Order of the Iron Crown (Austria)

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Imperial Order of the Iron Crown
Insignia of the Order
Awarded by the Emperor of Austria
Type	Dynastic order
Royal house	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Awarded for	Civil and Military Merit
Status	Dormant since 1918
Grades	1st Class 2nd Class 3rd Class
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Leopold
Next (lower)	Order of Franz Joseph
Equivalent	Order of Elizabeth
Related	Order of the Iron Crown (Italy)
Ribbon of the Order

The Imperial Order of the Iron Crown (German: Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone; Italian: Ordine imperiale della Corona ferrea) was one of the highest orders of merit in the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until 1918. It was founded in 1815 by Emperor Franz I of Austria as a re-establishment of the original Order of the Iron Crown, which previously had been an order of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

The order had three classes and, until 1884, all classes conferred automatic hereditary ennoblement. The third class conferred the rank of Ritter, the second class conferred the rank of Baron, and the first class conferred the title of Privy Councillor, the style of Excellency and the right to attend court. According to the order's statutes, only a limited number of members throughout the empire were allowed at any given time. The maximum number of 1st class knights was 20, for the 2nd class it was 30 and for the 3rd class 50, limiting the total number of members to 100 at any given time.