Order of Saint Stanislaus
Polish military decoration
The Order of Saint Stanislaus (Polish: Order Św. Stanisława Biskupa i Męczennika, Russian: Орден Святого Станислава), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831. In 1831 it was incorporated under the Russian Empire until the Russian Revolution (1917).
Today, there are two recognised orders that claim descent from the original Order of Saint Stanislaus: the Russian dynastic Order of Saint Stanislaus, awarded by the head of the House of Romanov as former sovereigns of the Russian Empire, and the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta, a governmental order of merit awarded by the President of Poland and considered by some as a type of successor.
History
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland, established the Order of the Knights of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr on 8 May 1765 Initially, the order was limited to 100 members who were required to prove four generations of nobility. The knights were required to pay for donations to poor people and to adhere to various rules of chivalry.
Due to the rising influence of the Russian Empire on Central European affairs, the rules of awarding of the order were broken. After the Partitions of Poland, the order was resurrected in the Duchy of Warsaw, bestowing upon its recipients the title of hereditary nobility and requiring donations to a Warsaw hospital. Since 1815 in the Polish (Congress) Kingdom, the order, originally in a single class, was retained and divided into four classes.
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