Légion d'honneur

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The Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on May 19, 1802.^[1] This world-renowned Order is the highest decoration in France and is divided into five various degrees: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand-Croix (Grand Cross).

The order’s motto is Honneur et Patrie (Honour and Fatherland), and its seat is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris.^[2]

[edit] History

[edit] The Republic

In the French Revolution all the orders of the kingdom were abolished. It was the wish of Napoleon, the First Consul, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers and from this wish was instituted a Légion d'Honneur,^[3] a body of men that was not an order of chivalry, for Napoleon, still a revolutionary, loathed orders of knighthood. The Légion did and does however show all the characteristics of an Order of Chivalry. Women were first allowed in the legion in 1852 by President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who later became Napoleon III.

The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman Legion, with légionnaires (soldiers), officers, commanders and a grand council; and the Emperor angrily rebuked anyone who called this institution an order. The highest rank was not a grand cross but a grand aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously:

• 5,000 francs to a grand officier,
• 2,000 francs to a commandant,
• 1,000 francs to an officier,
• And 250 francs to a légionnaire.

According to some sources Napoleon declared: On appelle ça des hochets, je sais, on l'a dit déjà. Et bien, j'ai répondu que c'est avec des hochets que l'on mène les hommes. — "We call these children's toys, I know, it's been said already. Well, I replied that it's with such toys that one leads men." (The French word hochet means a child's rattle.) This has been often quoted as "It is with such baubles that men are led."

The order was the first modern order of merit. The orders of the monarchy were often limited to Roman Catholics and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers. The légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions. Only merit or bravery counted.

It is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the legion has five arms.

[edit] The Empire

In a decree issued on the tenth Pluviose XIII (January 30, 1805) a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a large sash and a silver star with an eagle became known as the Grand Aigle, and later in 1814 as the grand cordon (French for "large sash").

Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his kinsmen and the highest of his ministers. This collar was abolished in 1815.

Although research is made difficult by the loss of the archives, it is known that three women who fought with the army were decorated with the order: Virginie Ghesquière, Marie-Jeanne Schelling and a nun, Sister Anne Biget.

The Légion d'honneur was prominent and visible in the empire. The Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time. The king of Sweden therefore refused the order; it was too common in his eyes. Napoleon's own decorations were captured by the Prussians and were displayed in the Zeughaus (armory) in Berlin until 1945. Today, they are in Moscow.

[edit] The Restoration of the Bourbon Kings in 1814

Louis XVIII changed the appearance of the order, but it was not abolished. This would have angered the 35-38,000 members. The images of Napoleon and his eagle were removed and replaced by the image of Henri IV, the popular first king of the Bourbon line. Three Bourbon Lillies (fleur-de-lys) replaced the eagle on the reverse of the order. A king's crown replaced the imperial crown. In 1816 the grand eagles were renamed grand crosses and the legionnaires became knights. The king decreed that the commandants were now commanders. The legion was the second order of knighthood of the French monarchy, after the Order of the Holy Spirit.

[edit] The July Monarchy

France's first constitutional monarch, King Louis-Philippe of the House of Orleans, restored the order of the Légion d'honneur in 1830 as the paramount decoration of the French nation. The insignia were drastically altered. The cross now displayed tricolor flags. Louis-Philippe abolished the other orders of the monarchy. In 1847, there were 47,000 members.

[edit] The Second Republic

Yet another revolt in Paris (1848) brought a new republic and a new design to the Légion d'honneur.

A nephew of the founder, Prince Napoléon was elected president and he restored the image of his uncle on the crosses of the order. In 1852 the first woman, an old revolutionary of the 1789 uprising against the absolute monarchy, was admitted into the order. A true Bonaparte, President Napoleon staged a coup d'état and made himself emperor of the French in 1852.

[edit] The Second Empire

An Imperial crown was added. During Napoleon III's reign the first American was admitted — Dr. Thomas Wiltberger Evans, dentist of Napoleon III. Angélique Duchemin was the first documented female knight.

[edit] The Third Republic

In 1870 the defeat of the army in the Franco-Prussian war brought another Republic. As France changed, the Légion d'honneur changed as well. The crown was replaced by a laurel and oak wreath. In 1871, during the Paris Commune, the Hôtel de Salm, headquarters of the Légion, was burned to the ground in street fighting; the archives of the order were lost.

In the second term of Jules Grévy, newspaper journalists brought to light the trafficking of Grévy's son-in-law, Daniel Wilson, in the awarding of decorations of the Légion d'Honneur. Grévy was not accused of personal participation in these scandals, but he was slow to accept his indirect responsibility, which caused his eventual resignation on December 2, 1887.

During the First World War, some 55,000 decorations were conferred, 20,000 of which to foreigners.

[edit] Current organisation and officers

The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order — by convention, on the advice of the Government. Its principal officers are the Chancellor and Secretary-General.

Current officers of the Order include:

• Grand Master: Nicolas Sarkozy
• Grand Chancellor: Jean-Pierre Kelche
• Secretary-General: Jacques Carrère

Frenchmen are always received in the order to the class of knight. To be promoted to a higher class, one must prove new services to France and a set number of years must pass between appointment and promotion. The only exception is the President of the Republic, who is made a grand cross de jure upon his accession to the presidency. Foreigners are not received in the order; instead they are decorated with the insignia of the légion. A foreigner can be decorated directly with the insignia of a higher class. Foreign Heads of State and the wives or consorts of monarchs are made grand cross as a courtesy.

The order is conferred upon men and women, either French citizens or foreigners, for outstanding achievements (mérites éminents) in military or civil life. In practice, in current usage, the order is conferred, in addition to military recipients, to many entrepreneurs, high-level civil servants, sport champions as well as other people with high connections in the executive. The members of the french Parliament cannot receive the order, except for valor in war, and ministers are not allowed to nominate their accountants.

