Annunciad or Annunciada, Order of

a military order, founded by Amedeus, count of Savoy, in 1350 or 1360, called at first the order of the knots of love, because of a hair bracelet, formed in love-knots, given to the count by a lady. Amedeus VIII, duke of Savoy (created Pope Felix III at the council of Basle), in 1494, changed the name of the order to that of the Annunciad.

The figure of the Virgin was appended to the collar, in which the loveknots were changed into a pattern in twisted cord, and which bore the initials F. E. R. T., supposed to mean Fortitudo ejus Rhodum tenuit, in reference to the valiant defense of Rhodes by Amedeus the Great in 1310. The cloak of the knights was first red, afterward blue, and now of the color of amaranth, lined with cloth of silver. It still exists in Sardinia as an order of merit. — Helyot, Ordres Religieux, 1, 224; Burke, Orders of Knighthtood, p. 350.