On chivalric orders and micronational honours

“Give me enough medals and I’ll win you any war”

-- Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's Art of War

Many micronations like to give awards to their citizens or rulers of other micronations, a practice I am quite fond of.  Indeed, I've developed several such awards that are presented on any occasion that merits it, including the King's Mark of Merit and the King's Mark of Friendship.

However, there is something that irks me about this practice - the overwhelming number of "orders" that are given out which, despite their name, bear little to no resemblance to actual chivalric orders! Specifically, micronational orders do not typically have multiple tiers.

First, a bit of history - the concept of an "order" dates back to the Crusades of the 11th through 13th centuries with the military orders of knights. Over time, they transitioned to more courtly orders (i.e. Order of the Garter, Order of the Bath) - such orders would have a monarch as their fons honorum, and would be bestowed on any person deemed worthy, not just knights who had proven their martial prowess. 

Regardless of their provenance (modern or medieval), many orders (at least in Europe) tend to follow the five-tier system used by Napoleon for the French Legion of Honour. The highest rank might be referred to as "First Class" or "Knight Grand Cross" of the order, and lower ranks might include Knight Commander, Commander, Officer, and Knight, for example.

While not exactly aligning to the five-tier system used in Europe, the Order of Canada does have multiple tiers, including Companion, Officer, and Member. Again, the Crown (as sovereign ruler of Canada) is the fons honorum of the order, with the Governor-General as Chancellor of the order.

There is one micronational order that I can think of which does follow the idea of tiers of precedence: Westarctica has the Order of the Snow Flake, which includes Knight, Knight Commander, and Knight Grand Cross ranks.

Westarctica's Order of the Snow Flake

Finally, in a case of "Do as I say, not as I do," I must confess that Slabovia's highest honour, the Order of Slabovia, does not have multiple tiers or levels. If we were to recreate the order today, I would press for a multi-tier system as is used in Europe.

The Order of Slabovia
A case of "Do as I say, not as I do"

Did you know? The "L" in MEDALS stands for Library!

I've previously mentioned MEDALS, the Microphalerist Educational Archive and Library of Slabovia, and shown some of the decorations that have been donated to the archive. However, MEDALS is also a library (it's in the title), and over the years we've acquired a few books for said library. Since MEDALS focuses on awards given by micronations, we try to avoid books that focus on particular macro-nations or time periods in history, and actively seek out more general works in the field.

First up is "A Glossary of Terms Used in Phaleristics - The Science, Study, and Collecting of the Insignia of Orders, Decorations, and Medals" by Alexander J. Laslo (Dorado Publishing, 1995). This slim volume (running just 58 pages plus an eight-page introduction) is largely devoted to, well, exactly what the title says. It's a glossary of terms such as "Accolated" (meaning the design has two heads, both facing the same direction), piefort ("a numismatic item struck on a planchet twice or more the normal thickness"), and saltire (describing when two objects cross to form an "X", such as the staffs of two flags).

Next we have "Collecting Medals and Decorations, Third Edition" by Alec A. Purves (Robert Stockwell Ltd., 1978) - the photo below has been edited slightly to remove the identifying label of the previous owner, this is the ugly white square in the top right corner. This volume runs to nearly 240 pages, and is much more comprehensive and informative than the slim volume by Laslo (1995), although it also includes a lot of information specific to British awards.

Finally, somewhere around here I have a copy of "Collecting Military Medals: A Beginner's Guide" by Colin Narbeth (Lutterworth Press, 2002), although I have to confess I've misplaced it at the moment... (The picture below is taken from the Amazon website.) When I find it, I'll post a summary of it here.

MEDALS currently publishes several pamphlets on different aspects of micronational awards; perhaps one day we will publish our own book as a guide to others!

Other awards from MicroCon

 I've already discussed my induction into the Micronational Hall of Excellence, but I was gifted with several other awards and honours at MicroCon 2025 in Montreal.

From left to right, the 55th Anniversary medal from West Who, a medal from Queen Christina of Cyclodia celebrating the fifth year of her reign, a friendship medal from the Duchy of Faulkender (part of Westarctica), a friendship and diplomacy medal from Sylvestria, and the MicroCon 2025 commemorative medal.

We separately received several physical specimens as contributions to the MEDALS archive, including these two:

Above is the Officer (4th class) of the Order of Ladon, which is awarded by Ladonia.

And this is the Order of the New Rubix Republic (gold).