Historical orders, decorations, and medals of France

This page is a list of the orders of chivalry and orders of merit awarded by France, in the order they were established or incorporated in France, and their origins.

Kingdom of the Franks, Merovingian and Carolingian periods (485–987)
  • Order of Saint Remigius 485 (probably a legend)
  • Order of the Rooster and the Dog 496 (probably a legend)
  • Order of the Oak 723 (probably a legend)

Kingdom of France, Capetian period (987–1328)

Kingdom of France, Valois period (1328–1589)

Kingdom of France, Bourbon period (1589–1793)

On January 1, 1791, the Order of Saint Louis and the Order of Military Merit were merged into the Military Decoration (French: Décoration militaire) by the Convention, the revolutionary parliament.

French First Republic (1793–1804)

Revolutionary France abolished all chivalric orders of the monarchy in 1793. There were nevertheless decorations such as medals and Weapons of Honour.

Consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte (1800–1804)
  • The Legion of Honour was not, strictly speaking, a chivalric order at the time of its institution, since Napoleon did not like knighthood orders and the Legion of Honour had to be a "real" legion with legionaries, officers and commanders. Nevertheless, at the time of its institution, the Legion of Honour had all the hallmarks of a chivalric order except the name.

French First Empire (1804–1814, 1815)
See also: Orders, decorations, and medals of the Napoleonic Kingdoms

Kingdom of France, Bourbon Restoration (1814, 1815–1830)

Kingdom of France, July Monarchy (1830–1848)

French Second Republic (1848–1852)

French Second Empire (1852–1870)
  • Legion of Honour 1802
  • Order of the Public Instruction (French:"Ordre l’Instruction Publique") 1866

French Third Republic (1870–1945)

The French Republic possessed in Asia, Africa and America a large colonial empire. For the purposes of this huge area, a number of "Colonial orders of knighthood" were established or incorporated.

They were :

In addition, the Governor-General of French Indo-China established in 1900 :

France had also not enough in the fatherland with the Legion of Honor. The various ministries therefore proposed that they themselves managed and issued orders to:

  • National Order of Agricultural Merit (French: "l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole") 1883
  • Order of Maritime Merit (French:"Ordre du Mérite Maritime") 1930
  • Order of the Social Merit (French:"Ordre du Mérite social") 1936
  • Order of Public Health (French:"Ordre de la Santé publique") 1938
  • Orde of the Commercial Merit (French:"Ordre du Mérite commercial") (1939)
    which was renamed in 1961 "Order of the Commercial and Industrial Merit".

In 1940, a French government was formed in exile . They suggested a knighthood order as:

The France-remaining government of Marshal Philippe Pétain, the so-called "Vichy government", proposed 2 knighthood orders:

  • National Order of Labour (French: "Ordre National Du Travail" 1942
  • Order of the Francisque (French: "Ordre de la francisque") 1941

French Fourth Republic (1945–1958)

The Fourth Republic knew a very large quantity of knighthood orders and decorations. There were in 1945 16 knighthood orders. The traditional position of the Legion of Honour as highest and most prominent award remained formally intact but the French ministers founded for use in homeland and overseas no less than 11 new orders.

The French ministries kept on establishing Ministerial Orders so there were finally 19 :

  • Order of the Public Instruction (Ordre de l’Instruction Publique), 1866; renamed in 1955 to Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of the Academic Palms)
  • Order of Agricultural Merit (l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole) 1883
  • Order of Maritime Merit (Ordre du Mérite Maritime) 1930
  • Order of the Social Merit (Ordre du Mérite social) 1936
  • Order of Public Health (Ordre de la Santé publique) 1938
  • Order of the Commercial Merit (Ordre du Mérite commercial) 1939
  • Order of the Artisanal Merit (Ordre du Mérite artisanal) 1948
  • Order of the Touristic Merit (Ordre du Mérite touristique) 1949
  • Order of the Postal Merit (France) (Ordre du Mérite postal) 1953
  • Order of the Warrior Merit (Ordre du Mérite combattant) 1953
  • Order of National Economy (Ordre de l'Economie nationale) 1954
  • Order of the Sportive Merit (Ordre du Mérite sportif) 1956
  • Order of the Labour Merit (Ordre du Mérite du Travail) 1957
  • Order of the Military Merit (Ordre du Mérite militaire) 1957
  • Order of the Civil Merit (Ordre du Mérite civil) 1957
  • Order of Arts and Letters) (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) 1957
  • Order of the Saharian Merit (Ordre du Mérite saharien) 1958

The French Republic knew following a decree of 1 September 1950 two "Orders of Overseas France" (Ordres de la France d'Outre-mer) :

The two Orders were a heritage of the colonial time during which the decorations of the colonized states such as Dahomey and the Comores were included in the French orders system. The French government awarded the Order of the Black Star in Europe until 1 January 1964. The decolonisation and restructuring of the French colonial empire, one speaks now of the "French Union", made necessary other adaptations in the French knighthood orders.

Three other colonial Orders incorporated in it since 1896, namely the Royal Order of Cambodia (Cambodja), the Order of the Dragon of Annam (Vietnam) and the Order of Nichan El-Anouar (Somaliland) became therefore on 1 September 1950 "Orders of Associated States of the French Union" (Ordres des États Associés de l'Union Française). The French government didn't award these honors themselves anymore. In 1963 the granting of the two French Overseas Orders were also discontinued. In their place, the new "National Order of Merit" was awarded. This Order replaced fifteen of the ministerial orders so that a much clearer decoration policy became possible.

French Fifth Republic (1958–present)

The 19 Ministerial Orders - which all knew three grades Commander, Officer and Knight - were each administered by a Board which was chaired by the relevant Minister. The fragmentation of the honors system was perceived as malpractice because a clear policy was not possible.
Fifteen of these orders were abolished by the first president of the Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle on 1 January 1964 and were replaced by the National Order of Merit but the three following were kept:

The Order of Arts and Letters (French: "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres"), established in 1956, was also maintained.

A new development is that on 5 June 1996, the Order of Tahiti Nui (French: "l'Ordre de Tahiti Nui") was established by the Assembly of French Polynesia (French: "Assemblée de Polynésie française"), the local French Polynesian parliamentary assembly.

Sources
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