STANOVY HABSBURSKÉHO VOJENSKÉHO RADU MÁRIE TERÉZIE Z ROKU 1757

In the introduction of the article, the author takes a closer look at the genesis of the military meritorious orders in Europe, including the Habsburg Military Order of Maria Theresa, which originated in 1757 and existed until 1931. The introduction also states that the Order originated during the difficult period of the Seven Years’ War for the Habsburg heritage and had an eminently democratic nature – its insignia were intended for officers of all army units. The merits of the officer were the only decisive moment for awarding the order. During the Seven Years’ War (1757 – 1763), total of 9 ceremonies of accordance of the order insignia took place, according 20 Grand Crosses and 164 Knight’s Crosses. In 1765, after extending the number of classes of the order, one Grand Cross and 9 newly established Commander Crosses were accorded. During the whole order existence, 61 Grand Crosses, 141 Commander Crosses and 1,039 Knight’s Crosses were accorded. The author of the contribution translated the Charter of this order, Statuten des Löblichen Militarischen Maria Theresia Ordens to Slovak, which is published in full. In the annex, the Charter can be compared to the charters of the orders established prior to this order’s origin, in particular the Charter of the French Order of Saint Louis from 1693, Saxon Order of Saint Henry from 1736 and Swedish Order of the Sword from 1748.From the historically younger military meritorious orders, the charter of the Hessen Order Pour la Vertu Militaire from 1769 is published. As the author has stated, only the comparison of the charters of the individual orders can highlight the quality and timelessness of the charter, which also implies a high level of the Habsburg Order.