Order of the Medjidie

For the city in Romania, see Medgidia.

Order of the Medjidie
Arms of the Order of the Medjidie
Awarded by Ottoman Sultan
Country	Ottoman Empire
Type	Order
Eligibility	Civilians and military
Awarded for	Outstanding services to the state by Foreign nationals
Status	No longer awarded
Statistics
Established	1851
First awarded	1851
Last awarded	1917
Ribbon bar of the medal

Medjidie or Mejidie (Turkish: Mecidiye Nişanı, August 29, 1852 – 1922) is the name of a military and knightly order of the Ottoman Empire. The Order was instituted in 1851 by Sultan Abdülmecid I.

History

Instituted in 1851, the Order was awarded in five classes, with the First Class being the highest. The Order was issued in considerable numbers by Sultan Abdülmecid as a reward for distinguished service to members of the British Army and the Royal Navy and the French Army who came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War against Russia. In Britain it was worn after any British gallantry and campaign medals awarded, but before the Turkish Crimean War medal. The Order was usually conferred on officers but a few enlisted soldiers also received it in a lower class. During World War I it was also awarded to a number of German and Austrian officers.

The Order was often conferred on non-Turkish nationals.

Design of the Order

On the obverse of the star is Sultan Abdülmecid's royal cipher surrounded by an inscription on a gold-bordered circle of red enamel; all on a star of seven triple quills with small crescents and five-pointed stars between them, suspended from a red enameled crescent and star suspender with green enameled edges.

First Class Order

Rough translation of the front: To the left: (you have) crossed. To the right: (you are proven to be) correct. At the top: (you have provided) protection. At the bottom: Year 1268. In the centre: In the name of the God the forgiver, the merciful.

The order has 5 classes. First, second, third and fourth classes are gold. Fifth (lower) class is silver.

Owners of the order:

• First Class Order (Gold) - 50 people (Given by Sultan)
• Second Class Order (Gold) - 150 people (Given by Sultan)
• Third Class Order (Gold) - 800 people
• Fourth Class Order (Gold) - 3,000 people
• Fifth Class Order (Silver) - 6,000 people

Some notable recipients

Distribution of the Medjidie, after the Battle of Cetate (1854)

Order of the Medjidie awarded to Major Rodolph De Salis (1811-1880) of the 8th Hussars.

• Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, Algerian Islamic scholar and political and military leader who led a struggle against the French invasion.
• Abraham Ashkenazi, chief rabbi of Palestine
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Ottoman Army officer
• Lucien Baudens, French military surgeon
• Edward Wilmot Blyden, Pan Africanist and Liberian Statesman
• Charles Doughty-Wylie, English army officer who was later killed in the Gallipoli Campaign, ironically in action against Ottoman forces.
• Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish author
• Richard England, British soldier
• Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French soldier
• George Alfred Henty, English Commissariat Officer and author
• Theodor Herzl, journalist and Zionist leader
• Auguste Lumière, French industrialist and biologist
• Léon-Eugène Méhédin, French architect and photographer
• Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian Army officer
• Sir William Montgomery-Cuninghame, 9th Baronet, British Army Officer and Victoria Cross recipient
• Napoleon III, Emperor of France
• Lord George Paulet, British naval officer
• Pedro II of Brazil, Emperor of Brazil
• Ludomił Rayski, Polish pilot
• Cecil Spring Rice, British diplomat
• Jules Ernest Renoux, French painter
• Pierre-Auguste Sarrus, French musician
• Maréchal Vaillant

References

• The Americana, Vol.15, Ed. Frederick Converse Beach, George Edwin Rines, 1912.
• About Tadeusz Grocholski (in Polish)

External links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: