Order of the Medjidie ( ota, نشانِ مجیدی, August 29, 1852 – 1922) is a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and civilian order of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. The Order was instituted in 1851 by

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Abdulmejid 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 The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

and the

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

who came to the aid of the

during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and to British recipients for later service in Egypt and/or the Sudan. In Britain it was worn after any British gallantry and campaign medals awarded, but, as an Order, before foreign medals like the Turkish Crimean War medal. The Order was usually conferred on officers but a few enlisted soldiers and sailors also received it in a lower class. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

it was also awarded to a number of German, Austrian and Bulgarian 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. Mecidi 1Kl

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 Citate

Order of the Medjidie awarded to Major Rodolph De Salis of the 8th Hussars

* Abdelkader El Djezairi, 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 Lucien Jean-Baptiste Baudens ( – ) was a French military surgeon. Biography He was born in Aire-sur-la-Lys in the northern France from Jean-Louis Baudens, sheet merchant, and Marie-Adélaïde Baelen at the end of the Consulate and one month bef ...

, French military surgeon * Edward Wilmot Blyden, Pan Africanist and Liberian Statesman * Eugène Chauffeur, French Army officer, from Valence (Drôme), Commandeur of the Legion of Honor, on 6 May 1856. Sous-Lieutenant in the 10th "Bataillon de chasseurs à pied" who sustained a severe wound to the head during the Siege of Sevastopol (Crimea). * 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 * Emanuele Luigi Galizia, Maltese architect and civil engineer * Rafael de Nogales Méndez, Venezuelan soldier, adventurer and writer. * George Walter Grabham, British geologist * 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 The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

recipient *

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

, Emperor of The French * Major-General Charles George Gordon, Gordon of Khartoum * Rear-Admiral Maurice Horatio Nelson, son of Thomas Nelson, 2nd Earl Nelson * Lord Blyth James Blyth, 1st Baron Blyth, British businessman and politician * General Sir William Parke, British soldier * Lord George Paulet, British naval officer *

Pedro II of Brazil Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Emp ...

, Emperor of Brazil * Ludomił Rayski, Polish pilot *

Cecil Spring Rice Sir Cecil Arthur Spring Rice, (27 February 1859 – 14 February 1918) was a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918, as which he was responsible for the organisation of British efforts to end ...

, British diplomat *

Haim Palachi Haim Palachi ( he, חיים פלאג'י yi, חיים פאלאדזשי; Acronym: MaHaRHaF or HaVIF) (January 28, 1788– February 10, 1868) was a Jewish- Turkish chief rabbi of Smyrna ( İzmir) and author in Ladino and Hebrew. His titles inclu ...

, chief rabbi of Izmir * Jules Ernest Renoux, French painter *

Pierre-Auguste Sarrus Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (March 14 or 15, 1813 – May 3, 1876) was a French musician and inventor. History * He joined the army at the age of 23. * November 27, 1843: Sarrus is affected to the 74th ''Régiment d'Infanterie'' as corporal-chief of t ...

, French musician *

Emanuel Stross Emanuel may refer to: * Emanuel (name), a given name and surname (see there for a list of people with this name) * Emanuel School, Australia, Sydney, Australia * Emanuel School, Battersea, London, England * Emanuel (band), a five-piece rock band fr ...

, Wholesaler * Charles Carroll Tevis, American soldier of fortune and Anatolian Cavalry leader * Alfred Tippinge, British Army officer of the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, and Legion of Honour recipient * Maréchal Vaillant * Carol Davila *

Živojin Mišić Field Marshal Živojin Mišić ( sr-cyrl, Живојин Мишић; 19 July 1855 in Struganik – 20 January 1921 in Belgrade) was a Field Marshal who participated in all of Serbia's wars from 1876 to 1918. He directly commanded the First Se ...

, Serbian field marshal and Chef of General Staff * Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist *

Yosef Navon Yosef Navon (; 1858–1934) was a Jerusalem businessman and the man principally responsible for the construction of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. For his effort, Navon was awarded the Légion d'honneur from the French government, and the Medjidie ...

, Jerusalem businessman and the man principally responsible for the construction of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. * Field Marshal Sir Frederick Paul Haines GCB GCSI CIE * Charles Pomeroy Stone, career U.S. Army officer, post Civil War soldier of fortune in Ottoman service. * Dimitrije Cincar-Marković, Serbian Prime Minister and general *Grocholski Tadeusz * Perestu Kadın, Valide Sultan of Ottoman Empire * Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, Duchess Consort of Brunswick

References

Citations

Bibliography

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

External links

{{commons category, Order of the Medjidie Medjidie Crimean War 1851 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Awards established in 1851