The Order of the Swan (German: Schwanenorden) was a spiritual chivalric order of princes and nobles ruled by the House of Hohenzollern. It was founded on 29 September 1440 by Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg with reference to the medieval tale of the Swan Knight.
The association originally comprised, with Elector Frederick at their head, thirty men and seven women united to honor Virgin Mary. Its headquarters was the Romanesque St. Mary's pilgrimage church, the centre of a Premonstratensian monastery located on a hill near Brandenburg an der Havel. In 1459, the Hohenzollern margrave Albert Achilles established a filial at the St. Gumbertus church near his Ansbach Residence.
The order spread rapidly, numbering in 1464 about 330 members, as well as further branches established in the Franconian Principality of Ansbach and in the possessions of the Teutonic Order in East Prussia. Along with encouraging more enthusiastic homage to Virgin Mary, the order sought to foster perseverance in works of mercy. It was extinguished during the Protestant Reformation, since that movement discouraged devotions to Mary.
In 1843 the order was revived, perhaps as no more than an idea by King Frederick William IV of Prussia he never realised. In this incarnation, it was an association, open to men and women of all creeds, for the amelioration of physical and moral ills. Currently, a Schwanenritterorden charitable association exists in Nuremberg, under the patronage of the Hohenzollern prince Philip Kirill of Prussia.
Swans are birds ofthe genus Cygnus within the family Anatidae. Theswans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely...
An orderof chivalry, orderof knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an orderof knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original...
in order to impress a beautiful swan named Serena. In Canada during the spring of 1968, the cob (the name for an adult male swan) and the pen (the name...
turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer ofthe original production was Julius Reisinger (Václav Reisinger). The ballet was premiered...
Robert Charles Swan, OBE, FRGS (born 28 July 1956) is the first person to walk to both poles. He is currently an advocate for the protection of Antarctica...
The tundra swan (Cygnus columbianus) is a small swanofthe Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes...
The mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a species ofswan and a member ofthe waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter...
Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth; June 16, 1984) is an American spiritual influencer and author. Swan and her teachings are the subject of documentaries...
The whooper swan (/ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; Cygnus cygnus), also known as the common swan, is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian...
The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) is a species ofswan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest...
Emma Swan is a fictional character and the protagonist of ABC's television series Once Upon a Time. She is portrayed by Jennifer Morrison as an adult,...
explosion at age 14. Swan was appointed as a Member theOrderof Australia (AM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to the broadcast media...
The story ofthe Knight oftheSwan, or Swan Knight, is a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat to defend a damsel, his...
At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powerful shipbuilding families: Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson. The company was responsible...
The "swan maiden" story is a name in folkloristics used to refer to three kinds of stories: those where one ofthe characters is a bird-maiden, in which...
Negro Swan is the fourth studio album by Blood Orange, an alias of British musician Dev Hynes. It was released on 24 August 2018 by Domino. The album...
The WonderSwan is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the...
The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species ofswan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within...
TheSwan Silvertones are an American gospel music group that first achieved popularity in the 1940s and 1950s under the leadership of Claude Jeter. Jeter...
"The Wild Swans" (Danish: De vilde svaner) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell...