Phaleristics

Phaleristics, from the Greek mythological hero Phalerus (Greek: Φάληρος, Phaleros) via the Latin phalera ('heroics'), sometimes spelled faleristics, is an auxiliary science of history and numismatics which studies orders, fraternities, and award items, such as medals, ribbons, and other decorations.

Origin

Decorations were already known in ancient times and had the character of a purely military reward. These decorations represented genuine rewards for specific merits. They differed significantly from later medieval and modern orders, which primarily represented a sign of affiliation to a particular organization, although they were also rewards for outstanding deeds.

The term tà phálara, which refers to a small, round or crescent-shaped shield, dates back to ancient Greece. It originally hung on the horses' chests, but in the figurative sense of the word, it represents the oldest form of decoration worn visibly on the warrior's chest. The Romans later adopted these medallions. The word phalera then came to represent the concept of a true decoration.

Definition

The subject includes orders of chivalry (including military orders), orders of merit, and fraternal orders. These may all in turn be official, national, state entities, or civil, religious, or academic-related ones. The field of study also comprises comparative honour systems, and thus in a broader sense also history (art history), sociology, and anthropology.

In terms of objects, these include award items such as medals and their accessories, ribbon bars, badges, pins, award certificate documentation, etc., and phaleristics may also designate the field of collecting related items. Although established as a scientific sub-discipline of history, phaleristics usually studies orders and decorations "detached from their bodies".

History

Modern orders are a development of the 18th and 19th centuries; their predecessors are the spiritual and secular orders of knighthood of the Middle Ages. Examples include the Order of the Golden Fleece and the most prestigious European order, the Order of the Garter (1348). While orders in the 17th and 18th centuries were seen as a sign of special ties to the absolutist sovereign rather than as a reward for civil or military merit, this view changed with the establishment of multi-level awards such as the Ascanian House Order of Albert the Bear or the Prussian Order of the Crown. In the course of the 19th century, orders experienced a rapid upswing; numerous orders were graded and differentiated by the addition of oak leaves, swords, and the like. A good example of this is the Order of the Red Eagle.

Phaleristics is established as a sub-discipline of historical studies. Especially in the 20th century, phaleristics established itself in distinction and correspondence, especially with heraldry and especially with numismatics. It typically examines orders and decorations "detached from their bearers" and therefore has little connection to other historical research. More recently, there have been attempts to restore this connection by contextualizing analyses of the material and symbolic meanings of orders, for example, with the prestige of military honor. This links phaleristics to the history of mentalities and examines it in the context of the history of norms, ideals, hierarchies, and social status.

King George VI loved the study of phaleristics, going to the extent of personally overseeing his uniform designs and ribbon placements. He is known to have designed a few British military decorations for the Royal Navy; he also designed the ribbons of each WWII campaign star and the Defence Medal. The Russian phalerist Julius Iversen studied orders and medals in the 19th century.

Fields of application

Decorations (in the broad sense of the term) official, unofficial (religious, associative, corporate) awarded to individuals or legal entities, can enter into this field of study, regardless of the country, the group of countries and the historical period studied. The main families mainly studied by phaleristics are:

religious and hospital orders;

the orders of chivalry;

orders of merit;

the decorations;

the medals;

the insignia of distinction and office.

States are the only ones authorized to create (modify, abolish) orders, decorations and medals. These awards are the only official decorations in existence and authorized to be worn. 

Exhibitions and museums

Since the beginning of the 20th century, several major exhibitions have been held both in France and abroad. Let us recall three major remarkable temporary exhibitions classified by date of seniority:

1911 - Retrospective exhibition of the Legion of Honour and French decorations, under the high patronage of General Florentin (Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour), organised in Paris at the Museum of Decorative Arts.

1956 - Orders of chivalry and national awards, exhibition organized by the Administration of Coins and Medals in Paris.

1996 - Decorations and Orders of Chivalry from the British Royal Collection, The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, exhibition organized at the Mona Bismarck Foundation in Paris.

The great European royal collections have in their historical collections many phaleristic pieces (see above, the royal collection of Windsor Castle, exhibited in France in 1996). In France, public collections also have such pieces, mainly visible at:

Army Museum, in the National Hotel of the Invalides;

National Museum of the Legion of Honor and Orders of Chivalry;

Army Health Service Museum;

Museum of the Order of Liberation.

Differences with other related sciences

Phaleristics is closely related to Medallistics, another auxiliary science of History that deals with the study of medals and medallions. The difference is that phaleristics deals with decorations and that includes medals as long as they function as a decoration, that is, as someone's badge of honor. Medallistics studies all medals, which are ostensible metal pieces without fiduciary value, regardless of whether or not they are decorations. 

On the right are images of two medals, one of which is a decoration and the other not. An example of a decoration that is not a medal (and therefore suitable for phaleristics) is the title of National Hero awarded by the government of the Argentine Republic to its combatants who died during the Falklands War. 

Phaleristics is also related to Prize Law or Honorary Law, which is the discipline that studies the normative set of honors and distinctions of a given nation. While Phaleristics deals with medals or insignia, that is, the supports that give body, represent or materialize said honors and distinctions, Prize Law or Honorary Law focuses on the legal relationship that underlies them. 

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