Honours and Medals — The Légion d'Honneur (The Legion of Honour) — France


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Created in l802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Légion d'Honneur is the highest award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the social status or the nationality of the recipients. The President of the Republic is the Grand Master of the Order of the Légion d'Honneur. A Grand Chancellor, who is chairman of the Council of the Order, supervises its administrative services.

History

Napoleonic Period

The Legion of Honour was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Following a dinner in his home at Malmaison in February l802 to which he had invited several friends, including a general and a celebrated mathematician. Napoleon expressed his desire to reward men both for outstanding military accomplishments as well as for other distinguished service to the State. He rejected the suggestion to restore the Cross of Saint Louis, a military award created in 1693, and abolished in 1792 during the French Revolution.

Although this proposal was greeted coolly, since many hoped to re-establish the class distinctions eliminated by the revolutionaries of 1789, Napoleon proceeded to set down his ideas and submitted his plan to the Council of State early in May 1802. In spite of considerable opposition, Napoleon remained adamant and refused to accept the recommendation that the award be restricted to military men. After heated debate, the Council finally adopted the plan, 14 to 10, and it was subsequently passed in the Legislative Assembly.

The Légion d'Honneur was established by law on 19th May, 1802. In expressing his reasons for creating the Order, Napoleon said: "It will be an institution which will further all our republican laws and strengthen the Revolution. It will remove all distinctions of nobility, which placed inherited glory above acquired glory and descendants of great men above great men." One of the original supporters of Napoleon's plan had said that the would reward "actions considered beyond all recompense."

At first the Legion of Honour was made up of cohorts, corresponding to territorial divisions, with headquarters throughout France in the chateaux and ecclesiastical palaces that had been confiscated during the Revolution. Each Legionnaire received an annual honorarium according to his rank and his name was inscribed on a marble tablet in the headquarters of his cohort, as well as on similar tablets in the Invalides in Paris.

Until 1809 each cohort had its own local organisation, headed by a Grand Officer, a Treasurer and a Council of Administration. The central administrative body was a Grand Council, presided over by the Grand Chancellor, who was assisted by a Treasurer General. In the beginning each person admitted to the Legion of Honour had to swear "on his honour, to devote himself to serving the Republic." In 1804, after Napoleon had become Emperor, the last word was replaced by "welfare of the Empire."

Napoleon bestowed the Légion d'Honneur for the first time on 15th July, 1804 in a magnificent military and religious ceremony. Along the first to be honoured were eighteen marshals, five cardinals and a number of scholars, scientists, writers and composers. By 1812, 1,400 civilians had been decorated.

From the Restoration to the Present Day

Louis XVIII confirmed the titles that had been granted under the Empire but the Government was often accused of being too generous in awarding the Legion of Honour. Under the Restoration the prerogatives which accompanied the various ranks were abolished and later members no longer received an annual honorarium.

Although, during the Hundred Days, Napoleon had revoked the Legions of Honour bestowed by Louis XVIII, the Order itself was maintained; but there was an attempt to diminish its prestige by giving it second place after the Order of Saint Michael and the Holy Ghost or the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis.

Louis-Philippe abolished these decorations and restored to the Légion d'Honneur its value and importance. The creation of the Military Medal in 1852 did not detract from the significance of the Legion. The organic decree of 16th March, 1852 concerning the nobility acquired upon becoming a member of he Legion of Honour is still in force, even if today certain provisions are less strictly observed.

Organisation

Administration

The organisation of the Legion of Honour has remained the same since 1852. The Chief of State, the President of the Republic, is accorded the rank of Grand Cross upon taking office and automatically becomes the Grand Master of the Order. After his term expires, he remains a Grand Cross.

The Grand Master chooses and appoints the Grand Chancellor from among the Grand Crosses or the Grand officers. This is one of the highest positions in the French Republic and the appointment is for a six-year renewable term. The Grand Chancellor is chairman of the Council of the Order and directs the administrative services housed in the Palace of the Legion of Honour in Paris. He represents the Legion of Honour in litigation, is the keeper of the Seal of the Order and presents to the Chief of State all the reports, draft decrees, regulations and decisions concerning the Legion of Honour. Each new President of the Republic receives the Collar of the Grand Master of the Order from the Grand Chancellor.

