Who continued the knightly order in Hungary and abroad?

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Splits and mergers in the Order of Chivalry

The founder of the Order of Valor is Miklós Horthy of Nagybánya, who was also the first leader of the organization as captain-general.

According to the official position of the Order of Valor, Horthy developed the idea that Hungary needed an organization that would bring together the best of the front-line fighters of World War I, during his time as Minister of War in Szeged, during the counter-revolutionary government of Károlyi.

Horthy finally had the opportunity to establish the organization only after his election as governor on March 1, 1920, but his ambitious idea was already widely known. The legal basis for the foundation was established by Decree No. 6,650/1920. ME, which was confirmed by Act XXXVI of 1920.

The organization operated in Hungary until the last year of World War II, 1945. On February 23, 1945, the Provisional National Government dissolved the Order of Valor under Soviet pressure.

After this, the National Vitéz Chair Liquidation Committee was established, which began its operation under the leadership of Major General Pál Pongrácz.

This organization was tasked with preparing for and then liquidating the Order of Valor. Finally, Act IV of 1947 put an end to the legal basis for the operation of the Order of Valor, which was adopted in 1948.

After World War II, many knights, including Miklós Horthy, found a new home in Western emigration, but the reorganization of the Order of Knights did not begin for years.

The first reorganisation process can be linked to Ferenc Farkas of Vitéz Kisbarnak in the early 1950s, but Horthy stopped these and forbade the reorganisation of the Vitézi Order in emigration. He only permitted meetings of comrades from Vitéz.

In 1956, Horthy appointed the valiant Hugo Sónyi as deputy chief captain, but no other steps were taken.

As a result, there was no possibility of a concrete form of life in Vitéz. After Horthy's death in 1957, the desire for reorganization revived, led by Ferenc Farkas and Emil Justhy Vitéz.

At the end of the process, the Order of Knights was re-established in Regensburg in 1960, with the valiant Archduke Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine elected as its Grand Captain.

Therefore, the activity of the Order of the Knights in emigration can be counted from 1960.

Archduke Joseph did not enjoy his position as Grand Captain for long, as he died in 1962. He was succeeded as Grand Captain by Ferenc Farkas, who resigned in 1977 due to his age (he died in 1980). Following his resignation, the See of the Knights elected Archduke Joseph's grandson, Árpád József of Habsburg-Lorraine, as Grand Captain. As a result of this election, Árpád József was the last Grand Captain of the emigration chapter of the Knights of the Order.

Hungary gradually liberated itself from Soviet occupation thanks to the 1989 regime change.

As a result, the Order of the Knights also began to grope around in the hope of repatriation.

One of the main moments of the repatriation process took place on August 19, 1991, when President Árpád Göncz received the delegation of the Order of Valor and held several hours of discussions with them.

A Vitézi Rend delegációja 1991

At this meeting, the conditions for the repatriation of the Order of Valor were laid down. Within six months of the meeting, the Metropolitan Court registered the Order of Valor with order number 6.Pk.68.060 /01, serial number 4227, dated February 3, 1992.

After moving home in 1993, Árpád József assumed the rank of Grand Master and made the valiant Antal Radnóczy his chief captain.

After moving home, tensions gradually increased, which were already palpable during the years of emigration:

· One of the main reasons for this was the National Defense Section established in 1982, which was intended to ensure a significant increase in the number of members of the Order. One of the significant consequences of this was that, in addition to worthy individuals, extremist elements also entered the ranks of the Order, who later began to disrupt the ranks of the Order of Valor.

· The other significant reason is that as a result of the knighthood initiations that took place in the 90s, a knighthood of over 2000 people was formed in Hungary, while only 200-300 people lived in emigration, despite this, the vast majority of the Knighthood Chair was made up of people living in the West, which led to a high degree of power. Among the people living in the West, Antal Radnóczy is worth highlighting, who, in his position as captain-in-chief, tried to keep his own people in power and undermine the work of the Hungarian officers.

Tensions continued to rise until 1997.

This year, Radnóczy commissioned some of his confidants to form a new organization in Hungary called the "Order of Knights of Valor", thus bypassing the Hungarian leaders and placing his own people in a leadership role within the framework of a kind of coup.

As a result, a joint meeting was held, at which Radóczy's dismissal was announced and the brave István Tabódy became the captain-general of the Order of Valor.

