The Military Merit Order (Bavaria)

• Time Period: Pre-WW1
• Institution: July 19, 1866
• Country: Germany (Kingdom of Bavaria)

The Bavarian Military Merit Order (or Militär-Verdienstorden in German) was established on July 19, 1866 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The order was the kingdom’s main decoration for bravery and military merit for officers and higher-ranking officials.

Eligible for the decoration were civilians acting in support of the army. The Military Merit Order ranked below the Military Order of Max Joseph, Bavaria’s highest military honor for officers.

The order could be awarded with or without swords (which generally indicated wartime or combat awards). The Grand Cross and 1st Class always came with a breast star, but the 2nd Class could be awarded with or without the breast star. The 3rd and 4th Classes could be awarded with or without a crown. Generally, these distinctions were based on rank.

The Military Order of Merit Design

The design of the order is a Maltese cross of blue enamel with a center medallion. Between the arms of most classes are flames (in gold or silver for the 4th Class after the 1905 revisions of the order).

The obverse of the center medallion had a gold crowned “L” cipher (for the founder King Ludwig II) on the black-enameled center and the word “MERENTI” on a ring of white enamel edged in gold (later silver-gilt).

The reverse shows a gold Bavarian lion on black enamel with the date of founding, “1866“, on the white-enameled ring. Most of the various classes of the order were of different sizes and worn differently, as sash badges over the shoulder, as neck badges, or as breast badges suspended from a ribbon.