World Orders of Knighthood and Merit
Contributors: Guy Stair Sainty (Editor); Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (Editor)
Publisher: Burke's Peerage
Published: August 17, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 2000
ISBN-13: 9780971196674
Subjects: Rank & titles; Genealogy; Reference; Awards; Decorations of honor; Orders of knighthood and chivalry
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.
Description: 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
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.
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