Order of the Ermine (Naples)

The Order of the Ermine (L’Ordre de l’Hermine) was a chivalric order created in 1464 by king Ferdinand I of Naples. The motto was "Malo mori quam foedari" ("I would rather die than be dishonored").

Recipients

Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
Giulio Antonio Acquaviva, 1478
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, since 1488[1]

Sources

Gustav Adolph Ackermann, Ordensbuch, Sämtlicher in Europa blühender und erloschener Orden und Ehrenzeichen. Annaberg, 1855, p 254 n° 149. "Orden vom Hermelin"

References

The ermine in Leonardo's portrait Lady with an Ermine may be a reference to it.

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