Self-styled orders

Pseudo-chivalric orders or self-styled orders are organisations that claim to be chivalric orders in the same sense as orders such as the Order of the Golden Fleece or the Order of Saint Michael. Most of these have arisen starting from about the mid-eighteenth century and continue to vigorously arise right up until the present. Most of these are short-lived and only last a few decades at best. There are differing opinions about what principles or rules should be applied to distinguish an organisation as being a "chivalric order" (genuine) or not. Many seem to agree that an organization must have a fons honorum ("fount of honour") as either its founder or principal patron in order for it to be considered a genuine chivalric order. A fount of honour is defined as someone who held sovereignty either currently or formerly at the time of the creation or the order. Further, the holding of former sovereignty is only considered to be allowable for the creation of an order in those cases where the former sovereign did not abdicate his position. This view is not necessarily universally held.

Some organisations have gone so far as to provide for a false or fake fons honorum in order to satisfy the above condition. In these cases, the founder or patron of the "order" has essentially assumed a fake title in addition to assuming some sort of sovereignty - either current or former.

Although not officially recognised by any international treaty, many have come to agree that the principles the principles used by the [http://www.icocregister.org International Commission for Orders of Chivalry] for establishing of genuine orders of chivalry are [http://www.icocregister.org/principles2006.htm listed on their web site] for determining what constitutes a genuine chivalric order advocated by the International Commission for Orders of Chivalry [the [http://www.icoregister.org/ International Commission for Orders of Chivalry] was created as a commission (originally a temporary one) of the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in August 1960] form a reasonable guideline. Needless to say, these principles are not universally held either, seeing as the Commission has no officially recognised international status.

There are, however, organisations that appear to have a chivalric character but which carefully distinguish themselves as not being orders of chivalry. An example of one such an organisation might be the Augustan Society, which carefully states publicly that it is not an order of chivalry.

References

Further reading

*"Ordres et contre-ordres de chevalerie" by Arnaud Chaffanjon, Mercure de France Paris 1982,
*"Faux Chevaliers vrais gogos" by Patrice Chairoff, Jean Cyrile Godefroy Paris 1985
*"The knightly twilight" by Robert Gayre of Gayre, Lochore Enterprises Valletta 1973,
*"Orders of knighthood, Awards and the Holy See" by Peter Bander van Duren and Archbishop H.E. Cardinale (Apostolic Delegate in the United Kingdom),Buckinghamshire 1985
*World Orders of Knighthood and Merit by Guy Stair Sainty and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Burke's Peerage 2006.