Faith and Chivalry

I was invested as a Knight in one of Europe’s oldest Orders of Chivalry last year, in Belgium. The investiture ceremony, held in a Catholic church in the presence of existing and new Knights and Dames, marks the culmination of a period of acquaintance with the Order’s values, history, and hierarchy. Several such ceremonies are held around the world, most notably in Europe, every year, for different Orders. For the new knight, it is the official introduction into chivalry. For the Order, investitures represent the continuation of a long history and the perpetuation of its values and missions, based on and reflecting the old ideals that inspired their foundation. 

Orders of chivalry have been an integral part of European culture for at least a millennium. In informal conversations, the mention of ‘Chivalric Orders’ is likely to bring up images of mediaeval military campaigns in the Holy Lands and the Baltics. To those more acquainted with modern history, the term is likely to invoke medals in Ancien Régime or 19th-century uniforms, elaborate mantles and investiture ceremonies. These are valid associations and are, respectively, a key part of the foundational myth and history of European chivalric orders and their best-known aesthetic manifestations. They belie, however, an underlying assumption of historicity and archaism. Orders are perceived as an element of the past, whether recent or distant—one that, even if not fully gone, exists as, at best, a remainder of a bygone era. 

This is a fundamentally incorrect idea, though one that has remained commonplace even in educated, academic environments of Western Europe, with the notable exception of Italy. It tends to be more common in secular environments than in religious ones, though even in Catholic circles the concept of dynastic orders—and the existence of orders beyond those linked to the Vatican—is often met with enthusiastic surprise. Equally common is the misconception of all European chivalric orders, particularly dynastic ones, as being limited to aristocrats or those of at least partial noble descent. Chivalry, in European tradition, is intrinsically linked to nobility. As orders moved from their original militant purpose into a more courtly, even social role in the modern era, the nobiliary aspect remained and, to an extent, further solidified itself as a definer of an order’s legitimacy. Some orders have, accordingly, established genealogical requirements for investiture. In other cases, notably those of House Orders that at one time also fulfilled a State Order function, different categories were created within the same Order, some exclusively aristocratic, others open to citizens of non-noble extraction. 

The legitimacy of a State Order, whether chivalric or otherwise, rests on the authority of the state that grants it. Only the President of France, for example, holds the final authority to introduce new members to the French Légion d’honneur.  In the cases of ruling monarchies, an order can be, at once, dynastic in character and fulfil state functions. The Belgian Order of Leopold, though ultimately dynastic, as its fons honorum is the King of the Belgians and not the Belgian state, is generally regarded as a state award. For House Orders granted by non-ruling dynasties, legitimacy is naturally not linked to said dynasty’s holding of state power but rather to its historical legitimacy. The latter is, conversely, commonly associated with the dynasty or royal house having once held royal, imperial, or princely power over a sovereign territory. The International Commission on Orders of Chivalry (ICOC), a Milan-based scholarly body dedicated to the study of orders and their legitimacy, recognises the “full historical, chivalric, nobiliary and social validity” of dynastic orders regardless of said dynasty’s political status. A pretender or former sovereign, in his capacity as Grand Master of an Order, enjoys as much fons honorum, i.e., the power to confer an order of chivalry to an individual as its Grand Master, as a ruling monarch. 

Likewise, in the case of the seven orders recognized by the Holy See, two of which—the Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem—trace their origins to historical knightly institutions, the legitimacy of those claims and their recognition by the Church is fundamental. For historical reasons, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is the only such institution to enjoy both legal status under international law and military privileges. Due to an agreement with the Italian Army, there has been a Voluntary Corps of the Order of Malta under its structures since 1877, mostly composed of military medics. There are, furthermore, sui generis cases such as the Hungarian Order of Vitéz, better known for its original name of Vitézi Rend. Though not originally dynastic in character, the Order of Vitéz is presently headed by the Hungarian Palatine branch of the House of Habsburg, to whom the title of Captain General was granted and codified as hereditary. 

What is it, then, to be a knight in 21st-century Europe? I can speak only for my personal experience and for my studies, both of which are heavily centred on Catholic dynastic orders. In today’s Europe, evermore secular and unaware of its own history, dynastic orders act as custodians of centuries-old traditions of chivalry and the values associated therewith. They bind together as confrères all those invested therein, who are, by definition, united in the acceptance of those values and, for the vast majority of orders which are de jure Christian, in their commitment to the Faith. These values are, today, expressed mainly in the form of the many works of charity performed on behalf of chivalric orders and by their members. Support for the preservation of European heritage, whether physical, spiritual, or intellectual, is an area of increasing interest to chivalric orders. Several churches and monasteries have been actively supported by chivalric orders, often, though not always, motivated by historical connections to those places and communities.  

Despite the seemingly widespread perception, Orders of Chivalry are alive in 21st-century Europe. Their values, faith, and missions have remained mostly unchanged, apart from, in most cases, their military aspect. So has their appeal, often for the wrong reasons, for which the ICOC has worked tirelessly for the past decades to uphold the rights and reputation of legitimate Orders against self-styled institutions lacking fons honorum and a true commitment to chivalry. Faith and Chivalry have been and remain foundational values of Christian civilisation. The existence of these orders, linking its present to its foundational past through a legitimate succession, is another testament to their timelessness.