World orders of knighthood and merit

Orders of Knighthood are the most exclusive and prestigious institutions in the world. Originally the preserve of royalty and aristocracy, Orders now count amongst their membership business tycoons, powerful leaders and noteworthy private individuals.

With contributions from many of the world's leading authorities and articles on American honours, World Orders of Knighthood & Merit is one of the most important works ever produced on the subject and will remain the definitive guide for many years to come. This full-colour publication will be of great interest to academics, historians, collectors and those who are members of any of the numerous international, noble and state Orders. 150 years after Sir Bernard Burke published his famed history of the leading Orders of knighthood, Burke's Peerage and Gentry is proud to announce the publication of a major new study of the extant Orders of knighthood and merit of every state. This eagerly anticipated publication is the result of the collaboration of many of the world's leading specialist scholars and is edited by Guy Stair Sainty (editor) and Rafal Heydel-Mankoo (deputy editor), both of whom have written extensively on Orders. Classified in a novel and thought-provoking manner, the Orders are grouped into various sections. The first section commences with detailed histories of the surviving confraternal Orders, beginning with the famous Order of Malta and including studies of the Alliance Orders of Saint John, the Spanish Military Orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Constantinian Order of Saint George. The second section includes histories of all the great European single class Collar Orders, by date of foundation, beginning with the Order of the Garter (England) and including the Orders of the Golden Fleece (Austria/Spain), Annunziata (Savoy), Elephant (Denmark), Seraphim (Sweden), Saint Hubert (Bavaria), White Eagle (Poland) and Thistle (Scot