Orders, decorations, and medals of the Napoleonic Kingdoms

Last updated

During the time of the Napoleonic Wars and the creation of the Napoleonic Kingdoms and the installation of the Bonaparte Dynasty as rulers. Following the example set by the French Legion of Honour founded by Napoleon (I) Bonaparte several orders were created by the different rulers.

Contents

House of Bonaparte

Empire of France

Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Holland

Kingdom of Westphalia

Kingdom of Spain

Coat of Arms

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Bonaparte</span> French imperial dynasty

The House of Bonaparte is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of Italian origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Corsican nobleman Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Buonaparte. Napoleon was a French military leader who rose to power during the French Revolution and who, in 1804, transformed the French First Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799. Napoleon and the Grande Armée had to fight against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, expanding the power of the dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Holland</span> Puppet state of Napoleonic France (1806–1810)

The Kingdom of Holland was the successor state of the Batavian Republic. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in March 1806 in order to strengthen control over the Netherlands by replacing the republican government with a monarchy. Since becoming emperor in 1804, Napoleon sought to extirpate republican tendencies in territories France controlled, and placed his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, on the throne of the puppet kingdom. The name of the leading province, Holland, now designated the whole country. In 1807, East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugène de Beauharnais</span> French nobleman, statesman, and military commander (1781–1824)

Eugène Rose de Beauharnais was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marriage of his mother, Joséphine de Beauharnais, he was the stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte. Under the French Empire he also became Napoleon's adopted son. He was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy under his stepfather, from 1805 to 1814, and commanded the Army of Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. Historians consider him one of Napoleon's most able relatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legion of Honour</span> Highest French order of merit

The National Order of the Legion of Honour, formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, and currently comprises five classes. Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been retained by all later French governments and regimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emperor of the French</span> Monarchical title of Napoleon I to III

Emperor of the French was the title of the monarch and supreme ruler of the First and the Second French Empires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Spain</span> National coat of arms of Spain

The coat of arms of Spain represents Spain and the Spanish nation, including its national sovereignty and the country's form of government, a constitutional monarchy. It appears on the flag of Spain and it is used by the Government of Spain, the Cortes Generales, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and other state institutions. Its design consists of the arms of the medieval kingdoms that would unite to form Spain in the 15th century, the Royal Crown, the arms of the House of Bourbon, the Pillars of Hercules and the Spanish national motto: Plus Ultra. The monarch, the heir to the throne and some institutions like the Senate, the Council of State and the General Council of the Judiciary have their own variants of the coat of arms; thus the state coat of arms is not an arms of dominion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of the Crown of Westphalia</span>

The Order of the Crown of Westphalia was instituted in Paris on 25 December 1809 by King Hieronymus I of Westphalen, better known as Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. The motto of the Order was "CHARACTER UND AUFRICHTIGKEIT". At the back stood the words "ERRICHTET DEN XXV DEZEMBER MDCCCIX".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collar (order)</span>

A collar, also known as collar of an order, is an ornate chain, often made of gold and enamel, and set with precious stones, which is worn about the neck as a symbol of membership in various chivalric orders. It is a particular form of the livery collar, the grandest form of the widespread phenomenon of livery in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Orders which have several grades often reserve the collar for the highest grade. The links of the chain are usually composed of symbols of the order, and the badge of the order normally hangs down in front. Sometimes the badge is referred to by what is depicted on it; for instance, the badge that hangs from the chain of the Order of the Garter is referred to as "the George".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nobility of the First French Empire</span> Titles of nobility created by Napoleon I

As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles in a newly established noblesse impériale to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor</span> Charles V Coat of arms

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was the heir of several of Europe's leading royal houses. In 1506, he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, which came from his paternal grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. In 1516, Charles became the king of Spain, inheriting the kingdoms first united by his maternal grandparents, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Finally, on the death of his paternal grandfather in 1519, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, he inherited the Habsburg lands in central Europe and was elected Holy Roman Emperor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First French Empire</span> Empire in France from 1804 to 1815

The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire after 1809 and also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 3 May 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of the Reunion</span> Award

The Order of the Reunion was an order of merit of the First French Empire, set up to be awarded to Frenchmen and foreigners to reward services in the civil service, magistracy and army, particularly those from areas newly annexed to France, such as the Kingdom of Holland. It was established in 1811 and abolished in 1815. There were similar orders in the other states annexed by France, such as the Palatinate, Papal States, Tuscany and Piedmont, including the Order of the Lion of Bavaria, the Order of the Golden Spur, the Order of St John Lateran, the Order of Saint Stephen, the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation and the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Order of Savoy</span> Award

The Military Order of Savoy was a military honorary order of the Kingdom of Sardinia first, and of the Kingdom of Italy later. Following the abolition of the Italian monarchy, the order became the Military Order of Italy.

The Dutch Republic Lion was the badge of the Union of Utrecht, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and a precursor of the current coat of arms of the Kingdom the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Order of the Two-Sicilies</span>

The Royal Order of the Two-Sicilies was a dynastic order of knighthood of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The order was established 24 February 1808 by Joseph Bonaparte, who, at the time, was the King of Naples. The order was expanded and continued under the rule of Joachim Murat but was ultimately suppressed by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies in 1819. Those Knights of the Order of the Two-Sicilies who were still active were instead awarded the Order of Saint George and Reunion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Sicilian Regiment</span> Military unit

The Sicilian Regiment was a light infantry regiment recruited from Sicily that served with the British Army during the Napoleonic wars, from 1806 to its disbandment in 1816.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)</span> Napoleonic client state (1806–1815)

The Kingdom of Naples was a French client state in southern Italy created in 1806 when the Bourbon Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily sided with the Third Coalition against Napoleon and was in return ousted from his kingdom by a French invasion. Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon I, was installed in his stead: Joseph conferred the title "Prince of Naples" to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren. When Joseph became King of Spain in 1808, Napoleon appointed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat to take his place. Murat was later deposed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 after striking at Austria in the Neapolitan War, in which he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tolentino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Tuscany</span> Flag of Italian region

The flag of Tuscany is the official flag of the region of Tuscany, Italy. The flag depicts a silver Pegasus rampant on a white field between two horizontal red bands. The flag first appeared as a gonfalon on 20 May 1975 along with accompanying text Regione Toscana above the Pegasus. It was officially adopted as the flag of Tuscany on 3 February 1995.