" written on all blank front endpapers and title page. Text block toned throughout with occasional fox spots, corner chips, thumbing, dog-eared pages, etc. Title page with old manuscript ownership inscriptions, one crossed out. Title page torn in two and repaired from back (see pictures). Ink stains at top of *4 verso. Writing on colophon (ex libris).