Legion of Honour - on this day
Following on from my 1000th post I thought the 1500th couldn't pass without linking it to something historical and appropriate for the Napoleonic period..oh and distinctively French!
On this day 19th May 1802 Napoleon established the Order of the Legion of Honour. The importance of this award and what separates it from all those that had come previously was it was available to civilians as well as the military and was based almost entirely on merit, exclusive of social, religious or economic standing. It was the first award to thus recognize what people did, not who they were. There have been perhaps a million awarded in the last two hundred years, the vast majority to citizens or residents of France.
Undoubtedly many were given for political or other non-meritorious reasons, but this does not detract from the value of all the many other recipients. It may have been with such baubles men are led, but as one of the lasting relics of the Napoleonic period that remains honoured and respected to this day it has no peer.
http://en.empirecostume.com/images/540/-11762.jpg
For more on this fascinating item see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legion_of_Honour
http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/
