Order of the Starry Cross

AUH003 Hochadeliger Sternkreuz-Orden

Order instituted on 18 September 1668 by Empress Eleanor, the third wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III.
Order is intended for rewarding ladies of the highest aristocratic rank who professed Catholicism, who could confirm the antiquity of their kind. The ladies of the order were to devote themselves to religious and charitable activities.
The order still exists today as a dynastic award of the House of Habsburgs of Lorraine.
Eleonora Gonzaga - was by birth Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethe.