Order of the White Eagle (Russian Empire)

Order of the White Eagle (Russian Empire)
The Imperial Order of the White Eagle was an Imperial Russian Order based on the Polish honor. Emperor Nicholas I of Russia established the award in 1831 as the Imperial and Royal Order of the White Eagle. A recipient of the Order was granted the title Knight of the Imperial (and Royal) Order of the White Eagle.
Background
The "white eagle" has been associated with Poland even prior to statehood; first appearing on the Polish Coat of Arms in the 13th century. The original Order of the White Eagle was reputedly established by King Władysław I in 1325. There is no evidence of it being awarded, however, until 1705 under Augustus II the Strong, King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, the Order of the White Eagle briefly disappeared along with the Polish monarchy. After his death in 1798, Empress Alexandra wore the Collar of the Grand Master of the Order at Nicholas’s coronation as King of Poland. The order was resurrected in 1807 by Napoleon I in his short-lived Duchy of Warsaw.
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna divided the historically Polish lands among Prussia, the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire. The majority of the territory was renamed the Kingdom of Poland and was to be an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.
The Order of the White Eagle is mentioned as belonging to the Kingdom of Poland in its constitution of 1815:
During the years immediately following the Congress of Vienna, the badge and cross of the Order were awarded with the same Polish insignia, but the majority of the recipients were Russians or members of the Austrian Empire.
After Russian troops put down the Polish uprising of 1830-31, Nicholas I stripped the autonomy from the Kingdom of Poland and adopted all Polish orders of merit.
Order within the Russian Empire
The Order of the White Eagle was officially "annexed" by Nicholas I on 17 November 1831 and became part of the Russian Imperial honors system. Among the first recipients of the Imperial Order of the White Eagle were Ivan Paskevich and Pyotr Petrovich Palen, recognised for their part in suppressing the Polish uprising.
The new design featured significant alterations: the badge was now of gold and red enamel; on the front, the original red maltese cross and white eagle were reduced in size and superimposed over the double-headed eagle of the Russian Empire. The back of the badge featured the original Polish badge design, superimposed over the Russian imperial eagle. The star now featured the Russian royal crown.
On 25 January 1832, a blue ribbon and sash were introduced.
The Order of the White Eagle was given a high status in the hierarchy of distinction, ranked only behind the Order of Saint Andrew, the Order of Saint Catherine (for women only) and the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. As the top three awards were named after Russian Orthodox saints, the Order of the White Eagle was the preferred award to bestow upon non-Christians. It granted hereditary nobility.
Recipients
Alexander Abaza
'Abd al-Ahad Khan
Count Nikolay Adlerberg
Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Ahmad Shah Qajar
Albert I of Belgium
Prince Albert of Prussia (1809–1872)
Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen
Albert, Prince Consort
Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn
Alexander of Battenberg
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
Duke Alexander of Oldenburg
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia
Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia
Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo
Gyula Andrássy
Ippolit Andreev
Avraamy Aslanbegov
August Gyldenstolpe
Prince August, Duke of Dalarna
Prince August of Württemberg
Theodor Avellan
Count Kasimir Felix Badeni
Ivane Bagration of Mukhrani
Pyotr Romanovich Bagration
Alexander Barclay de Tolly-Weymarn
Vasili Bebutov
Alexander von Benckendorff (diplomat)
Bhanurangsi Savangwongse
Nikolai Bibikov
Aleksei Birilev
Otto von Bismarck
Georgy Bobrikov
Nikolay Bobrikov
Woldemar von Boeckmann
Władysław Grzegorz Branicki
Charles James Briggs
Pavel Bulgakov
Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland
Carlos I of Portugal
Charles XV
Alexander Chavchavadze
Christian IX of Denmark
Mikhail Pavlovich Danilov
Dmitry Dashkov
Charles de Broqueville
Rudolf von Delbrück
Ivan Delyanov
Dmitry Petrovich Dokhturov
Mikhail Drozdovsky
Fyodor Dubasov
John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
Alexander Alexandrovich Dushkevich
Edward VII
Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse
Nikolai Ottovich von Essen
Archduke Eugen of Austria
Aleksei Evert
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
Ferdinand II of Portugal
Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este
Giustino Fortunato (1777–1862)
Francis IV, Duke of Modena
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Frederick VIII of Denmark
Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen
Ivan Fullon
Ivan Ganetsky
George V
Aleksandr Gerngross
Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden
Alexander von Güldenstubbe
Grigory Golitsyn
Vladimir Gorbatovsky
Oskar Gripenberg
Iosif Gurko
Gustaf V
Gustaf VI Adolf
Ferenc Gyulay
Haakon VII of Norway
Lodewijk van Heiden
Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine
Dmitry Horvat
Alexander Ievreinov
Illarion Vasilchikov
Alexander Imeretinsky
Maurice Janin
Archduke John of Austria
Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Georg von Kameke
Kyprian Kandratovich
Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern
Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria
Nikolai Kashtalinsky
Alexander von Kaulbars
Gustav von Kessel
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
Konstantin Poltoratsky
Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
Apostol Kostanda
Alexander Krivoshein
Aleksey Kuropatkin
Karl Lambert
Sergey Stepanovich Lanskoy
Leonid Lesh
Leopold II of Belgium
Alexander Mikhailovich Lermontov
George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg
Sergei Georgievich, 8th Duke of Leuchtenberg
Kazimir Vasilevich Levitsky
Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
Prince Louis of Battenberg
Alexander von Lüders
Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria
Luís I of Portugal
Alexey Manikovsky
Manuel II of Portugal
Friedrich Martens
Esma'il Mass'oud
Maximilian I of Mexico
Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Samad bey Mehmandarov
Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly
Feofil Egorovich Meyendorf
Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
Konstantin Mikhaylovsky
Milan I of Serbia
Min Young-hwan
Mikhail Mirkovich
Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan
Alexander von Moller
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Huseyn Khan Nakhchivanski
Pavel Nakhimov
Napoleon III
Kamran Mirza Nayeb es-Saltaneh
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsesarevich of Russia
Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891)
Arkady Nikanorovich Nishenkov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Nikitin
August Ludwig von Nostitz
Nikolai Obolensky
David Ivanovich Orlov
Oscar II
Archduke Otto of Austria (1865–1906)
Otto of Bavaria
Alexander August Wilhelm von Pape
Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná
José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco
Ivan Paskevich
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia
Duke Paul Frederick of Mecklenburg
Pedro V of Portugal
Duke Peter of Oldenburg
Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders
Mikhail Mikhailovich Pleshkov
Karl von Plettenberg
Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar
Mohammad Shah Qajar
Mohammad Taqi Mirza Rokn ed-Dowleh
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
Fyodor Radetsky
Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł
Christopher Roop
Prince Rudolf of Liechtenstein
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
Adam Rzhevusky
John Salmond
Anton Yegorovich von Saltza
Alexander Samsonov
Pavel Savvich
Johan Eberhard von Schantz
Sergei Sheydeman
Yakov Schkinsky
Emil von Schlitz
Gustav von Senden-Bibran
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
Maximilian Seyssel d'Aix
Ivan Ivanovich Shamshev
Ivan Shestakov
Dmitry Shuvayev
Arkady Skugarevsky
Vladimir Vasilyevich Smirnov
Mikhail Sokovin
Hermann von Spaun
Archduke Stephen of Austria (Palatine of Hungary)
Pyotr Stolypin
Vladimir Sukhomlinov
Dmitry Ivanovich Sviatopolk-Mirsky
Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen
Arshak Ter-Gukasov
Alfred von Tirpitz
Richard Ernest William Turner
Uchiyama Kojirō
Paul Simon Unterberger
Prince Valdemar of Denmark
Sergei Vasilchikov
Georgy Vasmund
Julius von Verdy du Vernois
Anthony Veselovsky
Charles Vilain XIIII
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia
Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
William II of Württemberg
Sergei Witte
Vasily Zavoyko
Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Yakov Zhilinsky
Dmitry Zuyev
See also
Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
Order of the White Eagle (Serbia)
References
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the
White Eagle, Order of the