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The title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, award of the Légion gave right to the title of "Knight of the Empire" ( chevalier de l'empire). This decoration, a cross on a large sash and a silver star with an eagle, became known as the Grand Aigle (French for "Grand Eagle"), and later in 1814 as the grand cordon ("large sash"). In a decree issued on the tenth Pluviose XIII (30 January 1805), a grand decoration was instituted. It is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion.
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The Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions. The military decorations were the perks of the officers. The orders of the monarchy were often limited to Roman Catholics and all knights had to be noblemen. The order was the first modern order of merit. The soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards." This has been often quoted as "It is with such baubles that men are led." That is good only for the scholar in his study. Napoleon famously declared, "You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led… Do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning? Never.
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The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously:įirst remittance of the Légion d'Honneur, 15 July 1804, at Saint-Louis des Invalides, by Jean-Baptiste Debret (1812). The highest rank was not a grand cross but a grand aigle (great eagle), a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman Legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional " cohorts" and a grand council. The badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint Louis, which also used a red ribbon. The Légion however did use the organization of old French Orders of Chivalry, like the Ordre de Saint-Louis. It was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul and de facto military dictator, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers and from this wish was instituted a Légion d'Honneur, it was also conferred to be hereditary on the grandchildren descendants of his siblings, a body of men that was not an order of chivalry, for Napoleon believed France wanted a recognition of merit rather than a new system of nobility. In the French Revolution all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour.
Legion of honor full#
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour (French language: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur) is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte on. Napoleon Bonaparte's awarding some of the first Légions d'honneur' on 16 August 1804 at the camp of Boulogne Napoleon, as emperor, always wore the cross and Grand Eagle of the Légion d'Honneur Knight medal of the French Légion d'honneurĮxcellent civil or military conduct delivered, upon official investigation