The kings of France and Cyprus, John…

The kings of France and Cyprus, John II and Peter I, had taken crusading vows to go to the Holy Land on March 31, 1363, Good Friday, at Papal Avignon, and had received from Pope Urban V the sign of the cross (signum crucis) to sew on their garments as a sign of their vow.

This was the beginning of the Savoyard crusade, although John II will never fulfill his vow personally and Peter I will not ultimately cooperate with the count of Savoy in the venture.

The latter does not make his crusading vow, also before Urban V, until probably January 19, 1364, when a council of regional magnates is held at Avignon to form a league (colligatio) against the marauding free companies.

This is certainly the occasion when the pope bestows on Amadeus the Golden Rose, and the count founds the chivalric Order of the Collar to replace his earlier, and probably defunct, Order of the Black Swan.

The original members of the Order of the Collar are devoted followers, and often relatives, of Amadeus and all ware probably pledged to accompany him on crusade.

In the event, all but two who could not go for reasons of health, will travel east.

The Order, like the crusade, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The deadline established for the departure of the crusade is March 1, 1365, although the pope expects both Peter of Cyprus and Amadeus of Savoy to depart earlier.

The deadline will be met by nobody, although the king of Cyprus will leave Venice on June 27 on the Alexandrian Crusade.

Urban V makes a serious effort to fund Amadeus's expedition with a series of seven bulls issued on April 1, 1364, granting him various new sources of income.

All confiscated "ill-gotten gains" (male acquisita) from theft, rapine or usury which cannot be restituted (to the victims) are to be used for the next six years for the crusade.

Further, "all the hitherto unspent legacies, gifts, confiscations, fines, and penances which had been bequeathed, given, assigned, or levied pro dicto passagio et Terre Sancte subsidio [for the passage to the Holy Land and its welfare] in the county of Savoy and its dependencies for the preceding twelve years and for the next six" are assigned to the count for his expedition.

Finally, the church is to pay a tithe (tenth) of its tithes to the count for the crusade, excepting those priests who receive permission to go on the journey themselves.