Self-styled orders
Encyclopedia
A chivalric order must have a fount of honour
Fount of honour
The fount of honour refers to a nation's head of state, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry to other persons.- Origin :...
(or fons honorum) as either its founder or its principal patron in order to be considered a chivalric order; a fount of honour is a person who held sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
either at or before the moment when the order was established. (Holding sovereignty before the founding of an order is considered effective in creation of a genuine chivalric order only if the former sovereign had not abdicated his sovereignty before the foundation of the order but, instead, had been deposed or had otherwise lost power.) Some organisations create a false fons honorum in order to satisfy this requirement and give themselves apparent legitimacy; often, the founder or patron of a self-styled order has assumed a false title of nobility
False titles of nobility
False titles of nobility are supposed titles of nobility that have been fabricated and are not recognised by any government and were not so recognised in the past, even in countries in which titles of nobility once existed or still exist. They have received an increasing amount of press attention,...
as well as supposed current or former sovereignty.
Contrary to a popular myth, a person who is a knight or of noble birth does not have the right to confer titles of nobility or Orders of Chivalry on others. According to tradition and international law, no person or organization, other than the Head of State
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
, or the Head of a Royal House
Royal House
A royal house or royal dynasty consists of at least one, but usually more monarchs who are related to one another, as well as their non-reigning descendants and spouses. Monarchs of the same realm who are not related to one another are usually deemed to belong to different houses, and each house is...
or Dynasty -- whether regnant or non-regnant -- can be a fount of honour. This is because any other person lacks the required sovereignty to do so, even if he or she is of royal blood.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where the fount of honour is the Monarch, some societies have permissions from the Monarch to award medals, but these are to be worn on the right side of the chest. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, however, with very few exceptions, no non-governmental orders and medals are permitted to be worn. In Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, decisions about medals and orders worn to military uniform has been delegated to the General Staff
Swedish Armed Forces
The Swedish Armed Forces is a Swedish Government Agency responsible for the operation of the armed forces of the Realm. The primary task of the agency is to train, organize and to deploy military forces, domestically and abroad, while maintaining the long-term ability to defend the Realm in the...
, which have led one of the many bogus orders of the "Knights of the Temple of Solomon" to become accepted. This acceptance policy has been criticized by the Herald of the Royal Court
Royal Court of Sweden
The Royal Court of Sweden is the official name for the organisation that supports the Monarch of Sweden, and the Royal House...
.
Self-styled orders may share certain other characteristics:
- They long ago were suppressed by the Holy SeeHoly SeeThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, protector of mediaeval Western military religious orders in the Holy Land or on the Iberian Peninsula; - No sovereign Western state recognises them as legitimate orders of knighthood;
- They claim to be under the high protection of or to be headed by Episcopi vagantesEpiscopi vagantesEpiscopi vagantes are persons who have been consecrated as Christian bishops outside the structures and canon law of the established churches, and who are not in communion with any generally recognized diocese...
or to be headed by obscure princes; - They are linked closely to bearers of false titles of nobility.
Although not officially recognised by any international treaty, the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry has developed widely accepted principles employed in determining which organizations are genuine chivalric orders (many of which are listed on the website of the Commission) rather than self-styled ones. The Commission was created as a temporary committee of the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences
International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences
The International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences is a biennial conference discussing topics of heraldic and genealogical interest. The Congress brings together scholars and other interested persons from all the nations of Europe and from many countries around the world...
in August of 1960, though it has been transformed into a permanent and independent international body. Though these principles may form a set of reasonable guidelines.
Certain other organisations (such as the Augustan Society
Augustan Society
The Augustan Society, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, Florida, was founded in 1957 to preserve material related to heraldry, genealogy, and orders of chivalry, and to further chivalric ideals in society. The Society moved to its current location from Daggett, California in 2007. The Society's...
, which states publicly that it is not a chivalric order) that may appear to have a chivalric character, nevertheless carefully distinguish themselves from legitimate orders of chivalry, thus differentiating themselves from self-styled orders.
See also
- Chivalric orderChivalric orderChivalric orders are societies and fellowships of knights that have been created by European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades...
- False titles of nobilityFalse titles of nobilityFalse titles of nobility are supposed titles of nobility that have been fabricated and are not recognised by any government and were not so recognised in the past, even in countries in which titles of nobility once existed or still exist. They have received an increasing amount of press attention,...
