Order of the Iron Crown (Austria)

Imperial and Royal Order of the Iron Crown
Medal of the Order
Awarded by The Head of the House of Habsburg
Type	Dynastic order
Royal house	House of Habsburg
Awarded for	Civil and Military Merit
Status	Dormant Order since 2011
Sovereign	Crown Prince Karl of Austria
Grades	Knight Grand Cordon with Collar, Special Class Knight Grand Cordon with Collar Knight/Dame Grand Cordon Knight/Dame Commander Knight/Dame
Statistics
Established	07 April 1815
Precedence
Next (higher)	Imperial and Royal Order of Leopold
Next (lower)	Imperial and Royal Order of Franz Joseph
Same	Imperial and Royal Order of the Starry Cross
Related	Imperial Order of the Iron Crown
Ribbon of the Order

The Austrian Imperial Order of the Iron Crown (Italian: Ordine imperiale della Corona ferrea; German: Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone) was re-established in 1815 by Emperor Franz I of Austria. The original Order of the Iron Crown had previously been an order of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

The Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, gave way to the Empire of Austria between 1804 and 1806. The last Holy Roman Emperor, Franz II, was proclaimed Emperor Franz I of Austria. His daughter, the Archduchess Maria Louise, was Napoleon’s second wife and Empress Consort, and the mother of Napoleon’s only legitimate son and heir, Napoleon, Duke of Reichstadt. With the collapse of Napoleon’s empire, Imperial Austria regained its traditional control of Lombardy as the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia.

The Austrian order was also divided into three distinct classes of knighthood, recognized as the First, Second, and Third Classes. Investment of this order carried an Imperial patent of nobility. With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918, all but one (the Order of the Golden Fleece) of the chivalric orders of its monarchy were formally abolished.

While the ribbon colors changed from the Imperial French gold and green to the Imperial Austrian gold and royal blue, the general look of the medal remained largely the same – an imperial eagle set within a representation of the Iron Crown of Lombardy. Grand Cross (French) and First Class (Austrian) knights wore a sash and badge over the right shoulder, with an eight-pointed star (that featured the Iron Crown at its center) on the left breast. Imperial French knight commanders wore a traditional military style medal on the left chest, with the addition of a bow in the center of the ribbon to delineate them from ordinary knights. Imperial Austrian Second Class knights wore the medal suspended from a ribbon about the neck. French ordinary knights and Austrian Third Class knights wore a traditional military medal on the left chest.