If there’s one thing the French love in a very special way (besides food, wine and sex, of course), it’s ranks and honors. This is a hierarchical nation like no other, one that even managed to bring hierarchy into the world of the working girls. So it’s no surprise that feudalism, with its whole ladder of titles (baron, count, duke and so on), was born in France, and the orders of knighthood came along with it.
The first orders were created during the Crusades, and the most famous of them is the Knights Templar, who were among the first to settle in the Marais, and whose name still appears on several streets there. Later, the kings of France created a series of knightly orders of their own, like the Order of the Star, founded in 1351, and the Order of the Holy Spirit, created by King Henri III (r. 1574-1589) in 1578. Sure, by the time Henri III created his order there weren’t really that many knights riding around on horses anymore, but the pendant was so beautiful that it would have been a shame to let a small detail like that get in the way, don’t you think?
Everything worked out fine for the French until the French Revolution, when a single swing of the guillotine blade wiped out both the nobility and the knightly orders that had existed in France. But while the French could live perfectly well without serfs and a decadent aristocracy, the inability to define themselves as part of a privileged group, and to look down on everyone outside it, turned out to bother the average Frenchman quite a bit.
Napoleon was the first to understand this. He decided to revive the institution of knightly orders, but instead of tying them to the monarchy, he tied them to the Republic, and later to the empire he ruled. The result was the Legion of Honor, which has survived to this day despite all the political upheavals France has gone through since Napoleon’s time.
The order’s emblem is a five-pointed star with a white enamel face. On one side is the emblem of France, and on the other, two flags. The star sits on a wreath and hangs from a red ribbon. The recipient wears it on the left side of the chest. The order has five ranks: Knight, Officer, Commander, Grand Officer and Grand Cross. Over the years the honor has been given to people who contributed to France in many fields, but at first it was awarded only to soldiers and officers. It was first given out in 1802, and among its recipients are two little-known people with especially interesting stories.
Commander, These Old Bones Have Earned Their Retirement
Anyone who has served in the military has met those veteran non-commissioned officers who seem like they’ve been serving forever. But I can promise you one thing: none of them could match the length of service of Jean Thurel. Jean was born in Burgundy in 1698, and at age 18 he enlisted in the regiment of the Touraine province.
From the time he enlisted until 1792, when he retired from service, Jean managed to fight in every war of the 18th century. He survived a bullet to the chest at the Battle of Kehl in 1733, and six sword blows to the head at the Battle of Minden in 1759. Despite these injuries, Thurel was a model of fitness, and in 1787 he insisted on marching alongside his regiment, even though he was offered a seat in the officers’ carriage.
His modesty showed not only in his insistence on marching like everyone else, even at age 89, but also in his refusal to accept promotion. As a result, he remained a corporal for his entire military career. In 1792 he retired from the army, and you can just picture him telling his commanding officer at his discharge interview, “I’d keep going a little longer, Commander, but these old bones have earned their retirement.”
Jean Thurel was one of the first to receive the Legion of Honor from Napoleon himself in 1802, in recognition of his long years of service. He added it to his three Medals of the Sword, each awarded for 24 years of service in the French army (he is the only soldier ever to reach that milestone). Jean continued to live in good health until 1807, when he died after a brief illness.
Who Was the First Woman to Receive the Legion of Honor?
Unlike Jean Thurel, Marie Schellinck (1757-1840) was not born in France but in Ghent, in what is now Belgium. While Jean enlisted at 18, Marie decided to join the Belgian regiment of the French revolutionary armies at age 35, out of support for the principles of the Revolution.
Since women couldn’t serve in the military at the time, Marie decided the simplest solution was to dress as a man, and for some reason, nobody in the French army seemed to mind. Shortly after enlisting in 1792, she was already fighting at the Battle of Jemappes, where she was badly wounded. Like Jean Thurel, she recovered relatively quickly and, a few months later, was promoted to second lieutenant and became an officer.
She left military service in 1796 after marrying Lieutenant Louis-Joseph Descamrin, and she accompanied him during Napoleon’s Italian campaign.
Legend has it that Marie was the first woman to receive the Legion of Honor, thanks to her participation in numerous battles, reportedly including Arcole and Austerlitz. According to the story, this happened in 1808, when Napoleon visited Ghent.
However, there’s no solid evidence that Marie, who as noted had already retired from the French army in 1796, actually took part in those battles, or that she ever received the medal at all (the image above was painted in 1890). So if Marie Schellinck wasn’t actually the first woman to receive the Legion of Honor, who can claim that title with certainty?
Her name was Angélique Brûlon (1772-1859). She enlisted in the army following her husband and fought during the siege of Corsica from 1792 to 1799. At first Angélique disguised herself as a man, but after one battle it was discovered that she was a woman.
This didn’t stop her commanders from keeping her in the army, since she was a skilled fighter who knew how to handle both a sword and a dagger. In 1797, after taking several sword blows to the head, she applied to be admitted to Les Invalides in Paris, but French bureaucracy took a full seven years to approve the request.
Angélique was discharged from the French army in 1804 with the rank of lieutenant, and that same year Marshal Berthier submitted a request to Napoleon asking that she be given the Legion of Honor. The request was denied, and in the end it was Napoleon’s nephew, known as Napoleon III, who presented her with the honor in a ceremony attended by many.
The Legion of Honor Museum in Paris
You can hear the stories of Jean Thurel, Marie Schellinck, Angélique Brûlon and others at the Legion of Honor Museum in Paris. This museum has everything it needs to become one of the most popular museums in Paris. It’s housed in a gorgeous 18th-century mansion, it’s full of fascinating stories about knightly orders and the Legion of Honor, and best of all, it’s free.
So why, chances are, have you never heard of it? In my opinion, the first reason is that it sits in the shadow of the famous Musée d’Orsay, which shares the same square. The second reason is that its opening hours are fairly limited (usually between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.). Even so, I highly recommend it, especially for seasoned Francophiles who have already been to Paris several times, to visit this museum and enjoy the beautiful decorations and the stories hidden inside.
Official museum website
Looking for More Special Museums in Paris?
All you need to do is check out my page on Paris attractions, and if you’re in the mood to venture outside of Paris, don’t miss this page.
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