Royal and military Order of Saint-Louis

The royal and military Ordre of Saint-Louis is a honorary Ordre French created in April 1693 by Louis XIV to reward the most valorous officers.

History

Its birth is due to the reorganization of the armies in the middle of the XVIIe century and the appearance of more soldiers of values and belonging to the middle-class. The most prestigious order, the Holy Spirit, was reserved for the nobility and counted only hundred knights; the orders of Saint-Michel and the Mount-Carmel and Saint-Lazare were reserved in theory for the nobility. For this reason was decided the creation of this kind whose recipient was to be catholic and to have served more as ten years as officer, but not inevitably noble. In fact the noble ones represented a very significant part of manpower, which was increasing during the 18th century, with the progressive ousting of the Roturier S of the army corps of officers. For the Protestant officers, in particular Swiss and German ones with the service of king de France, Louis XV created the Institution of the military merit in 1759. The non-commissioned officers (our current warrant officers) and the soldiers of the row could not receive the order of Saint-Louis or the institution of the military Merit, but they were entitled to the Médaillon of the two swords which opened certain privileges to them. In 1791 the order of Saint-Louis was joined together with the military merit under the name of Military Décoration. This decoration itself was removed the October 15th 1792, which will not prevent Louis XVIII from naming emigrated officers and Vendean chiefs in the order of Saint-Louis. In 1814 the king Louis XVIII recreated the order of Saint-Louis with the goal acknowledged to substitute it for the Legion of Honor. This attempt made failure. In 1830, the order of Saint-Louis was removed.

Organization

The working life was carried from ten to twenty years shortly after the creation of the order. It should be noted that the dolphin, the general of the galères, the admiral and the Marshals of France were member-born of the order. The named soldiers were to be received knights in a ceremony where they lent oath to the king and to the Catholic religion. This ceremony of reception was chaired of 1693 1700 only by the king; starting from 1700 the dolphin accepted the right to receive the new knights, right which was extended to all the Princes of blood and the Marshals of France in 1705, then to all the general officers members of the order. One distinguished three classes from members of the order: knights, of which the number was not limited, commanders, of which the number is limited to twenty-four, and grand' cross, of which the number is limited to eight. When a grand' cross of Saint-Louis became knight of the Holy Spirit, it became again simple knight of Saint-Louis. The purpose of this provision was to release from the " places" of grand' cross in order to reward the generals in greater number.

A certain number of pensions were granted to the members of the order: from 800 to 2.000 books for certain knights, from 3.000 to 4.000 for the commanders and 6.000 for the grand' cross. Since 1750 the members of the order are exempted size if they are commoners. The order of Saint-Louis constitutes a kind of nobility military. In 1750, it was compared to a load anoblissante: it granted the nobility on a purely hereditary basis with the third generation of knights. Thus it became the most popular order of the kingdom. In fact very little family reached the nobility thus, being given crushing it domination of noble in late promotions of the order.

The large-Master of the order is the king, but the administration from day to day of the order is entrusted to a council made of six knights, four commanders and two grand' cross. This council was elected each year by a held general meeting of the order the August 25th, day of the holy Louis, in the palate of residence of the king. The order also counted at its origin officers: a treasurer, a clerk and an usher. Recruited in the services of the secretariats of State to the navy and the war, they carried the cross of knight and the title of officer of Saint-Louis . In 1719, the Régent created fifteen Office S hereditary of administration of the order: three large officers, carrying the badges of grand' cross, four commanders and eight officers. In 1779, the number of officers was tiny room to two: treasurer and usher.

Badges

The Order included/understood three classes:

Chevalier, which carried the badge to a red ribbon on the left chest;
Commander, carrying the badge with a red scarf of the left side;
Grand Cross, having the badge with a red scarf of the left side and a plate on the chest on the left.

This order became the prototype of all the modern honorary kinds (existence of the various classes, type of badge, hacks, etc). The badge was made up of a Maltese cross white and gold, carrying flowers of lily to the angles. In the center a medallion was carrying inscription “LUD (OVICUS) M (AGNUS) IN (STITUIT) 1693” for “Louis the Large one instituted it in 1693”, surrounding a representation of Saint Louis. According to some, the red color of the ribbon of the Légion of honor would be a memory about Saint-Louis.

See too

External bonds

Edict of creation about Saint-Louis
Collection of the members about Saint-Louis according to Jean-François-Louis d' Hozier, Paris, 1817
very complete Site treating military and civil decorations French

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