Upon hearing the news of Radnóczy's dismissal, 40-50 of his followers followed the "dethroned" captain, and Árpád József voluntarily stood up from the leadership position and went with Radnóczy (Árpád József was not stripped of his Grand Mastership at the meeting, he left the Order of Knighthood on his own accord).

This led to the first schism in 1997 and the creation of a "Vitézi guild" alongside the legally continuous Order of Knights, with Árpád József as Grand Master and Radnóczy as Captain General.

In the years following the split, the two organizations existed in parallel, but they were constantly negotiating reunification.

In 2000, the position of Grand Captain of the Order of the Knights was taken over from Tabódy by Dr. András Várhelyi. In 2003, Dr. Miklós Bercsényi took over the position of Grand Captain from Várhelyi, who considered his main task to be to advance the unification negotiations.

In 2003, the merger almost took place, but there was a change in the leadership of the separated individuals, as Árpád József resigned from the position of Grand Master (the organization subsequently abolished the position), and Antal Radnóczy passed away, so a "self-appointed captain-general" in the person of the valiant László Hunyadi was appointed to the leadership position, who interrupted the negotiations.

Thus, the rift remained permanent and an organization called the Association of the Historical Order of Knights was established. (The website of this illegitimate association is: www.vitezirend.hu)

In 2003, Árpád József changed his mind, withdrew his resignation and wanted to return to power, but Hunyadi did not allow this, so Árpád József established the Order of Valor ICOC, of which he became the leader, and after his death in 2017, his son, Károly József, became the leader.

(the website of this illegitimate society wrote with a hyphen: www.vitezi-rend.com )

Thus, from 2003, in addition to the legally continuous Order of Valor, there were already two "segmented" associations.

In 2004, Miklós Bercsényi resigned from the position of chief captain due to his age and András Várhelyi was re-elected as chief captain. Várhelyi would hold the position of chief captain until 2011, when he resigned due to his health.

During this time, 2 new organizations split off from the Order of Knights ICOC.

In 2007, the Horthy Miklós Order of Valor Foundation, headed by Sándor Ervin and Ajtós József, was established. In 2008, the Carpathian Basin Governorate of the Order of Valor was established under the leadership of Vad László.

In 2011, the position of Grand Captain of the Order of Valor was taken over by Count János Molnár-Gazsó, who is still the head of the Order of Valor in its current form.

The Order of Valor currently has two official websites:

From Hungary 1992: www.vitezirend.com

and the website of the headquarters in the United Kingdom: www.vitezirend.co.uk

The new captain-general immediately began to heal the rifts. The Association of the Historical Order of the Knights and the Order of the Knights ICOC did not want to merge. However, the Miklós Horthy Order of the Knights Foundation and the Order of the Knights Carpathian Basin Governorate sat down to negotiate, as a result of which both organizations merged into the legally continuous Order of the Knights in 2011.

Breakups and mergers table: https://www.vitezirend.co.uk/szakadasok-es-egyesulesek?lightbox=dataItem-m3kpclwt

Unfortunately, due to human weakness, in 2012 a small group left the Order of the Knights and created another illegitimate splinter association called the Order of the Knights of the Carpathian Basin Association. Their website can be found at: (www.vitezek.hu)

The new organization's leader was Ferenc Zetényi Csukás, who held the position until 2015. Zetényi-Csukás was replaced by Aurél Rihmer, who was the organization's leader between 2015 and 2023, a leadership role that has been vacant since 2023.

Based on what has been described, it is clear that there is only one Order of the Knights with legal continuity and legal operation, which is the captain-general of the knightly count János Molnár-Gazsó. All other organizations only imitate its primacy.

“The Order of Valor has a threefold purpose: to reward patriotic virtue combined with valor, to preserve the best of the great times and to ensure the survival of the lineage of heroes, and finally to provide the Hungarian race with a power in them and their descendants that will strike down with terrifying force all subversive anti-state and anti-national aspirations. I plant the Order of Valor in the blood-soaked Hungarian soil; God grant that it may take root there as soon as possible. May it become a mighty oak forest that can defy the storms of the second millennium; may the Order of Valor be the pride of our Turanian race and our homeland, but also, if necessary, its sharp-cutting sword.”

(Miklós Horthy of Nagybánya, 20 August 1921)