The Supreme Order of the Annunciation was set up in 1364 by Amadeus VI, Count of Savoia, during a tournament which was held to celebrate the victory of Savoia over a rival, the Marquis of Salusso. It would seem that similar brotherhoods in arms had existed at the Savoyard court under such romantic titles as the Round Table of the Black Swan, of the Green Knights, and the like, but the new order was to achieve a permanent character. At first, the objective of the newly organized group was only fun and love, as evidenced by the love symbols that decorated the collar of the knights. For that reason the brotherhood was dubbed the Order of the Collar. A year later when Count Amadeus made a trip to Constantinople and came in touch with the then extant religious military orders, he dedicated the fraternity to the Blessed Virgin. The religious element was heightened in the symbolic figure of fifteen knights, representing the fifteen mysteries of Our Lady. When the knights themselves had no time to say many prayers, they were quite satisfied to find a convenient substitute for their religious obligations in the persons of fifteen Carthusian monks at the Chapter House of Pierre Chatal. The latter became the seat of the order. Their first and last duty was to honor and serve faithfully their sovereign, the count, and provide him with material benefits. Such privileges as exemptions from taxes, a seat in the senate, and financial support from the crown in case of necessity were given in return to the knights. In 1518 Duke Charles III attached to the knight’s collar a medal representing the Annunciation of Our Lady, and from that time the fraternity became known as the Order of the Collar and the Annunciation. Moreover, the duke augmented the enrollment with five more knights, in honor of the five wounds of Christ. In 1869, Victor Emmanuel II, who was soon to become King of a united Italy, changed the character of the order; it was to be simply a means of rewarding a restricted number of persons for outstanding services to the dynasty or the state.