- Fount of HonourFount of honourThe fount of honour refers to a nation's head of state, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry to other persons.- Origin :...
- International Order of Saint Stanislaus
- Knights Hospitaller Mimic Orders
- Niadh NaskNiadh NaskThe Niadh Nask was a self-styled nobiliary association devised by the self-styled MacCarthy Mór, Terence Francis MacCarthy. It was alleged to be a nobiliary fraternity which developed from the old warrior-guard of the Kings of Munster. The group dissolved when it was proven that its Grand Master...
- Noble Order of Saint George of RougemontNoble Order of Saint George of Rougemont-Origin :The noble Brotherhood of Saint George was created in 1390 by two gentlemen of Franche-Comté to honor the relics of the megalomartyr that had been brought back from the Holy Land. Philibert de Mollans, squire to the Duke of Burgundy, was its main driving force...
- Order of Saint BlaiseOrder of Saint BlaiseThe Order of St. Blaise was founded in Armenia in the 12th century and takes its name from Saint Blaise, patron of the kingdom. It was divided into religious, who were charged with the holy offices and missionary work among the unbelievers, and the fighters, who defended the country against the...
- Order of St. JoachimOrder of St. JoachimThe Order of Saint Joachim is considered by some historians a Confraternal Order of Chivalry, although other historians consider it a "self-styled" Order of Chivalry. Its most famous member was Admiral Horatio Nelson.-18th century:...
- Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem
- Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Oecumenial Knights of MaltaSovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of JerusalemThe Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Oecumenical Knights of Malta is one of the 26 unrecognised orders of St. John active in 2010...
Further reading
- Ordres et contre-ordres de chevalerie by Arnaud ChaffanjonArnaud ChaffanjonArnaud Chaffanjon was a French specialist in heraldry and aristocratic genealogy. He was journalist at Point de Vue...
, Mercure de France Paris 1982. - Faux Chevaliers vrais gogos by Patrice Chairoff, Jean Cyrile Godefroy Paris 1985.
- The knightly twilight by Robert GayreRobert GayreGeorge Robert Gayre of Gayre and Nigg was a Scottish anthropologist who founded Mankind Quarterly. An expert on heraldry, he also founded The Armorial, and produced many books on this subject....
of Gayre, Lochore Enterprises Valletta 1973. - Orders of knighthood, Awards and the Holy See by Peter Bander van DurenPeter Bander van DurenPeter Bander van Duren was a British expert on heraldry and orders of knighthood.Dr. Peter Bander became a British citizen in 1962 and changed his name in 1976 by deed poll to Peter Bander van Duren adding the name of his mother in an altered form to his father's name.Dr...
and Archbishop H.E. Cardinale (Apostolic Delegate in the United Kingdom), Buckinghamshire 1985. - World Orders of Knighthood and Merit by Guy Stair SaintyGuy Stair SaintyGuy Stair Sainty, KC*SG is an art dealer and author on royal genealogy and heraldry.-Life and education:Guy Stair Sainty was born on 7 December 1950, the eldest son of Christopher Lawrence Sainty and his second wife Virginia Cade Stair. His father was Chief Engineer and Director of Carrier...
and Rafal Heydel-MankooRafal Heydel-MankooRafal Heydel-Mankoo Rafal Heydel-Mankoo Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (born 1 June 1976, London, England is a London-based free-lance media correspondent on royal affairs, and a writer, commentator and pundit on heraldry, aristocracy, and various honours systems. He was born in the United Kingdom, and...
, Burke's Peerage 2006. - Ephemeral Decorations, Gillingham, H. E. New York, 1935. American Numismatical Society: Numismatic Notes and Mongraphs 66.
- Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, Knights of Fantasy: an overview, history, and critique of the self-styled 'Orders' called 'of Saint John' or 'of Malta', in Denmark and other Nordic countries, Turku 2002, ISBN 951-29-2265-7
External links
- History of Orders of Chivalry: A Survey
- International Commission for Orders of Chivalry
- Legitimacy and Orders of Knighthood, by François Velde
- The Self-Styled Orders, by Guy Stair SaintyGuy Stair SaintyGuy Stair Sainty, KC*SG is an art dealer and author on royal genealogy and heraldry.-Life and education:Guy Stair Sainty was born on 7 December 1950, the eldest son of Christopher Lawrence Sainty and his second wife Virginia Cade Stair. His father was Chief Engineer and Director of Carrier...
- Fake Titles
- SMOM Mimic Orders