Chivalric orders are orders of
knights that were created by European monarchs in imitation of the
military orders of the
Crusades. After the crusades, the memory of these crusading military orders became idealised and romanticised, resulting in the late medieval notion of
chivalry, and is reflected in the
Arthurian romances of the time.
Distinction
- Chivalric orders by time of foundation:
- * Modern chivalric orders: foundation after 1789
- Chivalric orders by religion:
- * Catholic chivalric orders: membership exclusively for members of the Catholic church
- Chivalric orders by purpose:
- * Monarchical and dynastical chivalric orders: foundation by a monarch who is a fount of honour; either ruling or not ruling
- * Confraternal chivalric orders: foundation by a nobleman, either high nobility or low nobility
- * Fraternal chivalric orders: founded for a specific purpose only
- * Votive chivalric orders: founded for a limited period of time only by members who take a vow
- * Honorific chivalric orders: consist only of honorific insignia bestowed on knights on festive occasions, consisting of nothing but the badge
Medieval orders
Heraldist
D'Arcy Boulton (1987) classifies chivalric orders in the following manner:
- Monarchical or dynastical orders
Monarchical or dynastical orders
- Late medieval monarchical orders (14th and 15th centuries) are orders of chivalry with the presidency attached to a monarch:
- Post-medieval foundations of chivalric orders:
- Monarchical orders whose monarch no longer reigns but continue to be bestowed, are called dynastical orders:
Confraternal orders
Confraternal orders are orders of chivalry with the presidency attached to a nobleman:
- Princely orders were founded by noblemen of higher rank. Most of these were founded in imitation of the Order of the Golden Fleece, after 1430:
- Baronial orders, founded by noblemen of lower rank:
Fraternal orders
Fraternal orders are orders of chivalry that were formed ad-hoc for a certain enterprise:
#
Alliance et Compagnie du Levrier, founded by 44 knights in the Barrois (1416–1422), subsequently converted into the Confraternal order of Saint Hubert (see above)
Votive Orders
Votive orders are orders of chivalry, temporarily formed on the basis of a
vow. These were courtly chivalric games rather than actual pledges as in the case of the fraternal orders. Three are known from their statutes:
Cliental pseudo-orders
Cliental pseudo-orders are not orders of chivalry and were princes' retinues fashionably termed orders. They are without statutes or restricted memberships:
Honorific orders
Honorific orders were honorific insignia consisting of nothing but the badge:
Some honorific orders are modern foundations, such as the
Order of the Bath[according to Anstis in Observations p4, knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath], founded by
King George I of
Great Britain on
18 May 1725[from Statutes of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath 1725, although Risk says the order was founded on 11 May 1725]Modern orders
Current orders
Former orders
- The Wilhelmsorden (Order of Wilhelm) of Hesse-Kassel, founded 1851, abolished 1875
Modern ranks of the Orders
Most multi-level European orders comprise five ranks, the highest usually called the
Grand Cross, then descending with varying titles. Typical rankings are
- Grand Cross (or Grand Cordon, Grand Collar etc.)
- Grand Officer (Grand Commander, Knight Commander, Knight Companion)
- Knight (Chevalier, Member)
In British orders only the top two are considered to be knights (in the sense of using "Sir" in the name).
Consequently to the fact of being not an order of chivalry but an order of merits, some republican orders have created new ranks, e.g.
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Self-Styled Chivalric Orders
Self-styled orders are organisations that claim to be
chivalric orders in the same sense as such orders as the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece or the French Order of Saint Michael, which actually are able to convey knighthood. The "self-styled orders" are membership organisations and have not been created by a State or a Monarch.
With few exceptions, self-styled orders began to arise in the middle of the eighteenth century, and they continue to emerge. Some are short-lived and only last a few decades. There are differing opinions about what principles or rules should be applied to distinguish an organisation as a genuine
chivalric order or a merely self-styled one.
Most scholars agree that a chivalric order (that is, an order which can bestow knighthood) must have a
fons honorum ("fount of honour") provided by its founder and current principal patron for it to be considered a true chivalric order. A fount of honour is defined as someone who held sovereignty either currently or formerly at the time of the creation of the order. Further, former holding of sovereignty is considered allowable only for the creation of an order in those cases where the former sovereign did not abdicate his position: for example, an Order of St John of Jerusalem which previously was merely a self-styled "order" came to be supported by the exiled King Peter of Yugoslavia, who had not abdicated; after the king's death in 1970, his successor, Crown Prince Alexander, refused to continue patronage and in fact repudiated the various and competing successor "orders"; thus, without a continuing
fons honorum, these orders lapsed back into "self-styled" status. A minority of scholars disagree, arguing that a non-reigning claimant to a throne cannot continue an order of chivalry.
Some organisations have provided a false
fons honorum to satisfy the need. In these cases, the founder or patron of the "order" has essentially assumed a
false title of nobility in addition to assuming some sort of sovereignty, current or former.
Although not recognised by any international treaty, an organisation exists which seeks to provide criteria against which to judge Orders of Chivalry: the . The rules by which the Commission adjudges an order of chivalry to be genuine are listed on the website of the Commission.
The International Commission for Orders of Chivalry was created in August 1960, originally as an instrument of the
International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences. However, criticism of the work of the Commission at the time caused the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences to abandon the work. The Commission continues as an independent organisation, though neither its decisions nor the criteria it employs to reach those decisions are universally accepted. The Commission has no standing in international law and may not be acknowledged by any present government.
There are, however, organisations that appear to have a chivalric character and are seen as being akin to orders of chivalry. Examples of such organisations are listed in Appendix 5, of: Sainty, Guy,
World Orders of Knighthood & Merit, Burke's Peerage & Gentry, 2006.
See also
