World Orders of Knighthood and Merit
by Guy Stair Sainty
- 0 Ratings
- 10 Want to read
- 0 Currently reading
- 0 Have read
World Orders of Knighthood & Merit
Guy Stair Sainty, Editor
Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Deputy Editor
ISBN 9780971196674 / 0971196672
DOI 10.5118/wokm.2006
Hard copy edition also available from the Burke's Peerage Store.
Burke’s Peerage is delighted to announce our new digital edition of the definitive study of the extant Orders of Knighthood and merit of every state.
World Orders of Knighthood & Merit is widely accepted as one of the most important works ever produced on the subject and will remain the definitive guide for many years to come. This 2,100 page full-colour book is of great interest to academics, historians, collectors, monarchists, heraldry enthusiasts and those who are members of any of the numerous international, noble and state Orders.
Each Order’s foundation date, purpose, structure, investiture details, officers and membership requirements are listed along with precise descriptions of the insignia. This lavishly illustrated full-colour publication contains colour illustrations of the uniforms, robes and insignia as well as many photographs and paintings of Order-related places and people, diplomas, armorial bearings and ceremonies of investiture.
"A stunning achievement and a cause for celebration ... manages to combine high standards of scholarship with wonderful anecdotes and commentary", Coat of Arms, the journal of the Heraldry Society
"There is no other single place where one can readily find such authentic histories. It is a gold-mine for researchers and a most interesting and entertaining read for pleasure. The editors are to be congratulated on their Herculean labour in putting it all together", The Heraldry Gazette
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Showing 2 featured editions. View all 2 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
|---|---|
1
World Orders of Knighthood and Merit
2006, Burke's Peerage & Gentry
in English
0971196672 9780971196674
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
World Orders of Knighthood and Merit
August 17, 2006, Burke's Peerage
Hardcover
in English
0971196672 9780971196674
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
First Sentence
"When Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms, published his ‘Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations’ in 1858, Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth and the majority of sovereign states were monarchies, most of those in Europe closely related through generations of intermarriage. In Europe only Switzerland and San Marino had republican governments; all the states of Asia were ruled by Emperors, Kings, or Maharajas sometimes dominated by European colonial powers. In the Americas, in contrast, every state except Brazil, a relatively liberal constitutional monarchy, and the British, French, Swedish and remaining Spanish colonies, were republics, although Mexico was soon to become a short-lived Empire under the hapless Archduke Maximilian. The great colonial Empires have since been dissolved and replaced by independent sovereign states, mostly republican in nature, some based on ancient boundaries, others on arbitrary divisions imposed by colonial servants or military conquest. With the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War and the Soviet Empire since 1990, new states have emerged which in some cases had not enjoyed true sovereignty for centuries. All these newer states have established hierarchies of Orders, either re-instituting those that had existed during earlier periods of independence, or inventing Orders that recalled the historical past. In most cases these countries have looked to the models established by the Western European democracies. Changing regimes and developments in society have led to the structure of historical Orders being substantially reformed, but most states have preserved their earlier chivalric institutions precisely because of their antiquity; the present day recipients of these awards can associate themselves directly with those figures from national history honoured in the past. It is with some regret, therefore, that we note the recommendations of the British House of Commons Public Administration Committee, which, ignoring the experience of the overwhelming majority of European states, has proposed abandoning the historical system of awards to replace them with an ‘updated’ system. This committee has disregarded those specialists who argued that the historic awards are esteemed precisely because of their links to the past, preferring the views of those who wish to model the British system on the recently invented Australian system. A new system of national honours may be perfectly applicable to a state founded almost entirely by relatively recent immigrants, but makes little sense in a country whose traditions date back centuries. If France was to suppress the Legion of Honour to conform to fashionable concepts of political correctness there would rightly be public outrage. Danes would protest if the historic Order of the Dannebrog was to be suppressed to advance pseudoegalitarian goals. Portugal abolished its historic Orders following the 1910 revolution, only to restore them seven years later; Poland, on freeing itself from the Soviet yoke immediately re-instituted the ancient Orders of the Kingdom and inter-war Polish republic that had been maintained by the government-in-exile during the forty-five years of communist rule. Modern Russia has founded two Orders modelled closely on the most prestigious Imperial Orders and the other European monarchies have all maintained their historic Orders. The Japanese Imperial Orders survived the post-Second World War constitutional changes and Austria re-established its pre-Second World War national Order, in slightly revised form, following the restoration of national sovereignty in 1952. We hope that the British government will accept the Committee’s recommendation to establish a publicly accountable honours committee, independent of political pressure, but ignore the extraordinarily shortsighted proposal to sweep away the Orders of the Bath and Saints Michael and George and invent new classes of an Order of British ‘Excellence’ (to replace that of the British Empire) which have no connection with the structure of the previous Order nor parallels with those of other European states. In the introduction to this work we have addressed the question as to whether national honours systems should be maintained with particular reference to the proposed reforms of British honours."