The Order has a maximum quota of 75 Grand Cross, 250 Grand Officers, 1,250 Commanders, 10,000 Officers and 113,425 (ordinary) Knights. As of 2000 the actual membership was 61 Grand Cross, 321 Grand Officers, 3,626 Commanders, 22,401 Officers and 87,371 Knights.

It is a popular joke that half of France wants the order and the other half already owns it, but in reality most people have to content themselves with the less prestigious "National Order of Merit" awarded for "distinguished services".

Appointments of veterans of the Second World War, French military personnel involved in the North African Campaign and other foreign French military operations, as well as wounded soldiers, are made independently of the quota.

In 1998, all surviving veterans of the First World War from any allied country who had fought on French soil were made Knights of the Légion if they were not so already, as part of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the war's end. In December 2004, on the occasion of his 110th birthday, France's oldest surviving veteran of the war, Maurice Floquet, was promoted to Officer.

Members convicted of a severe crime (plain crime in French) are dismissed de jure from the order. Members convicted of a lesser felony (délit in French) can be dismissed too.

Wearing the decoration of the Légion d'honneur without having the right to do so is an offence. Wearing the ribbon or rosette of a foreign order of knighthood is prohibited if that ribbon is mainly red, like the ribbon of the Légion.

Collective appointments can also be made to cities, institutions, companies or military units. In the case of a military unit, its flag is decorated with the insignia of a knight, which is a different award than the fourragère. Cities proudly display the decoration in their crest of arms.

21 schools were awarded the Légion d'honneur. They share this distinction with the Red Cross, the abbey of Our Lady of Dombes and the state-railway company SNCF.

[edit] Classes and insignia

The order has five classes:

• Grand'Croix (Grand Cross): Formerly grande décoration, grand aigle or grand cordon, wears the badge on a sash on the right shoulder, plus the star on the left chest.
• Grand Officier (Grand Officer): Wears the badge on a ribbon with a rosette on the left chest, plus the star on the right chest.
• Commandeur (Commander): Formerly commandant, wears the badge on a necklet.
• Officier (Officer): Wears the badge on a ribbon with a rosette on the left chest.
• Chevalier (Knight): Formerly légionnaire, wears the badge on a ribbon on the left chest.

The sitting President of the Republic, as grand master of the order, wears the Grand Collar of the Légion, which is presented to him upon his investiture.

The badge of the Légion is a five-armed 'Maltese Asterisk' (for want of a better description — see Maltese Cross) in gilt (in silver for chevalier) enameled white, with an enameled laurel and oak wreath between the arms. The obverse central disc is in gilt, featuring the head of Marianne, surrounded by the legend République Française on a blue enamel ring. The reverse central disc is also in gilt, with a set of crossed tricolores, surrounded by the Légion's motto Honneur et Patrie (Honour and Fatherland) and its foundation date on a blue enamel ring. The badge is suspended by an enameled laurel and oak wreath.

The star (or "plaque") is worn by the Grand Cross (in gilt on the left chest) and the Grand Officer (in silver on the right chest) respectively; it is similar to the badge, but without enamel, and with the wreath replaced by a cluster of rays in between each arm. The central disc features the head of Marianne, surrounded by the legend République Française (French Republic) and the motto Honneur et Patrie.

The ribbon for the badge is plain red.

The badge or star is not worn usually, except at the time of the decoration ceremony or on a dress uniform. Instead, one normally wears the ribbon or rosette on one's suit.

[edit] Gallery of images

[edit] The Order and other countries

In the United States, General Eisenhower is among the 10,000 Americans who have received the decoration. In 1949 the Academies of West Point and Annapolis were also decorated. Although it is rare for an ambassador in Paris to be awarded the Légion d'honneur, a posthumous exception was made for the United States ambassador Pamela Harriman in 1997.

Additionally, in the United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, the late Lord Mountbatten and the late Winston Churchill have all been decorated with the Grand Cross. A fictitious recipient of the Legion of Honor was Sherlock Holmes (The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez).

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, has been decorated with the Grand Cross.

Legendary Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa received the award in 1984.

Quincy Jones , the American record producer and musician, received the award in March 2001.^[4]

Joseph Walsh, former Irish Minister for Agriculture, received the Grand Cross in September 2002.

Valentino, the Italian fashion designer, received the award in July 2006.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, received the award in September 2006.^[5]

Amitabh Bachchan, the Bollywood star of India, received the award in January 2007.^[6]

Clint Eastwood, the American film actor and director, received the award in February 2007.^[7]

David Lynch, the American film director, received the award in October 2007.^[8]

Scientists Professors Lap-Chee Tsui and Malik Peiris were decorated as Knight in October 2007 too.^{[citation needed]}

South Korean film director Im Kwon-taek received the award in 2007.^[9]

[edit] Locations associated with the Order

A grand total of 68 cities and villages, amongst them Liège in 1914, Belgrade in 1920, Luxembourg in 1957 and Stalingrad (today's Volgograd) in 1984 were decorated, as were 51 regiments and the Military School of Autun.

The Order has its own élite boarding schools in Saint-Denis and Les Loges in the forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A thousand children and grandchildren of the members of the order are educated there. Any descendants of a recipient can study there.

[edit] See also

• List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name
• List of prizes, medals, and awards
• Order (decoration)
• Order of the Garter
• Order of the Golden Fleece
• Ordre de la Libération
• Ordre National du Mérite
• Ribbons of the French military and civil awards
• State decoration

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Chancery of the Légion d'honneur (French)
• French Embassy in Canada article

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