ORDER OF THE WHITE EAGLE
(Orden belog orla - Орден белог орла)
This is the second Serbian order of merit (first after the proclamation of the Kingdom) and was instituted by the law on Orders and medals of 23 January 1883, taking precedence over the Order of the Cross of Takovo, the only pre-existing Order of Merit [1].
Order of the White Eagle, Grand Cross insignia
The Order was established to recognise meritorious service to the King, the Royal House and the State. The need for the new Order of merit arose immediately after the elevation of the Serbian state to Kingdom from the one of sovereign Principality, which took place on 22 February 1882. It was felt that the Order of the Cross of Takovo, in spite of its tradition and the historical conotation, was insufficient to fulfil the needs of the new state.
The Order of the White Eagle was established in five classes with numerus clausus, here given in parentheses):
Grand cross: Sash badge and a breast star (max 10 members)
Grand officer: Neck badge and a breast star (max 20 members)
Commander: Neck badge (max 40 members)
Officer: Breast badge (max 150 members)
Knight: Breast badge (max 300 members)
Although the possible number of foreign recipients appears to have been unlimited, in practice such awards were scarce.
According to law, the bestowal document was signed by the King and counter-signed by the Prime Minister or another responsible minister. Peter I, from the new Karageorgevich dynasty, retained the Order but with minor changes to the insignia the cipher of King Milan I was replaced by the year of the kingdom’s proclamation (‘1882’) and the inscription on the pendelia was omitted.
The Order of the White Eagle could - in principle - have been awarded for military merit from the outset, but it was not until 1915 that its military aspect was institutionalised through the creation of a military division. [2] Commonly known as the Order of the White Eagle with swords, the military division retained the stratification in five classes and design of the insignia, but with crossed swords added between the crown and the heads of the eagle.
Past recipients include French General Maurice Sarrail and Vice-Admiral Émile Paul Aimable Guépratte, both of whom received the Grand Cross in 1916.
Order of the White Eagle with swords, Grand Cross insignia
The design of the Order’s insignia is among Europe’s most interesting and original. The badge of the Order is derived entirely from the royal coat of arms. As a vassal territory and from 1878 a sovereign principality, Serbia had borne arms blazoned: gules a cross between four fire-steels argent. This coat of arms, inspired by the family emblem of the Paleologos,[3] was peculiarly attributed to Serbia in a series of armorials, many of them lacking proper historical evidence.[4]
Used extensively in the anti-Ottoman uprisings of 1804 and 1815, the device was later promulgated as the official coat of arms and was used as such until 1882, when it was marshalled with the white double-headed eagle on red, the pseudo-heraldic device of the medieval Serbian Empire.[5] The new blazon was: gules a double-headed eagle argent, legged armed and langued or between two fleurs-de-lys on the base of the third; escutcheon of pretence of the first a cross between four fire-steels of the second.
The badge of the Order is a silver-gilt double-headed eagle enamelled white, as in the coat of arms, but in the form of an oval, with the escutcheon of pretence upon its chest, without the main shield and with fleurs-de-lys omitted. The enamel follows the tinctures of the coat of arms. Both of the eagle’s heads are crowned. The badge is suspended from a larger heraldic royal crown in gold with blue enamelled flowing pendelia inscribed: 22. ΦΕБPУAPA 1882 (‘22 February 1882’). The reverse centre medallion displays King Milan I’s cipher ‘MI’, crowned and in silver letters, upon a red enamel background. The overall dimensions, including the crown, are approximately 80 mm × 40 mm for the first three classes and approximately 60 mm × 30 mm for the lowest classes.
