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Post by davidv on Jun 12, 2009 23:26:46 GMT 10
In the era of the Crusades, five major Catholic orders of Chivalry emerged: - Knights Hospitaller (aka Order of St John of Jerusalem, now the SMOM) - Knights Templar - Order of the Holy Sepulchre - Order of St Lazarus - Teutonic Order Three of those- SMOM, Holy Sepulchre and the Teutonic Order- continue to exist today as orders of the Catholic Church. The SMOM is also a sovereign entity with diplomatic relations with numerous nations and exercising sovereignty through its issuance of stamps, currency, etc. The British Venerable Order of St John was founded in the 19th century in an attempt to recreate the order in Britain, and emerged as a highly respectable charitable organisation it is today. The SMOM and the major non-Catholic Orders of St John also co-operate in the False Orders Committee with regards to warning people about self-styled OSJs. However, there is a modern revival of the Order of St Lazarus as well as of the Knights Templar (which often comes under the term "self-styled orders", much of which has been written about here and elsewhere). However, a few of those have attained some notability where charitable work is concerned- the OSMTH, a neo-Templar organisation, has even attained NGO status with the United Nations.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 13, 2009 7:39:43 GMT 10
Modern self-styled (ie false) orders are one of my pet hates. With the sole exception of the two abovenamed, they tend to be populated by shrill, insecure, pompous nobodies who consider themselves "better" than the rest of humanity because they've spent $500 to buy a "knighthood" off a website, which gives them the "right" to ponce about under 10kg of medals being called "sir" by people who should know better - all in the name of "charity". Needless to say, the only act of "charity" being performed is the one that benefits their ego - and of course this diverts funds from real charities. People who proudly claim descent from some long-extinct mediaeval European imperial or royal house and who have long strings of letters after their name are usually members of these types of fantasy groups. BEWARE! This is an interesting and informative overview of the phenomenon.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 13, 2009 7:43:12 GMT 10
During its heyday, the Teutonic Order ruled a large part of present day Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Prussia and Poland, and functioned very much like a modern nation-state.
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Post by davidv on Jun 13, 2009 13:17:27 GMT 10
I agree- but what of the modern orders of St Lazarus and OSMTH, who have managed something noteworthy in terms of charitable work (the Lazarus ambulance corps in Germany, or the fact that the neo-Templar OSMTH attained NGO status with the UN. The British Order of St John began in much the same way and evolved.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 13, 2009 13:23:17 GMT 10
I agree entirely... as I stated above, "with the sole exception of the two abovenamed ".
The Order of St Lazarus, OSMTH and the British Order of St John are all legitimate charity organisations.
As I think I discussed on another forum a while ago, the British Order of St John is a very interesting case... it was originally founded in the early 19th century by a group of scoundrels and fraudsters as a dubious money-making venture, but by the latter part of the century had evolved into a genuine humanitarian organisation with full royal imprimatur.
A case of the exception proving the rule, methinks.
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Post by Bokonton on Jun 20, 2009 4:24:00 GMT 10
People who proudly claim descent from some long-extinct mediaeval European imperial or royal house and who have long strings of letters after their name are usually members of these types of fantasy groups. Although my name is 5 words long (count 'em folks! ) this is more to do with the fact that someone of my immediate ancestors was given permission from the monarch to have a double-barreled name- that's it. And the fact that my grandfather used to be one of those who strictly adhered to doing 'the done thing' by giving my two middle names. But I do not claim to be one of those people. I am not trying to disprove you, I am only saying that I am also very annoyed by people like this. Because of my 5-letter-name, I have been approached by a fair few.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 20, 2009 10:21:43 GMT 10
I wasn't referring to double-barrelled names when I mentioned people with long strings of letters after their names...
I was referring to people using post-nominals, like OBE.
I've met a number of people over the years who have proudly handed over a business card with something like Sir John Smythe-Higginbottom KGB, OBMPCE, STHUJKL, HJUYGFRDBB on it, upon being introduced.
Usually the knighthood and post-nominals turn out to belong to false orders of chivalry, which were simply purchased by that individual.
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Post by Bokonton on Jun 20, 2009 17:39:43 GMT 10
Ah yes. I have been plagued by the variety of people who have given themselves double/triple/Quadruple-barreled names and ponce around ... not unlike Mrs. Bouquet/Bucket. But the OBE, DFDH,GHUTL,-these are just random letters now ;D- JKI variety are MUCH owrse.
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