Lord Berners has a novel called The Knight of the Swan (sixteenth century).
Knights of the Thistle, said to be founded by Archaicus, king of the Scots, in 809; revived in 1530 by James V., of Scotland; again in 1687 by James II., of Great Britain; and again by Queen Anne, who placed the order on a permanent footing. The decoration consists of a collar of enamelled gold, composed of sixteen thistles interlaced with sprigs of rue, and a small golden image of St. Andrew within a circle. The motto is Nemo me impune lacessit. The members are sometimes called “Knights of St Andrew.”
The rue mixed with the thistles is a pun on the word “Andrew” thistles And-rue.
⁂ There was at one time a French “Order of the Thistle” in the house of Bourbon, with the same decoration and motto.
Knights of the Virgin’s Looking-Glass, an order instituted in 1411 by Ferdinand of Castile.
Knights Teutonic, originally called “Knights of St. George,” then “Knights of the Virgin Mary,” and lastly “Teutonic Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary the Virgin.” This order was instituted by Henry, king of Jerusalem, in compliment to the German volunteers who accompanied Frederick Barbarossa on his crusade. The knights were soon afterwards placed under the tutelage of the Virgin, to whom a hospital had been dedicated for the relief of German Pilgrims; and in 1191, Pope Celestine III. confirmed the privileges, and changed the name of the order into the “Teutonic Knights,” etc. Abolished by Napoleon in 1809.
Knights of To-day, under this caption Charles Barnard has given us stories of engineers, mechanics, inventors, and other followers of peaceful arts that make for the enduring prosperity of the race, and call into practice nobler virtues than the trade of war and greed of conquest.
Knighton, groom of the duke of Buckingham.—Sir. W. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel (time, James I.).
Knockwinnock (Sybil), wife of Sir Richard of the Redhand, and mother of Malcolm Misbegot.—Sir W. Scott, The Antiquary (time, George III.).
Koh-i-noor (“mountain of light”), a diamond once called “The Great Mogul.” Held in the fourteenth century by the rajah of Malwa. Later it fell into the hands of the sultans of Delhi, after their conquest of Malwa. It belonged in the seventeenth century, to Aurungzebe the Great. The Schah Jihan sent it to Hortensio Borgio to be cut, but the Venetian lapidary re-reduced it from 793-5/8 carats to 186, and left it dull and lustreless. It next passed into the hands of Aurungzebe’s great-grandson, who hid it in his turban. Nadir Schah invited the possessor to a feast, and insisted on changing turbans, “to cement their love,” and thus it fell into Nadir’s hands, who gave it the name of “Koh-i-noor.” It next passed into the hands of Ahmed Shah, founder of the Cabûl dynasty; was extorted from Shah Shuja by Runjet Singh, who wore it set in a bracelet. After the murder of Shu Singh, it was deposited in the Lahore treasury, and after the annexation of the Punjaub, was presented to Queen Victoria, in 1850. It has been recut, and, though reduced to 106 carats, is supposed to be worth £140,000.