House order of the diamond crown
The house order of the diamond crown is an order donated by King Friedrich August I of Saxony in 1807.
Foundation of the Order
At the beginning of his reign, the first King of Saxony, Friedrich August I, could only hold the military st. Awarded the Heinrich Order , which was reserved for the military. For this reason, on July 20, 1807, in the first year of his reign as king, he founded the order of the green or diamond crown in order to be able to honor deserving statesmen. The foundation came about when Emperor Napoleon paid a visit to the King of Saxony after the Tilsit Peace Treaty was signed.
Diamond wreath in the Saxon coat of arms
The name of the order draws attention to the coat of arms , which is common to all Saxon countries. The origin of the coat of arms is said to have taken place as follows: When Duke Bernhard of the House of Ascania was elected Duke of Saxony in 1181, he appeared, as was customary at the time, wearing his shield in front of Emperor Friedrich I. On the shield he carried the black Ballenstedt blacks and gold bars. Because of the heat of the sun, Kaiser Friedrich had a diamond wreath on his head. He took it off, hung it over Bernhard's shield and donated the Saxon coat of arms.
Medals
The medal consists of a gold, green-enamelled St. John's Cross with a white, gold-rimmed border. In the corners, parts of the diamond cross are shown in gold. On the cross there is a medallion surrounded by a green diamond cross. In the middle of it, the golden ciphers FA (Friedrich August) can be seen on a silver background . The reverse of the order shows the medallion PROVIDENTIAE MEMOR ( Mindful of Providence). This motto is intended to keep alive the memory of the grace of Providence, which it had bestowed on the Saxon country during the Napoleonic wars .
The ribbon is grass green and the medal is carried from the right shoulder to the left hip. The order has only one class.
Award numbers
The house order of the diamond crown was awarded very sparingly in Saxony until the end of the monarchy. The number of living knights was limited to 24. Excepted from this were the royal princes and nephews of the ruling king, to whom the sign of the order was already placed in the cradle, as well as crowned heads and princes from sovereign houses.
| king | Reign | Awards |
|---|---|---|
| Friedrich August I. | 1806-1827 | 78 |
| Anton | 1827-1836 | 26th |
| Friedrich August II. | 1836-1854 | 57 |
| Johann | 1854-1873 | 68 |
| Albert | 1873-1902 | 24 |
| George | 1902-1904 | 13 |
| Friedrich August III. | 1904-1918 | 66 |
Although not provided for in the statues, the order was awarded twice with diamonds . The recipients were the Portuguese Minister of State de Loulé in 1859 and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1885 .
The medals had to be returned after the knight's death.
literature
- Erhard Roth: The awards of the house order of the diamond crown, the order of merit, the order of merit with swords (until 1914) and the order of women of the Kingdom of Saxony. PHV, Offenbach 1998, ISBN 3-932543-51-3 . (= Statistical elaborations on the phaleristics of Germany. Volume XIV.)
- Jörg Nimmergut : German medals and decorations until 1945. Volume 3: Saxony – Württemberg I. Central Office for Scientific Order Studies, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-00-001396-2 , pp. 1160–1172.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jörg Nimmergut: German medals and decorations until 1945. Volume 3: Saxony-Württemberg I. Central Office for Scientific Order Studies, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-00-001396-2 , p. 1162.