International Commission for Orders of Chivalry

International Commission for Orders of Chivalry

Commissione internazionale permanente per lo studio degli ordini cavallereschi
Coat of arms of the ICOC
Abbreviation	ICOC
Formation	1960 (1960)
Founded at	5th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden
Headquarters	Piazza Caiazzo 2 Milan, Italy
President	Pier Felice degli Uberti
Website	www.icocregister.org

The International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (ICOC; Italian: Commissione internazionale permanente per lo studio degli ordini cavallereschi) is a privately run, privately funded organisation composed of scholars on chivalric matters and systems of awards. Founded in 1960, its stated purpose is to examine orders of chivalry to determine their legitimacy. Its president since 1999 is Pier Felice degli Uberti, and its seat is situated in Milan, Italy.

During the Congress of Madrid (1955), Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent thought that it was appropriate to create a commission of scholars on chivalric matters. This idea was instituted during the 5th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, under the protection of Swedish Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (with State Herald of Sweden Gunnar Scheffer as General Secretary), by decision of the Commission for State Heraldry chaired by Alessandro Monti della Corte with the purpose of creating a provisional list of orders whose approval had to be submitted to the next Congress.

Initially, notably in 1964–1999, the organisation was embroiled in several controversies caused by the different cultural training of its commissioners. The root of some of these controversies stems from the unavoidable bias inherent in the ICOC's governing structure as a private, non-governmental organization.^{[citation needed]} The Commission as a private body lacks any legal jurisdiction to unilaterally declare anything other than what amounts to a private opinion.

Since its foundation, it has had a number of patrons, with honorary function without the right to vote, notably including Archduke Otto von Habsburg, Cardinal Pio Laghi, Patron Cardinal of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio, Grand Master emeritus of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, among others.

To avoid any conflict of interest, the commissioners who hold important offices in a particular order of chivalry cannot participate in the decision regarding that order. The ICOC's most recent Register and Provisional List of Orders was published in 2016.^[1]