A military order is any one of a variety of Christian societies of knights that were founded from the Middle Ages onwards for the purpose of crusading – propagating or defending the faith (originally Catholic, and after the Reformation sometimes Protestant), either in the Holy Land or against Islam (as, for example, during the Reconquista) or pagans (mainly in the Baltic region) in Europe. Many orders have, since the end of the Crusades and the Ottoman incursions, become secularized, and are usually represented by Roman Catholic ceremonial, missionary and charitable organizations in modern times.
Read more about Military Order: History, Purpose and Function, List of Military Orders, Other Uses
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or order:
“Stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor,
Doing the military two-step, as in the days of yore.”
—Joyce Grenfell (1910–1979)
“It is with unfathomable love, pure joy and no regret that we leave this world. Men, do not cry for our fate, but cry for your own.”
—Members of the Order of the Solar T.. New York Times, p. 1 (October l4, 1994)