The Imperial Order of the Crescent was a chivalric order of the Ottoman Empire. It was instituted in 1799 by Sultan Selim III when he wished to reward Horatio Nelson, an Anglican Christian, for his victory at the Battle of the Nile. All the existing Ottoman orders could not be awarded to non-Muslims, and so Selim specially created the Order of the Crescent as a one-off for Nelson, making him its first Knight and sending him the insignia in August 1799. The Order was then extended to reward further the British military success on land and sea against Napoleon's forces in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean in 1801. Nelson was proud of his award - he appended it to his name in the Articles of Capitulation with Denmark after the Battle of Copenhagen on 9 April 1801. However, the British Royal Warrant at the College of Arms allowing him to wear it is only dated 20 March 1802. Nelson also constantly wore a replica of his Order of the Crescent on his British naval uniform coats, though on the coat he wore at the Battle of Trafalgar it is sewn on upside-down and in his posthumous portrait by Arthur William Devis it is shown the wrong way up. Wikipedia [ - ]

The Imperial Order of the Crescent was a chivalric order of the Ottoman Empire. It was... [ + ]