Cross of Merit for women and virgins

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Cross of Merit for Women and Virgins ( obverse )

The Cross of Merit for Women and Virgins was donated on March 22, 1871 by the Prussian King Wilhelm I and could be awarded to all women who committed themselves to the benefit of the fighting troops and their relatives during the Franco-German War of 1870/71 deserved.

Order decoration

The medal is similar to that of the Iron Cross . It is made of iron, with a raised, silver inner, double-stepped edge, the inner half of which is semicircular and finely fluted. In the middle of the cross on the front, the red enameled Geneva Cross can be seen. The reverse is decorated in the middle with the intertwined initials of the founder and the Empress AW , in the upper part of the cross with the Prussian crown and in the lower part with the dates 1870-1871 .

Carrying method

The medal was worn on the bow made of white ribbon with black edging on the left chest.

Awards

All awards were made at the personal suggestion of Queen Augusta , which was subsequently confirmed or carried out by the king. The first awards took place on April 9th ​​and 26th, 1871. 35 female members of ruling houses were honored as prominent patrons of voluntary nursing. The last two awards took place in 1875, although Wilhelm I had already decided to discontinue it on January 3, 1873.

A total of 2979 awards are documented. These include 78 women of non-German origin.

literature

  • Frank Wernitz, Ansgar Reiss (ed.): The Iron Cross 1813–1870–1914. History and meaning of an award. In: Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt. Volume 11, Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902526-58-8 , pp. 246-250.
  • Louis Schneider : The Cross of Merit for Women and Virgins. Duncker, Berlin 1872. Digitized
  • Maximilian Gritzner : Handbook of the knight and merit orders of all civilized states in the world. Weber, Leipzig 1893. (Reprint: Reprint-Verlag Leipzig, Holzminden 2000, ISBN 3-8262-0705-X ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Wernitz, Ansgar Reiß (ed.): The Iron Cross 1813-1870-1914. History and meaning of an award. In: Catalogs of the Bavarian Army Museum Ingolstadt. Volume 11, Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902526-58-8 , p. 247.
  2. ↑ Order Journal: The list of Beliehenen the Order of Merit for women and young women. (PDF file; 861 kB)