Edition Notes
This book is available on annual subscription to individuals, organisations and libraries. Users of subscribing UK Public Libraries can access it both within the library and remotely on their home computers. The book is also accessible on the iPhone and iPod touch using the built-in browser or the Exactly application.
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Work Description
Orders of Knighthood are the most exclusive and prestigious institutions in the world. Originally the preserve of royalty and aristocracy, Orders now count amongst their membership business tycoons, powerful leaders and noteworthy private individuals.
With contributions from many of the world's leading authorities and articles on American honours, World Orders of Knighthood & Merit is one of the most important works ever produced on the subject and will remain the definitive guide for many years to come.
This full-colour publication will be of great interest to academics, historians, collectors and those who are members of any of the numerous international, noble and state Orders.
150 years after Sir Bernard Burke published his famed history of the leading Orders of knighthood, Burke's Peerage and Gentry is proud to announce the publication of a major new study of the extant Orders of knighthood and merit of every state.
This eagerly anticipated publication is the result of the collaboration of many of the world's leading specialist scholars and is edited by Guy Stair Sainty (editor) and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (deputy editor), both of whom have written extensively on Orders.
Classified in a novel and thought-provoking manner, the Orders are grouped into various sections. The first section commences with detailed histories of the surviving confraternal Orders, beginning with the famous Order of Malta and including studies of the Alliance Orders of Saint John, the Spanish Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Constantinian Order of Saint George. The second section includes histories of all the great European single class Collar Orders, by date of foundation, beginning with the Order of the Garter (England) and including the Orders of the Golden Fleece (Austria/Spain), Annunziata (Savoy), Elephant (Denmark), Seraphim (Sweden), Saint Hubert (Bavaria), White Eagle (Poland) and Thistle (Scotland). The third includes histories of the most prestigious Orders of Chivalry, notably the Orders of the Bath and Saint Michael & Saint George (Great Britain), Charles III and Isabella the Catholic (Spain), the Legion of Honour (France), the Dannebrog (Denmark), the Tower and Sword and of Christ (Portugal), and Chrysanthemum (Japan). The remaining sections include one devoted to royal dynastic Orders, another to ladies' Orders, and the largest section: State Merit Orders. The main portion of the work ends with a section on institutions of Chivalric character, such as the Spanish Maestranzas, the surviving Italian noble confraternities, the Society of the Cincinnati (the USA and France), and European provincial knightly bodies.
Each Order's foundation date, purpose, structure, investiture details, officers and membership requirements will be listed along with precise descriptions of the insignia. This lavishly illustrated full-colour publication will also contain colour illustrations of the uniforms, robes and insignia as well as many photographs and paintings of Order-related places and people, diplomas, armorial bearings and ceremonies of investiture.
The Appendix includes essays dealing with the wearing of orders and decorations, and precedence among them; noble proofs as criteria for admission to some ancient Orders, and the conferral of nobility through membership; the use of insignia as heraldic ornaments; a brief examination of Church awards and Patriarchal Orders; along with a detailed study of the “self-styled” Orders.
'World Orders of Knighthood and Merit' is one of the most important guides to national awards ever produced and will serve as an important reference for many years to come. The book will be of considerable use to state protocol officers, diplomats, historians and heraldry enthusiasts and is an essential item for any collector of medals and decorations or student of royal, aristocratic, church or military history.
World Orders of Knighthood & Merit
Guy Stair Sainty, Editor
Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Deputy Editor
ISBN 9780971196674 / 0971196672
DOI 10.5118/wokm.2006
Hard copy edition also available from the Burke's Peerage Store.
Burke’s Peerage is delighted to announce our new digital edition of the definitive study of the extant Orders of Knighthood and merit of every state.
World Orders of Knighthood & Merit is widely accepted as one of the most important works ever produced on the subject and will remain the definitive guide for many years to come. This 2,100 page full-colour book is of great interest to academics, historians, collectors, monarchists, heraldry enthusiasts and those who are members of any of the numerous international, noble and state Orders.
Each Order’s foundation date, purpose, structure, investiture details, officers and membership requirements are listed along with precise descriptions of the insignia. This lavishly illustrated full-colour publication contains colour illustrations of the uniforms, robes and insignia as well as many photographs and paintings of Order-related places and people, diplomas, armorial bearings and ceremonies of investiture.
"A stunning achievement and a cause for celebration ... manages to combine high standards of scholarship with wonderful anecdotes and commentary", Coat of Arms, the journal of the Heraldry Society
"There is no other single place where one can readily find such authentic histories. It is a gold-mine for researchers and a most interesting and entertaining read for pleasure. The editors are to be congratulated on their Herculean labour in putting it all together", The Heraldry Gazette
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?
History
- Created April 30, 2008
- 7 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
| July 31, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | associate edition with work OL18674582W |
| August 10, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
| April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
| April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
| April 30, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record. |