Admission to the Order

Members of the Legion of Honour are appointed for life. In peacetime, twenty years of distinguished military or civilian service are required for admission to the Order. Candidates are nominated by the various Ministers, who submit their names to the Grand Chancellor. He in turn presents them to the President of the Republic.

The Légion d'Honneur has five ranks

Knights ("Chevaliers")
Officers
Commanders
Grand Officers
Grand Crosses

The Grand Officers and the Grand Crosses are known as the Dignitaries of the Order. Members are eligible for promotion after a certain number of years at each rank, but these requirements, too, can be waived under extraordinary circumstances.

The Dignitaries generally receive their medals from the Chief of State himself but the ceremonial for the other ranks varies. A Legionnaire can be received into the Order only by another Legionnaire of at least equal rank. These requirements do not apply to foreigners receiving the award. The oath which the Legionnaires had sworn to the various regimes was abolished during the Third Republic.

Women as well as men are eligible for membership in the Legion of Honour. There is no authentic proof that Napoleon Bonaparte ever decorated a woman, but Napoleon III bestowed the Légion d'Honneur upon women in various walks of life. Under the Third Republic the heroines of the war of l870 were honoured as well as a famous woman archaeologist and other women who had devoted themselves to outstanding charitable projects.

One hundred and ten women held the Légion d'Honneur in 1914; by 1939, 3,000 had been decorated. The famous aviatrix, Maryse Bastié, was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Commander, in recognition of her military exploits. The first women to become Grand Officers were Marshal Lyautey's widow, who was honoured shortly before her death in January 1953, and a few days later, Colette, the celebrated novelist.

Foreigners may be nominated for membership in the Legion of Honour by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They can be admitted at any rank and promoted regardless of how long they have been members.

No emblem had ever received the Légion d'Honneur until Napoleon III bestowed it upon the flags of regiments that had distinguished themselves during the Italian campaigns. Only one flag was so honoured in 1870, the standard of the 57th Régiment de Ligne. From 1859 to 1947, fifty-seven flags were decorated, including those of the Paris and Reims fire brigades, the "Ecole Polytechnique", the "Ecole Navale" and the "Ecole de l'Air". In 1954, President René Coty awarded the Legion of Honour to the flags of the Le Havre and Rouen fire brigades.

The award was first given to French cities during the Hundred Days. After 1870 the Republic rewarded several cities, including Paris (1900). Thirty-one were decorated between 1914 and 1917, sixteen of them during World War I.

Insignia

The medal has changed very little since 1804. The profile of Napoleon on the front and the eagle on the back were replaced under the Restoration by Henry IV and three fleurs-de-lis, symbol of the Bourbon dynasty. Two tri-colour flags were subsequently substituted for the royal insignia. Since 1870 the head of "Marianne", symbolic figure of the Republic, has appeared on the front of the medal, the tri-colour flags on the back. The inscription on the front reads "République Française" (French Republic) and on the back "Honneur et Patrie" (Honour and Fatherland). The medal is shaped like a five-sided double-pointed star, and is made of white enamel. It is encircled by a green wreath of oak and laurel leaves and surmounted by a smaller, similar wreath. The star and the red moiré ribbon from which it is suspended have never varied.

The Palace of the Legion of Honour

The old de Salm mansion on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris has housed the central offices and the Museum of the Legion of Honour since 1804. Built shortly before the French Revolution, the building was burned by the Commune in 1871 and reconstructed from a fund raised among the Legionnaires. The mansion looks today much as it did in 1789, with the exception of the wings added in 1925 for the Museum established by General Dubail, Grand Chancellor from 1918 to 1934.

The Museum possesses a complete collection of the Orders of the former Regimes and their various insignia, along with paintings, engravings and important historical mementos.