Social KNIGHTHOOD, is that which is not fixed nor confirmed by any formal institution, nor regulated by any lasting statutes; of which kind there have many orders been erected on occasion of factions, of tilts and tournaments, masquerades, and the like.
The abbot Bernardo Justiniani, at the beginning of his History of Knighthood, gives us a complete catalogue of the several orders: according to this computation, they are in number 92. Favin has given us two volumes of them under the title of Theatre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie. Menenius has published Deliciae Equestrum Ordinum, and Andr. Mendo has written De Ordinibus Militaribus. Beloi has traced their original; and Geliot, in his Armorial Index, has given us their institution. To these may be added, Father Menestrier de la Chevalerie Ancienne et Moderne, Michieli's Tresor Militaire, Caramuel's Theologia Regolare, Miraeus's Origines Equestrum sive Militarum Ordinum; but above all, Justinian's Historie Chronologique dell' Origine de gl' Ordine Militari, e di tutte le Religione Cavalesche; the edition which is fullest is that of Venice in 1692, in two vols folio.