| National Order of the Legion of Honour Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur |
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Officier medal of the French Légion d'honneur |
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| Awarded by France | |
| Type | Order with five degrees |
| Awarded for | Excellent civil or military conduct delivered, upon official investigation |
| Status | Open since 1802 |
| Statistics | |
| Established | 19 May 1802 |
| First awarded | 14 July 1804 |
| Distinct recipients |
Knight: 74,384 Officer: 17,032 Commander: 3,009 Grand Officer: 314 Grand Cross: 67 Grand Master: 1 |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | None |
| Next (lower) | Ordre de la Libération |
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The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur)[1] is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802. The 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]
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In the French Revolution all French orders of chivalry were abolished. It was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul and de facto sole ruler, 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 did know that France did not want a new nobility system, but a recognition of merit. The Légion used however the organization of old French Orders of Chivalry, like the Ordre de Saint-Louis. The badges of the legion do bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint Louis, which also used a red ribbon.
The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman Legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional "cohorts" 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 (great eagle), a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously:
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. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion.
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 Légion has five arms.
In a decree issued on the tenth Pluviose XIII (30 January 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"). After the reestablishment of the nobility in 1808, award of the Légion gave right to the title of "Knight of the Empire" (chevalier de l'empire). The title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees.
Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and his senior 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.[4]
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.
Louis XVIII changed the appearance of the order, but it was not abolished. To have done so would have angered the 35,000 to 38,000 members. The images of Napoleon and his eagle were removed and replaced by the image of King Henry IV, the popular first king of the Bourbon line. Three Bourbon Lilies (fleur-de-lys) replaced the eagle on the reverse of the order. A king's crown replaced the imperial crown. In 1816 the grand cordons were renamed grand crosses and the legionnaires became knights. The king decreed that the commandants were now commanders. The Légion became the second order of knighthood of the French monarchy, after the Order of the Holy Spirit.
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 tricolour flags. Louis-Philippe abolished the other orders of the monarchy. In 1847, there were 47,000 members.
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 Napoleon was elected president and he restored the image of his uncle on the crosses of the order. In 1852 the first recorded woman, Angélique Duchemin, an old revolutionary of the 1789 uprising against the absolute monarchy, was admitted into the order. President Napoleon staged a coup d'état and made himself emperor of the French in 1852.
An Imperial crown was added. During Napoleon III's reign the first American was admitted: Dr. Thomas Wiltberger Evans, dentist of Napoleon III.
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 2 December 1887.
During the First World War, some 55,000 decorations were conferred, 20,000 of which to foreigners. The large number of decorations results from the new posthumous awards authorised in 1918. Traditionally membership in the Légion could not be awarded posthumously.
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:
The Grand Master's insignia is the Grand Collar of the Legion, worn only by the President of the Republic, as Grand Master of the Order.
French nationals, men and women, can be received into the légion, for "eminent merit" (mérites éminents) in military or civil life. In practice, in current usage, the order is conferred, in addition to military recipients, to entrepreneurs, high-level civil servants, sport champions[5] in as well as others with connections in the executive. Members of the French Parliament cannot receive the order, except for valour in war, and ministers are not allowed to nominate their accountants.
French nationals initially always enter the légion at the class of chevalier (knight). To be promoted to a higher class, one must demonstrate 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 ex officio upon his accession to the presidency. Foreigners are not admitted in the légion as such, but may be 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 has a maximum quota of 75 Grand Cross, 250 Grand Officers, 1,250 Commanders, 10,000 Officers and 113,425 (ordinary) Knights. As of 2010 the actual membership was 67 Grand Cross, 314 Grand Officers, 3,009 Commanders, 17,032 Officers and 74,384 Knights.
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. On 9 and 16 March 2009, Harry Patch and Henry Allingham were also promoted to Officer.
Members convicted of a felony (crime in French) are dismissed de jure from the order. Members convicted of a misdemeanour (délit in French) can be dismissed as well.
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 is prohibited if that ribbon is mainly red, like the ribbon of the Légion.
French military members in uniform must salute other military members in uniform wearing the medal, whatever the Légion d'honneur rank and the military rank of the bearer. This is not mandatory with the ribbon. In practice, however, this is rarely done.
Collective appointments can 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 display the decoration in their coat of arms.
Twenty-one schools, mainly schools providing reserve officers during the World Wars, 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.
The order has had five levels since the reign of the king Louis XVIII, who restored the order in 1815. Since the reform, the following distinctions have existed :
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) enamelled white, with an enamelled 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 enamelled 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 medal is plain red.
The badge or star is not worn usually, except at the time of the decoration ceremony or on a dress uniform or formal wear. Instead, one normally wears the ribbon or rosette on one's suit.
Technically, membership in the Légion is restricted to French nationals.[6] Foreign nationals who have served France or the ideals it upholds[7] may, however, receive a distinction of the Légion, which is nearly the same thing as membership in the Légion. Foreign nationals who live in France are submitted to the same requirements as Frenchmen. Foreign nationals who live abroad may be awarded a distinction of any rank or dignity in the Légion.
The Flag or Standard of the following units was decorated with the Cross of Knight the Legion[8]:
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. Study there is restricted to daughters, grand-daughters, and great-grand-daughters of members of the order, the Médaille militaire or the Ordre national du Mérite.[9]
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