Order of the Jar

Both birds stood at the entrance to a cave in Nájera, inside of which there was an image of the Virgin Mary next to a jar of lilies, symbol of the Annunciation.

[6] On 15 August 1403, while celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation in Medina del Campo, Ferdinand conferred the collar of a new order of chivalry on his sons Alfonso, John, Henry, Sancho and Peter.

It remained vestigial in comparison to other royal orders, but played a prominent role in court ceremony.

The eyewitness Álvar García de Santa María records its central place at the coronation of Ferdinand in Zaragoza in 1414.

[1] After the siege of Balaguer (1413), Ferdinand I of Aragon honoured about eighty of the knights who had shown greater courage in battle with the shield of the order.

[1] Ferdinand's son, Alfonso V of Aragon, introduced the order to the Kingdom of Naples after he conquered it in 1443.

Golden jar of lilies with a griffin, the device of the order from the armorial of Hendrik van Heessel .
Portrait of Oswald von Wolkenstein in a manuscript from 1432, with the emblem of the Order of the Jar on his bend and hanging from his collar , while the chain and the cross-and-dragon on the bend symbolise the Order of the Dragon